An Empirical Study Of Chinese-English Code-switching Based On Adaptation Theory

In the past sixty years, researchers have conducted CS studies in different approaches: the sociolinguistic approach, the grammatical approach, the psycholinguistic approach and the conversational approach, but none of them has succeeded in interpreting the operating mechanism of CS and its functions in an all-round way. Chinese scholar Yu Guodong proposes to study CS in Jef Verschueren's pragmatic "perspective" and Linguistic Adaptation Theory (LAT) based upon which Yu puts forward the Linguistic Adaptation Model of CS which is all-encompassing in that it includes all the factors involved in the process of language using and understanding.On the other hand, in the previous CS studies, researchers basically focused on written data like newspapers and magazines or speech data. In fact, another kind of discourse also deserves our attention in that it possesses the characteristics of both written and spoken discourses, and what's more, the C-E CS phenomenon is quite common in it; such discourse is Chinese popular songs, which, comparatively speaking, have not been paid enough attention by linguistic researchers. In those limited and rare studies available, samples were not adequate enough in quantity, and therefore study results were not adequately representative.In view of the two aspects mentioned above, this paper proceeds from Verschueren's Linguistic Adaptation Theory and conducts a specific C-E CS analysis of Chinese popular songs within the frame work of Yu's Linguistic Adaptation Model of CS. The author first describes the variability of C-E CS manifested in grammatical units and structural complexity, and then analyzes the adaptability of CS under the guidance of three Adaptation Principles so as to account for the reasons and pragmatic functions of CS performances in Chinese pop songs. The present research provides first hand evidence from newly released songs and those most popular with the audience to enlarge the quantity of samples so as to amplify the study coverage of CS and gain a much more representative conclusion. At the same time, the author conducts a comparison between the present study and those concerning CS in newspapers and magazines, aiming to highlight the special characteristics of C-E CS in pop songs.At last, the author arrives at the conclusion that C-E CS in Chinese popular songs shows great variability in its distribution patterns and is not a random or extreme phenomenon, but rather a result of adaptation to the linguistic reality of Chinese and English, social conventions of Chinese culture, and psychological motivations of the code-switchers. Particularly in adaptation to the last principle, the songwriters take into consideration more of the style and rhythm of the song itself, which is not as typically present in other forms of CS discourses. Finally, based upon Yu Guodong's Linguistic Adaptation Model of CS, the author puts forward a specific adaptation model for CS in Chinese pop songs.