Memetic Interpretation To Chinese/english Code-switching In Computer Mediated Communication

Nowadays, as the computer is widely used and the internet developed with high-speed, computer mediated communication (hereinafter referred to as the CMC) becomes one of the most convenient ways for people to connect with each other. Recently, language phenomena appeared in Chinese netizens'CMC has thereby become a hot field for the linguists to research. Since 1970s, code-switching has caught the multidisciplinary attention. At present, we can easily find that Chinese/English code-switching has been frequently used in Chinese netizens'CMC and widely spread in Chinese websites. But the studies on it are less fruitful. The present study will talk about this language phenomenon from the memetic perspective, making a new supplement for the previous studies.The meme theory is a new theory based on the views of Darwinism for interpreting cultural evolution. According to Professor He Ziran, language is not only one of the carriers of memes, but itself is also a kind of meme. And it's highly significant in using the meme theory to observe the social and cultural pragmatical problems, for it could provide a particular interpretation to many language phenomena.The present study will memeticaly interpret the Chinese/English code-switching in Chinese netizens'CMC. At first, based on the authentic examples collected from various kinds of CMC, the present study sums up the basic categories and characteristics of the Chinese/English code-switching in CMC; then, the present study theoretically discusses the relationship between strong memes and Chinese/English code-switching in CMC and puts forward a hypothesis that Chinese/English code-switching in Chinese netizens'CMC is a kind of strong memeplex in that it could theoretically have the three features of successful memes; furthermore, in order to prove the hypothesis, the present study makes a questionnaire investigation on the website named"第一调查网"(www. 1diaocha.com) to collect data and the research is undertaken online with 1141 respondents; moreover, According to the data, the present study finds out that Chinese/English code-switching is very popular in CMC at present time, especially for the well-educated young and middle-aged netizens, and most of the netizens could understand and accept such expression in their own CMC and there is a variety of motivations hold by the users. This result can indicate that Chinese/English code-switching in CMC has the qualities of strong memes indeed. So, the analytical results are basically consistent to the theoretical hypothesis. In view of the foregoing, the present study finally affirms the previous hypothesis, and points out that the Chinese/English code-switching in CMC is a kind of strong memeplex which includes many different strong memes, resulting in the popularity of Chinese/English code-switching in CMC.