A Sociolinguistic Study On Diglossic Code-switching In A Radio Program-be High On Fm101.1

Code-switching is a common and ordinary language phenomenonwithin a specific communication, and it refers to the alternations oflanguage varieties or languages within the same conversation. So far, thestudy of code-switching has been pursued from various aspects. Manyscholars have made a plenty of researches on bilingual code-switchingfrom the fields of conversational analysis, psycholinguistics, pragmatics,and so on, where they have scored plentiful achievements. A largenumber of researchers focus on the study of bilingual code-switching;conversely, there are less empirical researches on code-switching indiglossia than that of bilingual, and even fewer on media’scode-switching from the sociolinguistic perspectiveThis thesis is trying to explore how radio hosts switch codes betweenShaanxi dialect and Putonghua in the process of radio broadcasting withinthe theoretical framework of Myers-Scotton’s Markedness Model.Through a qualitative analysis of the data extracted from audio-recordings,the researcher carries out further discussions and analysis about theclassification and functions of code-switching, and then the authorsummarizes the features of code-switching between Shaanxi dialect andPutonghua. In this way, this study verifies that the MM is a comparativelycomprehensive theory of code-switching, which has an interpretativepower not only in bilingual code-switching but also in code-switching of diglossia. The Markedness Model theory posits that code-switching canbe divided into the marked and the unmarked, conceptualizing the rightsand obligations performed by the participants in a given conversation. Aspeaker’s choice of code experiences three filtering devices which arestructural constraints, markedness evaluator and rationality before thespeaker optimizes their choice, so their choice is regarded as a rational actto negotiate a best set of rights and obligations that may achieve a desiredeffect.The study on diglossic code-switching between Shaanxi dialect andPutonghua is pioneering in the diglossic situation in Shaanxi; also it canbroaden the area of studies on Standard Chinese and local dialects inChina. It is hoped that this research will advance a more systematic studyof diglossic situation and that the Markedness Model is demonstrated tobe capable of providing a sound interpretation of diglossiccode-switching in the radio program Be High on FM101.1.