Running head: CHINESE-ENGLISH CODE-SWITCHING IN MICROBLOG 1

The Chinese English Code-Switching in Microblog in China

Xiayu Guo

Colorado State University

Introduction

During the process of development and globalization, almost every Chinese person learns

some English expressions and it leads them to use two languages seamlessly when

communicating; this is called code-switching. In linguistics, code-switching occurs when a

speaker alternates between two or more languages in the context of a single conversation. In this

paper, I want to discuss code-switching between Chinese and English in Microblog in China.

Microblog is a popular social media platform in China, so the code-switching in

Microblog is closely related to pragmatics of computer languages. Linguistic study of

pragmatics in Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) began attracting serious attention

about 20 years ago (Herring, 2013). Herring put together the lecture for the 2007 International

Pragmatics Conference on the pragmatics of CMC. She was focused on three kinds of

phenomena: classical core pragmatic phenomena (e.g., implicature, relevance, speech acts,

politeness), CMC-specific phenomena (e.g., emoticons, nicknames), and CMC genres or modes

(e.g., blogs, SMS, wikis). In terms of Chinese-English code-switching in CMC, some Chinese

researchers have investigated the phenomena in online discourse such the research focuses on the

code-switching including the symbols, letters and numbers (Wei, 2007, cited in Luo, 2015). In

addition, some researchers made effort to investigate the motivation and grammar patterns of

Chinese-English code-switching through collecting and summarizing the data and found that

code-switching often occurs as insertion of English words (Chui, 2012, cited in Luo, 2015, p.17),

As for the researches of CE code-switching in Microblog, some research has been done based on

the adaptation theory. The research identified pragmatic functions of code-switching (Liang,

2013, cited in Luo, 2015, p.18)

Communication technology is increasingly moving beyond computers. Microblog, which

operates on cellphones, has gained popularity during recent years; therefore, the CE code-

switching in Microblog is worth exploring. In this paper, I would like to focus on the general

overview of Chinese-English code-switching. In the Microblog CE code-switching section, I will

introduce the features of Microblog briefly, identify classifications, and explore functions of

code-switching in Microblog.

The Overview of Chinese-English Code-switching

Before discussing code-switching, the notion of code should be identified. Code is a

language or a variety of language; it can be used to refer to any kind of system that two or more

people employ for communication (Wardhaugh, 2010). The increase in code-switching is one of

the most noticeable features of the situations in which New Englishes are emerging (Crystal,

2002, p.164). Sometimes code-switching and code-mixing may be regarded as the same thing,

but they are not. These two concepts are very similar, but not identical. Code-mixing is the

situation where one code enjoys a predominant role over the other in determining the morpho-

syntax of an utterance. Code-switching is the use of two or more linguistic varieties in a

conversation (Zhang, 2011, p.3). The difference is that in code-mixing, elements from one code

are integrated into another. The base code is dominant and speakers use the second code in an

addictive fashion. Elements from the second code tend to become assimilated (Blom &

Gumperz, 1972, cited in Zhang, 2011, p.4).

In China, CE code-switching appears in daily life, advertisements, as well as mass media

like broadcasts, TV shows and newspapers. Code-switching is related to and indicative of group

membership in particular types of bilingual speech communities (Auer, 2013, p.3). There are

some reasons for the popularization of CE code-switching. First, as a result of the deepening of
CHINESE-ENGLISH CODE-SWITCHING IN MICROBLOG 4

reform and opening-up policy in China, there is more economic and cultural communication with

other countries, particularly in western countries. English is a global language, so Chinese people

are very influenced by English expressions. Second, English is a major subject in Chinese school

education. Every student needs to learn English from elementary school, even some of them

study English in kindergartens. Because of the fact that English is so prominent in the Chinese

education system, Chinese people know enough of the two languages that they often perform CE

code-switching. Third, with the development of technology, most Chinese people started to use

technological products from the United States and Britain and they are exposed to the English

language online and via social media. In conversation, if they discuss technology, they will

switch their language to English.

The Definition and Features of Microblog

Microblog is a social application that has been brought into focus on cellphone recently.

It’s a very popular instant messaging system which enables people to send brief text messages in

the limit of 140 characters. Microblog fills the gap between blogging and messaging.

After blogging, people put their ideas online to friends or all audiences in Microblog.

Microblog enables everyone to exchange short messages within the community or simply to

write in brief to the general public on the web; it has three main functions (Zhang, 2011, p.18).

The first function is post-repost. People can repost to pass on worthwhile information, and the

ease of repost quickly builds large audiences. The second function is replies and direct messages.

Initially there is only a one-way broadcast from writer to follower; Microblog added a reply

function that turned it into a discussion group service. When someone replies to a posting, they

use the account name preceded by an @ sign. For example, @xiayu. Everyone can send other

users a private message called direct message. The last function is signs and hashtags. The
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hashtag symbol (#) is a prefix used to group posts together. People commenting about a

Microblogging event in New York used #nycevent in their posting, and all those messages could

be viewed as a group by searching for #nycevent.

As a new popular instant message system, Microblog has the following features (Zhang,

2011, p.19):

• Fragmentation writing. The most obvious feature of microblog is “mini”, the

content is expressed within 140 words. In traditional blog writing, bloggers are

used to develop very long paragraphs; this may become the “threshold” of blog.

Instead, Microblogging with simple questions appear, like “anything new you

want to tell others”, “what are you doing”. Without very good writing skills,

anyone can use Microblog to satisfy psychological needs. That’s one of the

reasons why Microblog has many users.

• Ease of use. Cellphone terminals make more convenient and swift. Microblog

provides a mobile binding service; users pay only the ordinary SMS expenses

according to mobile SMS charge standard. Users post 140 characters’ articles

which can express emotion exactly.

• The last one is the settings of topic market promote the construction of the public

sphere: Habermas (1989, cited in Zhang 2011, p.21) defined public sphere as the

place in which the public concerns are discussed; it is common sense to consider

the traditional blog as the public sphere. The appearance of Microblog takes a

new interpretation of this definition. Compared to the traditional blog, the

discussion on the Microblog is like the discussion in daily life. The construction

of the public sphere is strengthened in Microblog.

The Classifications of CE Code-Switching in Microblog

In this section, the phenomenon of Chinese microblogging in the case of the CE code-

switching is investigated. The data are postings in Microblog in Chinese and the embedded

language is English. I copied the microblogging without any changes.

According to the frame language model matrix (Myers-Scotton, 1993, cited in Li, 2013,

p.21), basically two types of code languages are embedded in the text. In general, there are three

classifications of CE code-switching in Microblog: sentence, words and acronyms (Li, 2013,

p.22). Under these three columns, there exist some detailed types.

The Sentence of CE Code-Switching

There are two types of code-switching in this classification: inter-sentential and intra-

sentential. From Zhou (2015), the ratio between two types of code-switching is disproportionate.

In Microblog, the inter-sentential code-switching is 30.5 %; while the intra-sentential is 69.5 %.

Code-switching level can be divided into higher and lower level according to the contact

between the two languages (Li, 2013, p.22). In higher code-switching level, the two languages

have close ties with the code to convert a large proportion than the sentences of code-switching.

Moreover, as it is mentioned above, one feature of Microblog is fragmentation writing. Users

only post feelings in few short sentences, so they don’t need to be highly educated. Therefore,

sometimes users have difficulty writing and understanding complex sentences in code-switching.

That’s one of the reasons of low percentage of inter-sentential code-switching. Here are some

examples of these two types. The following examples are collected from Microblog.

1) Inter-sentential code-switching

• Ru kou xin xi ji dui ying tui jian dan pin links in comments (HeyAppleSays, 2017).
CHINESE-ENGLISH CODE-SWITCHING IN MICROBLOG 7

The website link of the products I recommend is in comment.

• Wo xiang jin tian ying gai shi ge mei hao de yi tian. Have a good day guys (Malik, 2017).

I think today is wonderful. Have a good day guys.

2）Intra-sentential code-switching

2.1) Phrasal code-switching

o Dui bu xi huan de ren he shi say goodbye (LouLouDeGirl, 2017).

Say goodbye to the people who I don’t like.

o Wo huan gu si zhou, make sure bie ren dou dai le er ji (GanDaiBuLiaoYu, 2017).

I look around and make sure everyone is using earphone.

2.2) Words code-switching

o Bu ju tou de buddy cai shi zhen peng you (YingGuoBaoJie, 2017).

The buddy who is not a spoiler is a true friend.

o Hai you ban xiao shi party (HeyAppleSays, 2017)

There is half an hour left to party.

2.3) Morpheme code-switching

o Qi dai ing (AiQiYi, 2017).

Expecting.

The Words of Code-Switching

Mainly, there are seven types of words of CE code-switching in terms of part of speech in

English. According to Zhou (2015), the code-switching of nouns, adjectives and verbs are the top

three frequently used. The percentages are 84.48%, 8.84%, and 4.70%, respectively. One reason

might be these three categories can express the things that exist and people can easily understand

meanings. For example, in Microblog postings, there are many English words like cute, take,
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cite, follow appearing directly in English. However, there are some constraints for words of

code-switching. Chinese is an isolated language while English is an inflected language. For

example, English nouns have the plural form but Chinese words do not. If an English noun is

inserted in a sentence, the Chinese quantifiers are set before the singular form of the noun instead

of adding –s: Zhe shi liang bei coffee (These are two cups of coffee.). Similarly, the passive

voice of English verbs and the comparative/superlative degree of English adjectives are not

embedded as –ed, -er, -est forms. Microblog writers use zuo tian explain to express explained

something yesterday, zui nice and geng nice to express nicest and nicer.

By contrast, pronouns and conjunctions are in lowest frequency. Within conjunction

category, the code-switching of or is found. For example, Xia ban qu chi ri liao or xi can

(Should I eat Japanese food or western food after work?)? Within pronoun category, who is

always used, such as Who xiang chi? (Who wants to eat?)

The Acronyms and Abbreviations of Code-Switching

Acronyms and abbreviations often happen in microblogging. They are deeply rooted in

the minds of the general reader. The abbreviations and acronyms of code-switching typically

happen in verbal communication, but nowadays, people increasingly use it in short written

paragraphs such as those found in microblogging. For example, the expressions like GDP, email,

DIY, BBS, they are always abbreviated and embedded directly in Chinese Microblogging.

The Phrases of Code-Switching

Generally speaking, phrases, which take up 6.91% of the total code-switching are harder

to code-switch in Microblog (Zhou, 2015, p.64). According to Zhou (2015), in CE code-

switching in Microblog, code-switched noun phrases have the highest frequency; it’s 81.25%;

verb, prepositional, adjective and interjection phrases hardly occur perhaps due to two reasons.
CHINESE-ENGLISH CODE-SWITCHING IN MICROBLOG 9

First, it’s easier for Microblog writers to learn and apply noun phrases which have more

collocations with different categories, while other lexical categories demand higher requirement

if collocations are needed. Second, noun phrases representing things and concepts in life which

can be seen and felt. For example, Yin du de yi jia ka fei dian tui chu glitter cappuccino (There is

glitter cappuccino in café in India.).

The Functions of CE Code-Switching in Microblog

This section introduces what functions are realized in the process of CE code-switching

in Microblog. The Adaptation Model (Yu, 2001, cited in Zhou, 2015, p.63) will be applied. In

Adaption Model, there are three functions of code-switching in Microblog: adaptation to

linguistic reality, social conventions and psychological motivations.

The first one is adaptation to linguistic reality. Linguistic reality refers to the real

existence and nature of a certain language. The real existence of a language stands for the

linguistic elements and structures of language, and the latter refers to the features and properties

of those linguistic elements and structures in its right and/or compared with other natural

languages (Yu, 2001, cited in Luo, 2015, p.57). In term of CE code-switching, the adaptation to

linguistic reality can be divided into the adaptation to linguistic existence and features of both

Chinese and English (Luo, 2015, p.57).

The Adaptation to the Linguistic Existence of Chinese and English

Every language has unique linguistic elements and features. Therefore, we can find

lexical gaps between Chinese and English. People adopt code-switching as a useful

communicative strategy to fill the lexical gap to communicate better. The most common

adaptations in this category are foreign concepts and proper names. The CE code-switching

occurs when some concepts are created by English-speaking countries or named in English. For
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example, there is a posting form QQYinYue (2017): Zhe shou ge shi Indie Rock style (This song

is in Indie Rock style.). The music concept of Indie Rock comes from western culture. Indie

Rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. This term

is from an English-speaking country, and no equivalent Chinese expression can be found, so

people code-switch it in Microblogging.

Foreign proper nouns are existing in CE code-switching and these linguistic expressions

are regarded as a kind of linguistic existence. Mostly, there are two types of proper nouns in

Microblog. They are names of foreigners and foreign products. Microblog writers tend to code-

switch when they refer to celebrities from English-speaking countries. For instance, Wo ai

Taylor Swift (I love Taylor Swift.) (ABearOnAirplane, 2017). Besides that, Microblog writers

often use CE code-switching to present foreign-made products, especially those related to high

technology which do not have equivalent in Chinese. For example, gong si gei wo pei le tai

MacBook (My company gave me a MacBook.) (DavidLianXiZhe, 2013)

The Adaptation to the Linguistic Features of Chinese and English

Adaptation to linguistic features of Chinese and English refers to the performance of

code-switching that is triggered by the differences of semantic features of Chinese and English

(Luo, 2015, p.60). There exist subtle differences between Chinese and English counterparts for

some expressions and occasions: Zhou mo zai jia zhun bei presentation (I will prepare my

presentation.). Presentation is defined as “An activity in which someone shows, describes and

explains something to a group of people” (Merriam-Webster’s, 2016, p.1276). There is no

Chinese equivalent word to convey the exact meaning of “presentation”.

The second function is code-switching as adaptation to the social convention; it’s like

euphemism function. This function refers to the instances of code-switching produced as a result
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of people’s consideration of social conventions, among which culture is one of the important

elements. In this sense, social conventions are “the accumulated agreed ways of thinking and

behaving that are believed to be socially normal and acceptable by the majority of a special

society” (Luo, 2015, p.61). In society, our communication and behaviors are governed by

invisible rules, and the violation of these rules causes communication failure, so bilinguals adapt

CE code-switching as a strategy. The Microblog writers have social conventions in their mind.

For example, it’s impolite to use dirty words and discuss sex and sex-related topics in public. It’s

one of the social taboos, such as four-letter word, kiss, gay, these words are always code-

switched in Microblog.

The Adaptation to Psychological Motivation

This function refers to the speakers’ spontaneous motives or intentions hidden behind

performance of a specific act of CE code-switching (Luo, 2015, p.63). The writer’s

psychological motivation influences the construction of the discourse. Sometimes, code-

switching can be used as an authenticity keeping strategy. Microblog writers cite original

utterances in order to keep truthfulness. For example, Jin tian kou yu ke, wai jiao shuo, “Do you

have a map?” (Today, my American teacher in speaking class asked me, “Do you have a

map?”). Sometimes in student groups, when they transmit some foreign knowledge to the

readers, the Microblog writers normally produce knowledge-oriented code-switching. The

authenticity of the information cited is preserved successfully through this code-switching, such

as Pidgin shi shang hai zao qi sheng yi ren yu wai shang mai mai huo wu shi shi yong de shang

ye yong yu (Pidgin is a language that occurred between business groups in early Shanghai.). This

kind of code-switching can provide the bilingual receivers with a chance of getting a more
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complete and accurate understanding of the information presented, and is rather frequently used

in Microblogs when something unfamiliar to readers is introduced for readers’ reference.

Microblog is considered as a fashionable way to communicate. To some extent, the

words and expressions are measures to judge a person’s backgrounds. English has obtained a

status and the way of inserting English to Chinese in sentences somewhat represents a fashion

trend. Microblog writers embed English in Chinese sentences to attract readers. For example, the

abbreviation PK is always embedded in Chinese sentences. PK means “play killer”; it means

competition or defeat.

Conclusion

In this paper, the brief overview of CMC and Chinese-English code-switching, the

features of Microblog and classifications and functions of CE code-switching in Microblog are

discussed. To some extent, the functions of code-switching in Microblog answer why it appears.

In general, most Microblog users do not speak a second or third language very well, but the

growing number of code-switching in social network makes them catch this trend. The CE code-

switching in Microblog also reflects the cultural and interaction between the English-speaking

countries and China.

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