A Study On Adaptability Of The Chinese-English Code-switching In Chinese Internet Advertisements

Among the previous researches on code-switching, pragmatics is believed to provide a comprehensive research perspective when compared with other traditional approaches. Moreover, previous studies on Internet advertisements are mainly conducted from the perspective of mass communication and less value has been put to the code-switching in the Internet advertisements. The main body of this thesis is devoted to the analysis of Chinese-English code-switching in the Chinese Internet advertisements through the framework of adaption theory and the adaptation model of code-switching. All the samples of100pieces of Internet advertisements were collected at random from eight domestic websites including four web portals and four e-commerce websites.This thesis conducts the qualitative analysis on the collected samples. The conclusion indicates that in Chinese Internet advertisements, the Chinese-English code-switching as adaptation to linguistic conventions is mainly attributed to the irreplaceability of URLs which come into being under the unique circumstances of Internet; the occurrence of Chinese-English code-switching as adaptation to the social conventions is due to the purpose of advertisers in avoiding taboos and conveying message in implicit expression; and the Chinese-English code-switching as adaptation to the psychological motivations is evoked mainly by the purpose of marketers in drawing attention, pursuing linguistic economy and establishing identity.The present study aims at exploring the pragmatic functions and motivations of Chinese-English code-switching in the Chinese Internet advertisements, furthering the understanding of code-switching in Chinese Internet banner advertisement and provide guidance to those who are engaged in the creation of the Internet advertisements on the communicative strategies when adopting code-switching in discourses so as to realize their communicative goals.