Code-Switching as a Literary Device in “Thank You for Smoking” by Ch. Buckley

Abstract

This article examines the foreign-language elements in Christopher Buckley's novel “Thank You for Smoking”. The author studies possible reasons for code switching in the novel and makes the conclusion about the extent to which the idea of code-switching can correspond to the "global purpose" of the novel. The article describes some lexical and phraseological foreign language units mentioned in the text, analyzing the cases where the main character of the novel uses foreign words. The protagonist often resorts to the use of expressions from French and German in order to a) show his attitude to the extralinguistic situation changing around him; b) to create ingenious wordplay in his speech, using them in connection with some precedent phenomena in the English-speaking culture, even outside his workplace, although it is primarily his professional activities that require doing so. The author of the present paper also analyzes the approach to the use of lexical and phraseological units which may or may not be clichés when transferred to the English language. A conclusion is made about the possible use of foreign language elements as an artistic literary device within the framework of this novel.