A Study Of Uygur & Chinese Oral Code-Switching On Campus From An Adaptation Perspective

With the development of science and technology, people around China have had more and more frequent contact with each other, consequently, languages or language varieties are getting in closer contact with each other than ever before. In bilingual or multilingual communities, code-switching is a frequent linguistic phenomenon of significant academic concern.This thesis is a preliminary pragmatic analysis with a focus on presenting the pragmatic adaptability that speakers of Uygur and Chinese display in code-switching. Based on Verschueren's Linguistic Adaptation Theory and Yu Guodong's Adaptation Model of Code-Switching, this thesis mainly aims to carry out a detailed analysis on Uygur/Chinese code-switching on campus from an adaptive perspective, which is understood as a linguistic choice of campus speakers and used as a linguistic and pragmatic strategy to successfully realize their communicative goals.Methodologically speaking, the present study is both theory-driven and data-driven; it will be carried out mainly as a qualitative study. In order to be more comprehensive and objective, a quantitative method, including observation, interviews and questionnaire, is supplemented in the course of generalizing the frequency and form of campus speakers'conducting of Uygur/Chinese code-switching. By"the qualitative method"we refer to the process of categorizing and analyzing the adaptability of campus Uygur/Chinese code-switching and the functions it can perform.Through the study and analysis of several typical code-switching instances, the following conclusions can be reached: (1) From the adaptive point of view, campus speakers' Uygur/Chinese code-switching is selected by the code switcher as a linguistic and pragmatic strategy to fulfill specific communicative goals; (2) Campus speakers'Uygur/Chinese code-switching is adaptation to three elements: the linguistic reality, social conventions and psychological motivations; among which the consciousness degree of campus speakers'code-switching as adaptation to the linguistic reality is comparatively higher, because of the economical characteristics of the Chinese language, while the consciousness degree of their code-switching as adaptation to the social conventions and psychological motivations are comparatively lower.(3)A positive correlation exists between codeswitching and Uygur students'Chinese proficiency. (4)The motivations are triggering campus speakers'code-switching and also campus speakers'attitudes toward Uygur/Chinese code-switching. The questionnaire statistics show that the great majority of campus speakers have Uygur/Chinese code-switching behavior and most female campus speakers take a neutral attitude towards Uygur/Chinese code-switching, but the 60% male student take a negitive attitude towards it because of the consideration of the purification of mother language, which testify to the value of this research.This research is a contribution to uncovering the code-switching rules used by people bilingual in Uygur and Chinese, and to understanding the ways in which code-switching adapts to the linguistic reality, to social norms, and to psychological motivations.It should help us in understanding the true nature of code-switching, and hopefully it will have significance in guiding language instruction and in the training of young language students in communication skills.