Code-switching has become a common social means of communication among all language groups in South Africa. It is the use of more than one language in social conversations or in any conversation between two or more people. Social studies on code-switching reveal that switching between languages is not restricted to informal contexts. It also occurs in more formal contexts, such as public hearings, where the use of more than one language serves to achieve specific purposes for effective communication. The aim of this article is to investigate and critically analyse the use of code-switching in a transcript of an event entitled ‘Public hearing of Gauteng Liquor Amendment Bill, 2006: Questions and answers’. The article attempts to answer two questions, namely what circumstances motivate or promote the use of this linguistic strategy, and to what extent people’s multilingual and bilingual competence enable them to apply code-switching, either consciously or unconsciously to achieve maximum effect in a conversation.

中文翻译：

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代码交换作为一种交流形式：南非公众听证会讨论的见解

代码转换已成为南非所有语言群体之间一种常见的社交交流手段。在社交对话或两个或多个人之间的任何对话中使用一种以上的语言。有关代码转换的社会研究表明，在语言之间进行转换不仅限于非正式环境。它也发生在更正式的环境中，例如公开听证会，在其中使用一种以上的语言可以达到实现有效交流的特定目的。本文的目的是调查和批判性地分析在题为“ 2006年豪登省酒类修正案的公开听证：问题与解答”的会议记录中使用代码转换的情况。本文试图回答两个问题，即什么情况激发或促进了这种语言策略的使用，