Trilingual written code-mixing: social functions and language attitudes towards Chinese, English and Cantonese in Chinese press media in Hong Kong

Abstract

During the past thirty years, code-mixing (or code-switching) has been the central issue for investigation of bilingualism by many scholars and researchers in various fields such as linguistics, psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics. Most of the studies have been concerned with the varying grammatical constraints governing the language behaviour of code-mixing (CM), and what language choices or what 'rights and obligations' between speakers trigger the switch in conversational interactions. Much of the research has shown evidence that CM is not a behaviour of language deficiency or interference; rather it has its own functional and pragmatic meanings. In spite of the significant contributions in the area of conversational CM, research into written CM is still in its infancy. Most of the empirical works which have been completed are related to two languages. Very few studies have involved three languages and none of them has involved language attitudes towards CM behaviour in written texts.This study is two-fold: first, it examines the functions of written CM based on data collected from selected Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong. Three types of newspapers are analysed: 'quality' press, 'popular' press and 'financial and economic' press. This study is concerned with the 'hard news' in terms of local and international news items in which Cantonese and English are used as the 'guest' languages mixing with standard Chinese as the 'host' language. The theoretical frameworks are based on Gumperz's (1982) and Appel & Muysken's (1987) sociolinguistic perspective. This study argues that the social functions found in conversational CM are largely applicable to written CM. According to Gumperz, there are two types of switching, that is, situational and metaphorical. In situational switching, settings, topics, and participants are the three main components to affect the code choice. The results of this study show that code choice in newspapers is correlated to types of newspapers, news genres and targeted readerships. Cantonese CM has higher occurrences in the local news while English CM has higher occurrences in international news. In terms of metaphorical switching, nine functions of written CM are identified in this study.Second, apart from the investigation of news texts, attitudes towards written CM in newspapers are also examined thoroughly through questionnaire surveys undertaken in Hong Kong. Based on the concepts of Ferguson's (1959) diglossia, language purism and varieties, and social functions of CM, two sets of questionnaires are designed to elicit perceptions from readers and journalists alike. The results indicate that English CM is more acceptable than Cantonese CM in the community. An ambivalent attitude towards written CM shows that the latter is not acceptable overtly, but covertly it is acceptable by readers. According to the surveys, written CM is a communicative strategy, which is intentionally adopted by journalists to achieve functional purposes. The functions identified in CM news texts are in line with the results of the surveys.This thesis aims to shed light on the language behaviour of trilingual written CM. It hopes to provide both an understanding of the motivations and also the functions of using trilingual written CM in news coverage, and the attitudes taken both by the users and receivers towards CM in written communications. It will be encouraging to have additional in-depth studies from different approaches in the foreseeable future.