Research On The Syntax And Pragmatic Of Uyghur-Chinese Code-Switching Among Bilingual Uyghur

As a result of the close contact and exchange between Han Chinese and Uyghur culture and the rapid increase of the Uyghur population’s competence in Standard(Mandarin)Chinese,it has become commonplace for bilingual Uyghurs to switch between Chinese and Uyghur(a behavior known as ’code switching’)during their interactions.This represents a significant change in their linguistic habits and style.Code switching by bilingual Uyghurs indicates a linguistic trend and the direction of language development.The author is a resident of Urumqi City with strong competence in both Uyghur and Chinese.As a practitioner of Uyghur-Chinese code switching,they have an intimate connection with this topic.This study applies insights from the Matrix Language Frame,the Equivalence Constraint,Adaptation Theory and Markedness Theory among other models and theories to analyze naturally occurring data collected from the colloquial interactions of bilingual Uyghurs in Xinjiang’s capital city,Urumqi.Building on previous research,I analyze the structural characteristics,functions,motivations,and social and individual factors involved in code switching from both a syntactic and pragmatic perspective.I furtherexplore the structural principles that allow two languages to converge and the motivations for this practice in terms of both static and dynamic change.The findings help predict the direction of future change and development of the Uyghur language,benefitting current and future code switching research as well as language planning at the national level.Words are the core unit of structural analysis,and the foundation of static research.Guided by minimalist syntax,this study extensively discusses the complex rules and constraints of verb insertion.It investigates the linguistic variables involved in contact between Uyghur and Chines from a static perspective,and strives to reveal the underlying causes of variation,and how and why the languages are able to converge.Compared with static change,dynamic change reflects a higher level of awareness and adaptability that places greater importance on pragmatic strategies used in interaction.The goals of dynamic research are:(1)to uncover the functional benefits and incentives for switching through comparison of languages;and(2)to reveal how conversation participants perform code switching under the influence of interactive systems,social and psychological factors,and to understand which goals doing so allows them to achieve.This manuscript reveals the following patterns:Ⅰ.Syntactic Level(1)For a lexical verb selected from Chinese monolingual grammar(VCH)to enter the morphologically complex grammatical system of Uyghur,it must be subject to strong grammatical constraints that allow it to serve as an appropriate complement of an Uyghur functional head.To be functionally dominated,VCH must adapt to the matrix language requirements,shedding its verbal status in favor of a derived status that allows it to combine with a light verb from the matrix language.Only in this way can the verb obey the syntactic requirements of the matrix language,and inflect for tense,person,polarity,aspect and mood among other grammatical categories.Monosyllabic Chinese verbs(VCH-M)must also obey a disyllabic constraint of Chinese grammar,combining with a prosodic filler to become disyllabic before combining with a light verb.The novel contribution of this study is the discovery that Uyghur grammar itself already has this same prosodic sensitivity.(2)The Uyghur-Chinese mixed verb construction occurs at a point where the surface structures of both languages can map onto each other.In most cases(91.75%),code switches obey the grammatical constraints of both languages,obeying an equivalence constraint(Poplack 1985).However,in a minority of cases(8.25%),VCH only obeys the grammatical requirements of one language and violates the other,a so-called "third grammar"(citation)phenomenon.Nevertheless,the resulting sentence is always acceptable.(3)The matrix language’s functional structure directly projects onto the derived-category complement inserted into the grammar.The inserted item does not add any auxiliary element,and it is treated as entirely equivalent to the element it substitutes.The ability of Uyghur to accept inserted elements is a major reason for the generation of Uyghur-Chinese hybrid words.Ⅱ.Functional LayerCode switching is a "calculated" way for the speaker to gain maximal benefit by minimal cost.The following functional advantages of the embedded language are among the reasons why code switching is successful.(1)Syllable count.Chinese has a morphosyntactic economy of syllabicity rarely seen in other languages.Chinese numbers and abbreviations are particularly noteworthy in this regard.(2)Whenever the matrix language struggles to find the ideal expression in terms of morphological,syntactic or semantic considerations,it adapts to the embedded language’s superior ability to fill its need.This strategy results in the most precise and efficient expression to meet the speaker’s communicative need.(3)In certain physical environments,the phonetic clarity of certain Chinese words shows a definite advantage.Ⅲ.Pragmatic LevelCode switching is a pragmatic strategy adopted by speakers due to social and psychological motivations.During interaction,the objective characteristics of the social environment interweave with the subjective psychology of the speakers.Through their strategy of language use,Uyghur speakers establish a ’rights and obligations’ relationship according to the social scenario.Speakers make use of reasonable language accommodation to create appropriate distance from their interlocutor,show sensitivity to the interlocutor’s feelings,and effectively achieve their communication goals in a polite manner.On the basis of the above main conclusions,this paper also discusses the problems related to Uygur-Chinese code-switching,such as meta-language citation,language habits,pragmatic appropriateness and so on.However,due to the limitation of ability and time,this paper has shortcomings in both material collection and theoretical analysis.In the future,we will further collect corpus,improve the theoretical level of linguistics,and deepen the research of code-switching.It is also hoped that this will contribute to the development of linguistics in theory,language policy and language planning in practice,and then to the stability and unity of China and the cohesion of the Chinese nation.