An Analysis Of Adaptations Of Code-switching Based On The Sitcom Ipartment:A Sociolinguistics Perspective

Code-switching is the product of linguistic communication and language contact of different ethnic groups through a long period.Many researchers home and abroad have mainly studied code-switching from the sociolinguistic,psychological,grammatical,pragmatic and conversational perspective.The present study uses the theory of Verschueren's linguistic adaptation theory(2000)to conduct a research in attempt to explore the adaptations of code-switching in the sitcom Ipartment from the aspects of gender variable,social class variable and audience.Each instance of code-switching is transferred from subtitles to texts,classified into different categories and the quantity of each category is counted.A questionnaire survey is used here not only to differentiate social classes but also to explore audience's attitude towards code-switching.Results indicate that males use more code-switching than females;The higher social class uses more code-switching than the lower social class.Most of the audience have realized the existence of code-switching.They believe that code-switching in this sitcom can not only contribute to present personalities of characters,show the traits of this sitcom and boost the rating points,but also to provide the audience with enlightens.This study reveals the adaptation of code-switching in sitcom Ipartment and has implications for later researchers.