社会语言学85817 6页

Code—SwitchinginChinese／EnglishBilingualSpeakers[Abstract]Aphenomenoncouldnotbeignoredwithmoreandmorepeoplebeingabletomanagetwoorthreekindsoflanguages．Theytendtousesomewordsorsentencesinotherlanguagewhentheyareconversingintheirmothertongueamongbilinguals．Theycodeswitchinordertofillalinguisticneed，toemphasizegroupidentityandtomaketheirconversationinteresting，asisfoundoutinthesurveycarriedbytheauthoramong15Chinese／Englishbilinguals．[Keywords]code—switching；bilinguaI；linguistic1.Introduction0verthepastfewdecadesmoreandmorepeopleinChinaarelearningEng1ish．ChildrenbegintolearnEnglishmuchearlierthandidtheirparents．AndsomechildreninurbanareasbegintolearnEnglisheveninkindergarten．ThoseadultswhomissedthechanceoflearningEnglishduringtheiryoutharetryingtomakeupforthisbyenteringprofessionalortrainingschools．WithmoreandmorepeoplenowspeakingEnglish，anewphenomenonhasarisenwhichneedsattention．ThatiswhenpeopleareconversinginChineseamongEnglish—Chinesebilinguals，theytendtousesomeEnglishwordsorsentencesintheirutterances，nomatteriftheyarehomeorabroad，whenconversingamongEnglish—Chinesebilinguals．TheoccasionalswitchingfromChinesetoEnglishintheirconversationsisincreasingly\npopular．Nowweshallexplorewhomitisthatusesthiscodeswitching，andhowandwhytheyresorttocodeswitching．2.Howtheycode—switchCode—switchingisaveryimportantaspectofbilingualism．Gumperz(1982：135)defined“codeswitching”as“thejuxtapositionwithinthesamespeechexchangeofpassagesofspeechbelongingtotwodifferentgrammaticalsystemsorsubsystems．”DiPietro(1977：37)gavethedefinitionofcode—switchingastheuseofmorethanonelanguagebycommunicantsintheexecutionofaspeechact，"whileValdesFaUis(1976)referstoitsimplyas“thealternationoftwolanguages.”Fromtheco11ectedquestionnaires，theexamplesgivenmainlyfocusontheswitchingfromChinesetoEnglishintheirutterances，whicharemainlythealternatinguseofthetwolanguagesinthesameutterance，asshowninthefollowingexamples：1)Youknow，，niyinggaishizuihaode．(Youknow，你应该是最的)。Youknow，youshouldbethebest．2)Imean，womenbuyinggaizheyangzuo．(Imean,我们不应该这样做)Imean，weshouldn’tbelikethat，3)Morning．Qushangkeya?(Morning，去上课呀?)Morning．Areyougoingfor1ectures?4)Gaitianwogeinidianhua，Okay?(改天我给你电话，Okay?)\nIwillgiveyouaringoneday，Okay?InoticethatthereissomeChinglishinsometranslatedworks．AccordingtoPoplack(1980)，therearethreetypesofcode—switching．Ofthese，thefirsttypeis“tag—switching”，whichinvolvestheinsertionofataginonelanguageintoanutterancewhichisotherwiseentirelyintheotherlanguage．Itseemsthatthefixedphrasesofgreetingorpartingarequiteofteninvolvedinswitches．“Sincetagsaresubjecttominimalsyntacticrestrictions，theymaybeinsertedeasilyatanumberofpointsinamonolingualutterancewithoutviolatingsyntacticrules．’’(Romaine，1989：295)Soitisthatbilingualsusetagseasilyandfrequentlybecausetheyfluentinbothlanguages．Thesecondtypeiscalled“intersententialswitching，whichinvolvesaswitchbetweenlanguagesataclauseorsentenceboundary，whereeachclauseorsentenceisinone1anguageoranother．AccordingtoRomaine(1989)，intersententialswitchingcouldbeconsideredasrequiringgreaterfluencyinbothlanguagesthantag—switchingsincemajorportionsoftheutterancemustconformtotherulesofbothlanguages．Itcanbeinferredthatnotmanypeopleadoptthistypeofswitchingintheirconversation.Whereasthethirdtypeofcode—switching“intrasententialswitching’’seemsmostfrequentlyfoundintheirutterances，thoughitinvolvesthegreatestsyntacticrisksincetheswitchingbetweenlanguagesoccurswithintheclauseorsentenceboundaries．AccordingtoPoplack(1980：\n163)，“Intrasententialswitchingmaybeavoidedbyallbutthemostfluentbilinguals．”Butsinceitoccurswithinsentence／clause／wordboundariesWithnoapparentchangeintopic，interlocutor，setting，etc，itmakesthespeakermoreflexibleswitchingtoanotherlanguage．Inspiteoftheargumentonthedistinctionbetweenborrowingandcode—switchingRomaine(1989：173)supportsthat“speakerscouldborrowitemsofVariessizes，dependingonvariouslinguisticandsocialfactors，inconstructingacode—switcheddiscourse．”Poplack(1980)alsopointsoutthatnounsaccountedforthelargestproportionofintrasententialswitches，andthiscanbeevidentintheresponseexamples，suchas“cluster”，“presentation”，“bilingualismandcrossculturecommunication”，and“oldfriend”．Thereasonwhynounsaresofrequentlyborrowedandcode—switchedisthattheyarerelativelyfreeofsyntacticrestrictions．(Romaine，1989andAitchison，1987)．3.WhytheycodeswitchThoughmanyinstancesofcodeswitchingcanbeexplainedbythelackofappropriateterminologyinonelanguage，moreandmoreattentionhasbeenattractedtocode—switchingasakindofspecialcommunicationresource．Weseethatcodeswitchingcanbe“termedaccommodationtothelinguisticenvironment(Chloros，1997)whichmeansitcanfillalinguisticneedforlexicalitem，setphrase，discoursemarkerorsentencefiller．Thespeakermappedoutasentencewhichwas\nsimilartoEng1ishpatternandtheyneededtoadoptanEnglishlexemetoproduceagrammarconstructiontofinishtheirutteranceswhentheyhavesometroubleinexpressingthemselvesintheirownlanguage.AsGeorsjean(1982)saidthatcode—switchingnotonlyfillsamomentarylinguisticneed，itisalsoaveryusefulcommunicationresource．AnotherreasonforcodeswitchingbyChinese／Englishbilingualsisthattheyusecodeswitchingtomarkandemphasizeagroupidentity．AsCrystal(1987)argues，switchingcommonlyoccurswhenanindividualwishestoexpresssolidaritywithaparticularsocialgroup．Rapportisestablishedbetweenthespeakerandthelistenerwhenthelistenerrespondswithasimilarswitch．Theycanusecode—switchingtoexcludesomeoneelsefromaportionoftheconversation.4.ConclusionSeveralofthestudiesofcodeswitchinghavefocusedattentionondifferentaspectsofit：grammatical／syntacticordiscoursepragmatic．Inthisessay，thediscussionismainlycarriedoutfromthepragmaticperspectivetoexploreasmallgroupofChinese／Englishbilingualsandhowtheyusecodeswitching．AsRomaine(1989)says，codeswitchingisoftenusedasacommunicativestrategytoconveylinguisticandsocialinformation．Itmaybesuggestedthatcodeswitchingisusedasasociolinguistictoolbetweenbilingualspeakers．\nReference[1]Aitchison,J．(1987)．Wordsinthemind：AnIntroductiontotheMentalLexicon[M]．Oxfort：BlackweU．[2]Crystal，D．(1987)．TheCambridgeEncyclopediaofLanguage[M]．CambridgeUniversityPress：Cambridge．[3]Chloros，G，P．(1997)．Code—switching：LanguageSelectioninThreeStrasbourgDepartmentStoresinCoupland，N．&Jaworski，A，ed．Sociolinguistics[M]：AreaderNewYork：St．Martin’sPress．[4]Grosjean，F．（1982）．LifewithTwoLanguages．AnIntroductiontoBilingualism[M]．HarvardUniversityPress．[5]Gumperz，J．(1982)．DiscourseStrategies[M]．CambridgeUniversityPress．[6]Gumperz，J．(1970)．Verbalstrategiesinmultilingualcommunication，InBilingualismandlanguagecontacted．J．Alatis．Washington：GeorgetownUniversityPress．[7]Wei，Li&LesleyMilroy．(1995)．conversationalcode—switchinginaChinesecommunityiInBritain：asequentialanalysis．JournalofPragmatics23：281参考文献(10条)