A Study On Chinese-English Code-switching In Micro-blogs From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

The phenomenon of code-switching has attracted much attention of researchers from different perspectives since 1970 s,including sociolinguistics,grammatics,psycholinguistics,conversational analysis and pragmatics.They have made extensive and profound studies on it.This present study is based on Verschueren's theory of adaptation and Yu Guodong's Adaptation Model.It analyzes and explores the adaptation of code-switching in micro-blogs from the perspective of pragmatics.The data is collected from the top 100 influential micro-bloggers' 1000 cases of blogs according to the statistics and data on Micro-roll of the Hour.From these examples,the author concludes some features of code-switching in micro-blogs such as categories and forms.The aims are to explore the potential reasons why code-switching happens and to probe into the pragmatic functions of code-switching,while verifying the feasibility of Yu Guodong's Adaptation Model in micro-blogs and making a scientific explanation for this linguistic phenomenon.The thesis adopts both quantitative and qualitative research methods.Specifically,the study uses quantitative methodology to reveal the forms and frequencies of Chinese-English code-switching in micro-blogs.It uses qualitative methodology to analyze the adaptability of code-switching and verify the Adaptation Model.Micro-bloggers fulfill their specific communicative goals by adopting Chinese-English code-switching in micro-blogs as a linguistic choice and communicative strategy.They adapt to linguistic reality,social conventions and psychological motivations.In the process of adaptation,the code-switching also performs some pragmatic functions including filling lexical gaps,filling semantic gaps,avoiding social taboos,soothing the tone,saving face,expressing strong feelings and so on.To a certain degree,the whole study firstly develops and verifies Yu Guodong's Linguistic Adaptation Model and also proves that pragmatics,which is a new approach of research on code-switching,includes the linguistic,social and cognitive aspects.Secondly,this study helps people to understand more about the phenomenon of code-switching in micro-blogs.Thirdly,the study reflects the influence of the language of English upon the language of Chinese in the development of modern China,and it also provides certain enlightenments for people's effective use of code-switching as a communicative strategy.