A Study On The Evolution Of Code Switching Of Malaysian Chinese In Malacca

Code-switching has been commonly used among the multilingualcommunity of Malacca for many generations. Hence, this study aims to explorethe main reasons of the existence of such phenomenon within that area, byanalyzing its principal local features (occurrence, frequency and vocabulary)and comparing its usage within different social sub-groups (social classes,gender, education level). In addition, this project includes a case study thatexamines the use of code-switching among the new generation of Malacca’smultilingual community by describing its characteristics (occurrence, frequency,vocabulary) and attempts at highlighting the underlying motives and the localdevelopmental trend of code-switching. Data were collected into a corpusthrough interviews and observations of Chinese-Malaysians in Malacca.A comparative analysis of the integration of code-switching in the languageof the old and young generation of Chinese-Malaysians in the area shows thatthe young generation use code-switching more frequently, integrating moreEnglish words and less Malays and local Chinese dialects words. Socialtransformations are one of the main reasons causing such differences. As amatter of fact, a change in language status following social reforms over theyears, technological development and higher education all contributed to changepeople’s standard of living, which in turn influenced communicationinteractions. Furthermore, different age groups show different language learningabilities and proficiencies.The phenomenon of code-switching in Malacca is unique and verycharacteristic of the area. Such mode of communication inter-mixing differentlanguages has become a symbol of the Malaccan Chinese community. Hence,this research project provides a natural linguistic phenomenon sample to thelinguistic research community.