Abstract

In multicultural background, code-switching is an important language phenomenon in interactive social communication. Code-switching is not only an important means of conveying message; it also reflects participants’ cognitive language ability in social interaction. Therefore, investigation into this linguistic phenomenon is of practical significance.
The research is focused on code-switching in discourse strategy from the perspective of contextualization. Through studying Gumperz’s contextualization theory, we have obtained a general idea of its three main aspects: context, contextualization and contextualization cues. Since code-switching is a kind of contextualization cues, it can be interpreted from this angle, which underlies the theoretical framework of this study. Starting from two dimensions in the process of contextualization (time and schema), this research studies code-switching in discourse strategy from the perspective of contextualization and reveals its causes, purposes and function in social interaction. We have selected enough number of representative utterances from the popular U.S. sitcom The Big Bang Theory as examples of code-switching, in an attempt to analyse its function in conversation and identify its relationship with the context. By using the contextualization theory, we reveal the basic discourse strategy adopted by the main characters in the sitcom and how these characters have applied code-switching in social interactions. On the whole, this research is beneficial to non-native English speakers for gaining a better understanding of code-switching in cross-cultural and interactive social communication in the Internet age.

KEYWORDS:code-switching; context in social interaction; contextualization theory; contextualization cues

摘  要

在多元文化背景下，多重语码和语码转换是互动交际的重要组成部分。语码转换不仅是传递信息的重要手段，也标记出交际者对多语码的认识水平和应用能力。因此，对语码转换这一语言现象的研究具有实践意义。
这篇论文从语境化的视角研究日常会话中语码转换的应用。通过考察甘柏兹的语境化理论，我们对它的三个核心组成部分—语境，语境化过程和语境化提示有了大致的了解。语码转换作为一种特定的语境化提示，为本研究奠定了理论基础。我们从语码转换作为解读语境的重要线索出发，描述语境化过程的两个维度（时间上的和框架上的）在语码转换过程中的体现，进而着手研究会话中语码转换的原因、目的、形式及手段，揭示它在会话交际过程中所起的作用与意义。通过选择和摘录出美国喜剧《生活大爆炸》剧本中的人物具有代表性且数量充分的对话，分析素材中语码转换所实现的功能并进行相应的分类，以揭示剧中人物所采用的基本会话策略和产生的交际效果，进而把语境化应用于实践中，并因此对语码转换在互动语言交际中的作用有了更好的了解。总体来说，本研究为母语为非英语的人士在互联网时代中跨文化交际和互动的语境下，更好地理解和使用语码转换提供必要的帮助。

关键词:语码转换；互动语境；语境化理论；语境化提示