Code-Switching In Fashion Magazines In Taiwan With A Focus On Titles

• Main Authors: Lin, Fangyu, 林芳宇
• Other Authors: Huang,Li-Jung Daphne
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/66666154662203331902

碩士 === 靜宜大學 === 英國語文學系 === 100 === The purpose of this study is to examine the language contact phenomenon of code-switching in a written medium in Taiwan, that is, in fashion magazines. The socio-pragmatic functions and motivations of code-switching the article titles in selected fashion magazines in Taiwan were investigated. In addition, the distinctive features of English expressions were explored. Two research questions are raised in this study: (1) What are the features of English expressions in the titles of articles in the selected magazines? (2) What are the common uses and their functions of English-Mandarin code-switching in the selected magazines? The data were collected from 104 issues of the four selected fashion magazines. From each magazine, 26 issues published from May 2009 to July 2011 were collected, amounting to 104 issues in total. A total of 492 tokens of code-switching titles were collected from the articles in these issues. These tokens formed the data base and they were analysed according to the proposed research questions. According to the two research questions, two analyses were conducted. The analysis of the features of code-switching was conducted based on the classification of Danet (2001), with modifications based on Lin (2008) and Lai (2011). The analysis of the functions of code-switching was carried out based on the functional classification proposed by Appel and Muysken (1987), with modifications based on Gumperz (1987), Li (2000), Lin (2008), and Lai (2011). This research identified nine common features of English code-switching in the titles of articles in the Mandarin fashion magazines. These distinctive features are capital letters, abbreviations, onomatopoetic word, pun, lower cases, eccentric spelling, quotation marks for emphasis, English letters use as classifications, and conventional terms. Furthermore, a variety of functions including referential function, directive function, expressive function, poetic function, and reiteration were found. These findings show how the writers of the selected magazines employ different English expressions in the titles of the articles. The writers utilized the English expressions in the titles of articles mainly to attract the readers’ attention. Furthermore, the findings suggest that each English expression may exhibit multiple features, and the writers may also use English code-switching in Mandarin to serve more than one function.