| Studies of code-switching have made great achievements in the past few decades, and a lot has been revealed about code-switching as a universal language contact phenomenon. In contrast to researchers'immense interest in code-switching in the context of bilingual communities, the study of code-switching in diglossia does not receive enough attention from scholars and linguists. This thesis sets out to investigate into the nature and mechanism of diglossic code-switching by making a sociolinguistic study of the distinctive features, forms, motivations and functions of code-switching in diglossia with data collected from Zhou Libo's Hai Pai Qing Kou (HPQK).The theoretical framework for this study is the Markedness Model (MM) proposed by Myers-Scotton. The MM model presupposes a negotiation principle and five maxims which can be applied to the interpretation of code-switching at any level. Different from many other studies of code-switching, the MM takes a sociolinguistic approach to language choices and regards speakers as rational actors who make code choices in order to negotiate a set of rights and obligations in his/her favor. With these assumptions, this thesis provides a qualitative analysis of code-switching cases in HPQK through application of the negotiation maxims. In this way, this study verifies the interpretive power of the MM as a comparatively comprehensive theory of code-switching.This thesis also reveals features of code-switching between Standard Chinese and Shanghai dialect through the case study of HPQK. This glimpse into diglossic code-switching does not only shed light on the diglossic situation in Shanghai but also contribute to our understanding of the relationship between Standard Chinese and local dialects in China. |
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