Mandarin/Dialect Codeswitching In Family Setting

The object of the present study—mandarin/dialect codeswithing in family setting, here, simply refers to a particular language phenomenon, i.e. in order to perform some specific communicative functions and achieve some specific communicative goals, family members code switch from mandarin to dialect or dialect to mandarin. The mandarin/dialect codeswtiching in family setting has long existed as a result of language contact and occurs commonly in Chinese families. The present study is of great importance, and it can contribute to a better understanding of the codeswtiching itself and broaden the research coverage of codeswitching, thereby, it will fill one of the scientific blanks about codeswitching studies.This thesis is a pragmatic analysis on mandarin/dialect codeswithing in family setting. Based on Verschueren's linguistic Theory and Yu Guodong's adaptation model, we want to further study mandarin/dialect codeswitching in the modern city intra-family talk. What we aim to achieve through the present study are as follows: Firstly, the data will be used to illustrate how the proposed pragmatic model operate in the process of communicator's manadarin/dialect codeswitching in intra-family talk. Secondly, try to find the general pattern in the mandarin/dialect codeswitching in family setting, that is, family members' default code, more specifically, who talks to whom about what in what language. Thirdly, the family members' language attitude and the main factors which triggered the mandarin/dialect codeswitching in intra-family talk will be examined in Chapter Seven based on statistical analysis.Methodologically speaking, the present study is both theory-driven and data-driven, and it involves both qualitative and quantitative method.Thequalitative aspect lies in the analysis of the adaptability of family members' mandarin/dialect codeswtiching.The whole process begins with the collecting of the natural data, then categorize them and observe the linguistic characteristics and functions of them. The reason why we employ the quantitative method is that we want to minimize the subjectivity of the present study. In the present study, a quantitative method is exploited in Chapter Seven in the course of generalizing the motivations of mandarin/dialect codeswtiching in family talk and also the family members' attitude towards the mandarin/dialect codeswtiching in family talk. The employment of both qualitative method and the quantitative method is based on the consideration of increasing the reliability and validity of the present study.The present conceptual framework is based on the Verschueren's Theory of Adaptation and Yu Guodong1 s adaptation model of codeswitching from the pragmatic perspective. Family members' mandarin/dialect codeswitching is regarded as a kind of linguistic choice and a strategy that can be exploited by family members to achieve certain communicative goals.The objects of mandarin/dialect codeswitching adapt to are categorized into three types, namely adaptation to linguistic reality, family functions and psychological motivations.The pragmatic functions that mandarin/dialect in family setting can perform are also explored in the analysis of its adaptability. In order to minimize the subjectivity and make the research more reliable, a statistics analysis will be conducted.