ALTERNANCE CODIQUE DANS L USAGE DU FRANCAIS ET DES LANGUES LOCALES DANS LES MARCHES URBAINS DAVOTROU ET DE MIDOMBO (COTONOU, BENIN)

The urban markets of Avotrou and Midombo in Cotonou bring together speakers from different linguistic backgrounds on a daily basis. In commercial exchanges, French is frequently combined with local languages, giving rise to code-switching. This study aims to analyse this phenomena in verbal interactions between traders and customers. It follows a descriptive and exploratory approach that combines simple quantitative processing (frequencies) with qualitative interpretation. The survey, based on random sampling, involved thirty (30) respondents: fifteen (15) traders and fifteen (15) customers. The results show that 33.3% of respondents report using French together with Goun, and the same proportion (33.3%) French together with Yoruba; 73.3% report practising code-switching in their conversations. The analysis identifies four functions of code-switching resulting from contact between French and local languages. Given the size of the sample, the findings are exploratory and cannot be generalised.