Adaptability And Practicability--A Survey On Code-switching In Chinese Fashion Magazine City Beauties

Code-switching is a natural occurrence as a result of frequent contacts between different languages. As early as the 1970s, this phenomenon has aroused the interest and attention of scholars from different fields like linguistics, psychology, ethnography, sociology etc. Though code-switching has been extensively researched, analysis of this phenomenon from pragmatic perspective is a relatively new research field developed in recent years.Based on Verschueren's Linguistic Theory and Yu Guodong's Adaptation Model, the present study explores the phenomenon of Chinese-English code-switching in the discourse of fashion magazines from the pragmatic perspective. Firstly, the switching between Chinese and English occurs in order for the adaptation to the linguistic reality, that is to say, it is the adaptation to the linguistic units, features, structures etc. This type of adaptation is the passive adaptation. Secondly, CS happens for the adaptation to some specific communicative goals, in other words, it is the adaptation to the social and emotional functions and it is the active adaptation. As one type of mass media, fashion magazines themselves bear social characteristics. In addition, the purpose of starting the publication is to strike the emotional chord with the readers to increase the circulation. In this present study, the pragmatic functions of the active adaptation are listed as follows:(1) a humor-creating strategy (2) an identity-concealing strategy (3) an exotic-flavor production strategy (4) an explanation or emphasis strategy (5) a face-saving and tone-softening strategy (6) a quotation strategy to maintain authenticity (7) an effort-saving strategy (8) an expression of modernity and fashion.Methodologically speaking, this thesis is carried out as a qualitative study with quantitative support. By means of quantitative description of code-switching distribution patterns in the discourse of City Beauties, this paper intends to verify and reflect the variability of Chinese English code-switching. Further more, through quantitative study, this thesis attempts to explore the motivation and pragmatic functions of code-switching employed as a communication strategy to realize various communicative goals.By offering a new corpus to the study of code-switching, the thesis seeks to help people have a deeper understanding of code-switching as a normal social and linguistic phenomenon that occurs in the fashion magazines. To some degree, it can shed some inspirational light on the trend of language choice and the influence of English upon Chinese in the process of increasing cultural exchange.