社会语言学.docx

社会语言学.docx

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社会语言学

英文学院研究生学期课程论文

课程名称社会语言学

学期2012-2013学年第一学期

学号2012465

姓名王运长

专业外国语言学及应用语言学

研究方向翻译与翻译研究

学生类别硕士生

任课教师李芳军

成绩

TheNatureofCodeSwitching

by

WangYunchang

SchoolofEnglishStudies

Xi'anInternationalStudiesUniversity

Xi’an,China

2012

Abstract

Codeswitching,asalinguisticphenomenon,hasarousedinterestofmanylinguists.Thispapertriestostudytheclassification,motivationandotheraspectsofthecodeswitchingfromtheperspectiveofsociolinguisticstoexploreitsnature.

Keywords:

codeswitching;classification;motivation;

TheNatureofCodeSwitching

1Introduction

Codeswitchingoccurswhenasinglespeakerusesdifferentvarietiesoflanguagesatdifferenttimes（Wardhaugh,R.2007）.Thephenomenonofcodeswitchinghasattractedtheattentionofresearchersfromvariousfieldsandhasbeenstudiedfromdifferentperspectives.Firstofall,thepaperpresentswhatthecodeswitchingisandadoptsasociolinguisticperspectivetoclassifycodeswitchingintotwotypes.Also,thispapertriestostudythenatureandmotivationofthecodeswitchingandpresentssomesocialimplicationsofthisinterestingphenomenoninordertohelppeoplegetabetterunderstandingofhowandwhyitarisesandhowitfunctionsinoursociallife.

2.Thedefinitionofcodeswitching

Acodeistheparticulardialectoflanguagethatapersonchoosestouseonanyoccasion,asystemusedforcommunicationbetweentwoormoreparties（Holmes,J.2011）.Itisaruleforconvertingapieceofinformation（forexample,aletter,word,phrase,orgesture）intoanotherformorrepresentation（onesignintoanothersign）,notnecessarilyofthesametype.

Code-switchingisswitchingbetweentwoormorelanguages,orlanguagevarieties,inthecontextofasingleconversation（王瑾,黄国文.）.Itisaconversationalstrategyusedtoestablish,crossordestroygroupboundaries;tocreate,evokeorchangeinterpersonalrelationswiththeirrightsandobligations.Bilinguals,peoplewhospeakmorethanonelanguage,sometimesuseelementsofmultiplelanguagesinconversingwitheachother.Thus,code-switchingistheuseofmorethanonelinguisticvarietyinamannerconsistentwiththesyntaxandphonologyofeachvariety（席红梅）.

3.Theclassificationofcodeswitching

Ithasbecomemoreandmorecommonthatsomepeopledevelopaknowledgeandabilityinasecondlanguageandsobecomeabilingualortheyknowseveralvarietiesofonelanguage.theyoftenswitchbetweenlanguagesorvarietieswhentheyareinthemiddleofconversation.Thesecodeswitchescantakeplacebetweenorevenwithinsentences,involvingphrasesorwordsorevenpartsofwords,thusdifferenttypesofcodeswitchingcanbedistinguished.Inthefollowingpartofthispaper,codeswitchingwillbedividedintotwotypes;andthesociolinguisticfactorsinvolvedineachtypewillbepresentedthroughexploringexamplesfromreallifesituations.

3.1SituationalCodeSwitching

Situationalcodeswitchingoccurswhenthelanguagesusedchangeaccordingtothesituationsinwhichtheconversantsfindthemselves（Fasold,R.2007）:

theyspeakonelanguageinonesituationandanotherinadifferentone.Notopicchangeisinvolved.Somelinguistsalsocallthiskindofswitching"diglossia",whichoccurswheneachpointofswitchingcorrespondstoachangeofsituation.Theterm“diglossia”wasintroducedintotheEnglishlanguageliteratureonsociolinguisticsbyCharlesFergusonin1959inordertodescribethesituationfoundinplaceslikeGreece,theArabicspeakingworldingeneral,German-speakingSwitzerlandandtheislandofHaiti（许朝阳）.Inallthesesocietiestherearetwodistinctvarieties,andoneisusedonlyonformalandpublicoccasionswhiletheotherisusedbyeverybodyundernormaleverydaycircumstances.Ferguson'sdefinitionofdiglossiaisasfollows:

Diglossiaisarelativelystablelanguagesituationinwhich,inadditiontotheprimarydialectsofthelanguage（whichmayincludeastandardorregionalstandards）,thereisaverydivergent,highlycodified（oftengrammaticallymorecomplex）superposedvariety,thevehicleofalargeandrespectedbodyofwrittenliterature,eitherofanearlierperiodorinanotherspeechcommunity,whichislearnedlargelybyformaleducationandisusedformostwrittenandformalspokenpurposesbutisnotusedbyanysectorofthecommunityforordinaryconversation.

3.2MetaphoricalCodeSwitching

Metaphoricalcodeswitching,accordingtoBlomandGumpertz,isacodeswitchingwhereavarietynormallyusedonlyinonekindofsituationisusedinadifferentkindbecausethetopicisthesortwhichwouldnormallyariseinthefirstkindofsituation（Holmes,J.2011）.Moreclearly,achangeoftopicrequiresachangeoflanguage.

Asthetermitselfsuggests,metaphoricalcodeswitchinghasanaffectivedimensiontoit:

youchangethecodeasyouredefinethesituation-formaltoinformal,officialtopersonal,serioustohumorous,andpolitenesstosolidarity.Thiskindofswitchappearsinsomecasesthesituationislessclear,eitherbecauseitisambiguousorbecausethespeakerdecidestoignoretheobservableexternalsituationandfocusinsteadonlessobservablecharacteristicsofthepeopleconcerned.Suchcases,whereitisthechoiceoflanguagethatdeterminesthesituation.

Inthecourseofamorningspentatthecommunityadministrationoffice,wenoticedthatclerksusedbothstandardanddialectphrases,dependingonwhethertheyweretalkingaboutofficialaffairsornot.Likewise,whenresidentsstepuptoaclerk'sdesk,greetingandinquiresaboutfamilyaffairstendtobeexchangedinthedialect,whilethebusinesspartofthetransactioniscarriedoninthestandard.

4.Socialmotivationsforcodeswitching

Theremaybemanyreasonsthatpeopleswitchthecode.Codeswitchingrelatesto,andsometimesindexessocial-groupmembershipinbilingualandmultilingualcommunities.Somesociolinguistsdescribetherelationshipsbetweencodeswitchingbehavioursandclass,ethnicity,andothersocialpositions.Inaddition,scholarsininteractionallinguisticsandconversationanalysishavestudiedcodeswitchingasameansofstructuringtalkininteraction.Somediscourseanalystssuggestthatcodeswitchingdoesnotsimplyreflectsocialsituations,butthatitisameanstocreatesocialsituation（刘正光）.

Themotivationshassomerelationshipwithsuchswitching'sexternalsocialfunctionsandusers.Accordingtothecasestudiesconductedbymanyresearchersonverbalandwrittencodeswitchings,threekeyinternalmotivationsandfourmainexternalonesareconcluded:

4.1Internalpsychologicalmotivations

4.1.1Explanationoremphasisontopicstoattractattention,showoffpersonallanguageskillordeclaresocialposition

Asshowninmanyinterviewsortalkshows,theintervieweesorspeakersalwaysmakeswitchestoshowhiscommandoflanguagesofseveralcountries.Bydoingsuch,muchattentioncanbeattracted.Besides,insomesocialareas,speakersmaymakeasuddenswitchtotheH-varietycodetodeclarehissocialstatus.Also,therearesomespeakers,bycodeswitching,givingelaborationoremphasisonthetopics.

4.1.2Attitudestowardcertainlanguage

Cases,suchasfeelingsaboutthemothertongue,affection,admirationordespiseofcertainlanguage,affectthecodeswitchinginthecommunication.Forexample,thesocialcommunityofsomekindoflanguageapparentlyhasastrongfeelingabouttheirmothertongueordialect.Suchcommitmentandaffectionalsocontributetothecodeswitching.Oneexamplewhichcanbeemployedtoclarifythecasementionedaboveisthatinsomepublicplaces,speakersmayrefusetotalkwiththeH-varietycodeorunconsciouslyswitchtothenativelanguage.

4.1.3Accommodationanddeviation

Whenoneclaimtobeoneofthemembersofacommunity,codeswitchingalwayshappens.Forexample,aharmoniousrelationshipisestablishedwhenthelisteneremploysthesamecodeasthespeakerdoestoshortenthepsychologicaldistance.SomeforeignerswilltrytheirbesttospeaksseveralChineseexpressionstoshowthesolidarityandclosenesswiththeaudienceswhentheyareinChina.LeadersfromothercountriestoChinatacticallyemployphaticexpressionssuchas"你好"谢谢""再见"toshowfriendlinesstoChinese.

4.2Externalfunctionalmotivations

4.2.1Disappearanceofequivalentlexicalterms

Duringcommunication,thespeakersalwaysswitchthecodetofillthegapresultedfromforgettingornotfindingsuitableexpressionstofurthercontinuethetalk,forexample,whentalkingabouttechnicalmattesorthespeakersfeelunsatisfied,exhaustedorannoyed.

4.2.2Forsakeofsavingtimeorconvenience

Forexample,expressions"IoftenuseQQinsteadofMSNordoyouinstallCAJonyourcomputer?

"arefrequentlyusedifthepartiessharethesamebackgroundknowledge,inthisway,codeswitchingcanmakecommunicationmuchmoreeasierandfreer.

4.2.3Codeswitchingstartedbytheotherparty

Inthemiddleofcommunication,ifoneswitchsthecode,theotherwilldothesamebyfollowingtheCPorprincipleofpolitenesstocultivateorchangetherelationshipandposition.Orthetwobilingualswouldgetusedtoswitchingtotheothercodewhentalking.Bythis,specialeffectwillbemade.

4.2.4Certainchangesofthesituationofcommunication

Thecommunicativesituationtoacertainextentaffectsthecodepeoplechoose.Apartfromchoosingthedifferentcodeaccordingtodifferentsituation,sometimescodeswitchinghappensinthesamesituationwiththechangeofparticipants.

5.　SomeSociolinguisticImplicationsofCodeSwitching

　　Havingobservedvariouskindsofcodeswitchingrespectiv