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Abstract Sociolinguists are interested in explaining why we speak differently in different social contexts, and they are concerned with identifying the social functions of language and the ways it is used to convey social meaning. The Euro-Arab literature has rarely been object of linguistic study. More linguistic studies for this area could provide the society with a deeper appreciation of its aesthetic value. To conclude, these results strongly show how code switching is a linguistic technique used in ’In the Eye of the Sun’ to develop and maintain solidarity among the readers from the west and east (in war and peace colonialism and post colonialism). In spite of west having higher status than east in education, technology, information, economy, there must be solidarity between the two sides. The author has much stronger tendencies to relate western to eastern readers through solidarity and intimacy when she code switches ,regardless of the equal or unequal nature of the relationships. Ahdaf Soueif is pulled between the polar forces of East and West, but only achieves balance when she carves out a place for herself in the midst of that cultural intersection. ’’In the Eye of the Sun’ is a valuable text for this thesis, it reveals important insights into code switching behavior as a linguistic technique Ahdaf uses to build and maintain intimate relationships. Ahdaf accurately portrays the reality that English is used to find identity and solidarity among the different societies and to communicate the social realities of their worlds as bilingual and bicultural people in both languages. Finally, the thesis proves that code-switching fills creative and artistic functions in the novel. Furthermore, code-switching reveals the tensions and conflicts in the social structure. Also, code-switching serves as responses to domination in that it can be used to resist, challenge and transform power relations. Code-switching is used to mark identity, solidarity, exclusion from an in-group membership, status manipulation, and social and communicative distance. Moreover, code-switching is inevitable and helpful to express meanings more precisely. It does not pollute the language; on the contrary, it enhances the communication between individuals from different societies. In addition, switching is not just in language, it can also be in culture, and style. Thus, Ahdaf Soueif exploits her linguistic richness on a literary level creating a novel that presents the Egyptian world in a realistic way, and she, at the same time, makes use of linguistic varieties as literary device. |