Analysis Of Code-switching Features In Pop Songs From The Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong SAR And Taiwan Province

Code switching, which refers to the mixed use of two languages in a single utterance, has become a prevalent feature of the lyrics of Chinese pop songs in the recent decades. This phenomenon has also aroused attention from the academic fields both home and abroad, as there are numerous studies on this topic from various perspectives, which have greatly improved understanding of this unique usage of language. With this background, the novelty points of this study are expected to perfect and broaden previous studies in the following ways:firstly, this thesis adopts the MLF model and the Typology theory, comparatively analyzing instances of code switching, which are in different forms and of different types, in pop songs from China’s three districts; secondly, it is reasonable to study some creative applications of code switching in pop songs of China’s three districts comparatively, as the three districts share the same Chinese culture while they have undergone different developments in the past decades.This present study collects 300 pop songs from China’s three districts of the mainland, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Taiwan province, with 100 from each of the three districts. What’s more, statistics in terms of the forms of English morphemes, letter or letter clusters, words, word clusters, sentences and paragraphs of code switching in Chinese lyrics are further compiled. On top of that, creative uses of code switching in the lyrics of these 300 songs are analyzed respectively.The results come as follows:firstly, pop song writers and singers from China’s three districts concerned in this thesis all demonstrate certain levels of cross cultural competences of integrating with the globalizing world, while such competence of the Taiwan pop song writers turns out to be the highest. Secondly, pop songs in these three districts have displayed unique applications of code switching parts in the lyrics, namely English used in pop songs as a neutral and global language; grammatical or spelling mistakes; code switching parts echoing Chinese culture, etc. Such multi-faceted creative applications of code switching indicate that code switching parts in Chinese songs are natural consequences of globalization, and that the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan district have all been participating actively in this increasingly globalizing world.To sum up, code switching in Chinese pop songs has reflected different features of pop song writers and singers of China’s three districts, and the commonness of these code switching parts indicates their active involvement in this globalizing world.