A Study Of Code-Switching Between Mandarin And Sichuan-Dialect From The Markedness Model Perspective

Code-switching, a common phenomenon in language contact, refers to the alternate use of two or more linguistic codes in the same utterance or conversation by people in bilingual or multilingual speech communities. For years, linguists both at home and abroad have concentrated on code-switching between different languages, while studies of code-switching between dialects within the same language system are comparatively insufficient. In recent years, some domestic studies of code-switching between Sichuan-dialect and mandarin and between mandarin and other dialects are found, but with a small number. So far studies of code-switching between dialects in the same language prove that code-switching exists not only between different languages but also between different dialects in the same language, besides code-switching theories in western sociolinguistics can also be adapted to the study of code-switching between different dialects in the same language.With Markedness Model as theoretical framework, code-switching in the Sichuan-dialectal TV program’"Where Is happiness’" as research material, this study probes into the differences of the two-way code-switching between Sichuan-dialect and mandarin in general, and analyzes the motivations for code-switching from Sichuan-dialect to mandarin in detail. Markedness Model considers speakers as rational actors, and code-switching in specific speeches as calculated behavior for speakers to minimize their expenses and maximize their benefits. Following the principle of negotiation, Markedness Model classifies code-switching into four types, switching as sequential unmarked choices, switching itself as unmarked choices, switching as marked choices and switching as exploratory choices. Marked choices are in iconicity with extra and special motivations and unusual social meanings, while unmarked choices are in iconicity with information predictable. In theoretical sense, this thesis focuses on the marked code-switching to explore and discover the motivations for code-switching from Sichuan-dialect toward mandarin.This study collects 690 items of code-switching between Sichuan-dialect and mandarin from 62 episodes of "Where is Happiness" program from January,2013 to February,2015 randomly selected from the internet. All the code-switching data is analyzed in terms of switching directions (from Sichuan-dialect toward mandarin and from mandarin toward Sichuan-dialect), speaker’s gender, structure including between turn code-switching, inter-sentential code-switching and’ intra-sentential code-switching, and switching types in Markedness Model including sequential unmarked code-switching, unmarked code-switching, marked code-switching and exploratory code-switching. This thesis first analyzes the differences between Sichuan-dialect towards mandarin code-switching (S-M code-switching) and mandarin towards Sichuan-dialect code-switching (M-S code-switching) in general from the perspectives of speaker’s gender, code-switching structure and code-switching types under Markedness Model, and then analyzes the motivations for S-M code-switching in 22 typical examples in detail, including expressing personal feelings and emotions, activating atmosphere, decreasing energy, increasing objectivity etc.Firstly the present study discovers, in general, in the two-way code-switching between Sichuan-dialect and mandarin, the gender difference shows males switch more often than females, for S-M code-switching males switch 13.8% more than females and for M-S code-switching males switch only 0.8% more than females. As to the structure difference in S-M code-switching, the ratio of between turn code-switching ranks the first, ratio of intra-sentential code-switching the second, and ratio of inter-sentential code-switching the third; in M-S code-switching, the ratio of between turn code-switching also ranks the first, nevertheless, ratio of inter-sentential the second, and ratio of intra-sentential the third. In type categorization, the percentage of unmarked code-switching takes the first place, the percentage of sequential unmarked code-switching the second, and the percentage of the marked code-switching the third, and the difference is that, in M-S code-switching, the unmarked outnumbers the sequential unmarked by 190 in frequency and 58% in percentage, but in S-M code-switching, the former outnumbers the latter only by 60 in frequency and 16.5% in percentage. Secondly, the present study discovers that the motivations of S-M code-switching are to express personal feelings and emotions, activate atmosphere, decrease energy in language, increase objectivity, acquire power in communication, and show agreement and identification. To be specific, marked choices in S-M code-switching to express personal feelings and emotions rank at top position, the motivation to acquire power in communication accounts for the second, the motivation to increase objectivity the third, while the rest motivations to activate atmosphere, show agreement and identification, and decrease energy in language all take less than 10%.The present study is significant in that it adds an additional research evidence to justify dialectal code-switching in the same language system, and the feasibility to apply western code-switching theories to dialectal code-switching research in China. Also, this study to some extent reveals the similar motivations for code-switching between languages or between dialects. This is valuable and contributive to enhance the awareness that languages/dialects bear universals in terms of linguistic nature and communicative motivations.