A Study On Sequence And Language Choice Of Market Transactions Among Uyghurs In Urumqi City

Language usage and transactional sequences made by Uyghur residents in Urumqi market are studied from the perspective of sociolinguistics. This study systematically analyzes the sequence and language choice embedded in each sequence. In addition, the relationship between gender and language choice is also revealed. The aim is to investigate the features of sequences and demonstrate the rules of language choice. Moreover, social factors impacting on language choice are exhibited in the following parts. The data for this study are collected from transactional conversations in Urumqi market which include 350 turns. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are combined to carry out this study.The results show that several transactional strategies can construct various transactional sequences. According to criterion proposed by Hasan, transactions can be classified into completed and uncompleted transactions. The first type consists of sale request, sale compliance and sale. However, uncompleted transactions can not be finished since sale is hardly to be accomplished. On the other hand, Uyghur as the commonly used language is still dominating in the transactions. Meanwhile code switching between Chinese and Uyghur holds a larger portion sharing a balanced distribution with Uyghur. In this sense, the results well embodied the progress made by bilingual education and language contact. Besides, language choice is obviously different between these two types of transaction in which language accomandation is apparent in completed transactions and both parties cooperate to achieve desirable results. But uncompleted transactions are not the case in point.The study takes the gender factor into consideration. Findings suggest that gender difference between buyers and sellers has impact on language choice. In completed transactions, female buyers tend to use Uyghur more than male buyers. As for the sellers'part, males are more likely to use Uyghur than females. In uncompleted transactions, there is an apparent difference between males and females from seller's perspective in which females incline to employ code switching. This tendency can be found in the buyers'dimension.