A Study On The Code-switching Of Network Discourse From ADaptation Perspective

Along with the increasing development of the opening-up policy, our country contacts with outsides in various aspects such as economic, cultural and social factors. Meanwhile languages of various countries have their own impacts on Chinese. Code-switching as an unavoidable consequence of mutual influence of these languages comes into being. Code-switching refers to the phenomenon that communicators switch from one code to another in the process of interaction. This kind of phenomenon happens while people communicate with each other via internet as well. Network discourse is a set of signs that people use so as to communicate and exchange information via internet which is different from any other existing language variety. It is speedy and vivid. Therefore code-switching of network discourse bears both the features of code-switching and network discourse.There are two main aims in this paper. One is that it intends to explore the motivations of people who switch codes during communication via internet on the basis of Vershueren's Adaptation theory, and use Yu Guodong's Adaptation model of code-switching as the theoretical framework to analyze the naturally occurring data collected on the internet by qualitative method. Code-switching involved in this study is mainly in written form. Although communication via internet is distinct from the real-life interaction, netizens abide by the social conventions unconsciously while communicating with each other. And they switch codes out of their considerations of diversified linguistic expressions, historical and cultural traditions, social morals, and psychological motivations and so on. While there is no absolute one-to-one correspondence between the motivation and the behavior, people perform code-switching may motivate by various reasons simultaneously so to speak. That is to say, in certain specific situations different motivations work together to affect the behavior of code-switching.The other one is that this paper analyzes the different forms of code-switching of network discourse by collecting data on the internet. Diversified codes interact reciprocally on the internet, and the main forms of code-switching of network discourse are:Chinese/English code-switching; code-switching between Chinese and pinyin; mandarin/local dialect code-switching; Chinese/English/numerals code-switching which mainly involves switching among homophonic expressions; the last form is the code-switching between Chinese and Korean or Japanese respectively. Network discourse which is different from various existing varieties reflects the nature of people pursuing convenience, speed, graphic and vividness while communicating via internet.The present thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter One presents the research questions and the significances of the study, and data collection and research methods are also illustrated in this chapter. Chapter Two provides the reviews of code-switching and the relevant studies. Chapter Three is concerned with the theoretical framework of the present paper. Chapter Four explores the motivations of code-switching of network discourse in terms of adaptation model. Chapter Five analyzes the different forms of code-switching of network discourse. Chapter Six summarizes the findings and limitations of the present study.