Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng chuyển mã ngôn ngữ của các giám khảo trong các chương trình giải trí trên truyền hình việt nam

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI NGAN A STUDY OF JUDGES’ CODE – SWITCHING ON VIETNAMESE TV GAME SHOWS Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng chuyển mã ngôn ngữ của

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

NGUYEN THI NGAN

A STUDY OF JUDGES’ CODE – SWITCHING ON

VIETNAMESE TV GAME SHOWS

(Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng chuyển mã ngôn ngữ của các giám khảo trong các chương trình giải trí trên truyền hình Việt Nam)

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

NGUYEN THI NGAN

A STUDY OF JUDGES’ CODE – SWITCHING ON

VIETNAMESE TV GAME SHOWS

(Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng chuyển mã ngôn ngữ của các giám khảo trong các chương trình giải trí trên truyền hình Việt Nam)

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DECLARATION

I hereby warrant and declare that the thesis entitled “A study of judges’ code

– switching on Vietnamese TV game shows” is my own work to the best of my

knowledge and belief It contains no material previously published or written by another person (except where explicitly defined in the acknowledgements) and has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This is my first experience for doing a thesis I would like to express my deepindebtedness to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thi Hang, for her wholehearted assistance This thesis would not have finished without her suggestions, corrections and encouragements

My special thanks also go to my all colleagues in Centre for Human Resource Development for Foreign Language Studies – Thai Nguyen University facilitate in

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ABSTRACT

This study examines the code – switching phenomenon practiced by the judges

in the context of Vietnamese TV game shows A mix of quantitative and qualitative approach was applied to obtain the research aims, i.e., the frequency, types and functions of code – switching My analysis of data shows that factors such as the time where the game shows took place, the theme of the game shows, the audiences for each show and the judges’ social background decide the frequency of the judges’ switching] Their switching have been classified into three types namely intra – sentential code – switching, inter – sentential code – switching and tag – switching These switches serve two main functions: discourse and social functions Sub-functions under each category have also been identified in the study

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES iv

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Objectives 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Scope of the research 3

1.5 Research struture 3

Chapter 2: Literature Review 4

2.0 Introduction 4

2.1 Bilingualism 4

2.2 Code – switching 5

2.2.1 Concepts of code – switching 5

2.2.2 Types of code – switching 6

2.2.3 Functions of code – switching 10

2.3 Summary 13

Chapter 3: Research methodology 14

3.0 Introduction 14

3.1 Research methodology 14

3.2 Data collection 15

3.3 Data analysis 16

3.4 Summary 17

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion 18

4.0 Introduction 18

4.1 Frequency of the judges’ code – switching 18

4.2 Code – switching types 21

4.2.1 Intra – sentential code – switching (type 1) 22

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4.2.2 Inter – sentential code – switching (type2) 24

4.2.3 Tag – switching (type 3) 26

4.3 Functions of code – switching 27

4.3.1 Discourse functions 27

4.3.2 Social functions 31

4.4 Summary 35

Chapter 5: Conclusion 36

5.1 Summary of key findings 36

5.2 Implications, limitations and suggestions for further research 37

References 39

List of tables

Table 3.1 Summary of game shows and episodes

Table 4.6 Judges’ tag – switching

Table 4.7 Functions of the judges’ code – switching

Table 4.8 A list of words for the judges’ qualification

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Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Rationale

“No nation in the world is completely monolingual” (Miriam, 2006) Vietnam,

a multi-ethnicnation with over 50 ethnic groups, is not an exception Besides, many foreign languages, i.e., English, Chinese and Japanese, are utilized in Vietnam Among these foreign languages, English is the most popular one which is used in both educational and non – educational settings The inserting of English to Vietnamese conversations between people, who share their first language, has been known as the phenomenon of code – switching This practice seems to be appropriately popular in social and educational, formal and informal situations

Vietnam is in the most brilliant stage of game show development Every year, hundreds of entertainment programs or TV game shows are screened According to Vietnam Television Audience Measurement (Vietnam – TAM) statistic figure, there are over 140 game shows published in Vietnam in 2016 (Vietnam-TAM, 2016)

Some well-known programs are The voice; Sing my song; The face Vietnam;

Vietnam next top model; The remix new generation They seem to be the one that

most Vietnamese audience watch and follow It is rather common to find Vietnamese people speaking both Vietnamese and English as illustrated in the following example:

Example 1.1:

Tôi rất thích đoạn chorus của bài hát của bạn

(I really like the chorus part in your song)

(Sing my song 2016, episode 1, 45:56)

Studies on the practice of code – switching in Vietnam are mainly found in the

language teaching and learning context Examples of these studies are English –

Vietnamese code – switching in tertiary educational context in Vietnam (Nguyen,

2012); Vietnamese university EFL teacher’s code – switching in classroom

instruction (Nguyen, 2013); Code – switching in English Language Education: Voices from Vietnam (Nguyen, 2016) However, little has been known so far

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concerning this practice on game shows It is observed that both judges and participants involved code – switching between Vietnamese and English rather frequently in interactions in their shows

Vietnamese authors tend to examine code – switching in fields such as education, social network, and so on, in both written and spoken language However, very few of them are interested in the code – switching on Vietnamese television This study, therefore, expects to grasp understanding of judges’ code – switching on Vietnamese TV game shows – a little part of language code – switching between English and Vietnamese

- To identify their kinds of code – switching

- To determine the functions of their switches

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1.4 Scope of the research

This study focuses on the phenomenon of code-switching employed by judges

in Vietnamese game shows, especially oversea licensed programs in which the young are interested In this research, 71 videos will be used and collect from some famous game shows which are The face Vietnam (2016), Sing my song (2016), Vietnam’s next top model (2015, 2016,), Master chef Vietnam (2015), Miss Universe Vietnam (2017)

1.5 Research structure

The research consists of five chapters, as follow:

- Chapter 1: Introduction

- Chapter 2: Literature review

- Chapter 3: Research methodology

- Chapter 4: Findings and discussion

- Chapter 5: Conclusion

2.1 Bilingualism

The notion of bilingualism in sociolinguistics has been accepted at least from three main perspectives The first group of scholars such as Mackey (1970), Romaine (1995) views bilingualism as any bilinguals who master two languages equally In other words, this concept focuses on the balance of the languages involved, or on fully – fluent bilinguals With an emphasis on the equal ability of a bilingual to speak two languages, Romaine (1995) asserts that bilinguals are those who have native – like control of two languages

The second group, in contrast, hold the idea that an individual’s ability to speak both languages despite having low proficiency in either of them can be seen as sufficient for him/her to be considered a bilingual According to Haugen’s (1953) view, bilinguals are individuals with proficiency in one language but with “the ability

to produce complete meaningful utterances in the other language” (p.7) This approach has been accepted by other authors such as Hamers and Blanc (2000) and Myers-Scotton (2006), who claim that rarely are speakers equally fluent in two languages

The third group of authors do not seem to approve of the two above opinions, not seeing the ability of bilinguals in two languages, ranging from a maximal proficiency to a minimal proficiency in a second language They, therefore, defined bilinguals without mentioning the speakers’ level of proficiency in either language,

as speakers using two or more languages alternately (Baetens Beardsmore, 1982; Edwards, 2004; Mackey, 2000; Romaine, 1995)

2.2.1 Concept of code – switching

The phenomenon of code – switching has been accepted at least from three main perspectives in bilingualism The first group of scholars defined code – switching only occurred among bilinguals That was the transfer of words from one language to another by bilinguals (Weinreich, 1953 – pp.73,74) Code – switching was identified by Gardner-Chloros (2009) as “the use of several language dialects in the same conversation or sentence by bilingual people” (p 4) Dialect here can be seen as a language code in sociolinguistic

The second group defined code – switching base on language proficiency of speaker It was the result of lexical gaps in both languages (Deuchar and Quay, 2000)

or result of lacking the appropriate lexicon (Brice and Anderson, 1999; Meisel, 1994) Speaker switched when there were two languages in the brain of certain individuals (Myers-Scotton, 1990) but their language proficiency was unbalance between the first and second languages

The most general definition of code – switching is “the alternate use of two languages or linguistic varieties within the same utterance or during the same conversation” (Hoffmann, 1991, p 110) That similar to an alternation of words and phrases between two languages or dialects in definitions of Myers-Scotton (1990), Gumperz (1982), and Wardhaugh (2011) Gardner Chloros (2009) defined code – switching was the use of various languages or dialects within the same sentence or conversation Similarity, code – switching is used to refer to the phenomenon when speaker “switch backwards and forwards between distinct code in their repertoire”

(Bell, 2014 – p.111) With the same perspective, Halmari (2004) called it was “the

mixing of two or more languages within the same conversational” (p.115) By means

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of juxtaposition, i.e., elements of different languages put next to each other, Gumperz (1982) defines conversational code-switching as “the juxtaposition within the same speech exchange of passages of speech belonging to two different systems or subsystems” (p 59)

2.2.2 Types of code – switching

Numerous scholars around the world classified the types of code – switching with other point of views Bloom and Gumperz (1972) differentiated two types of code – switching, namely situational code – switching and metaphorical code – switching (or conversational code – switching), on the basis of sociolinguistic factors Situational switching refers to circumstances where speakers switch languages due to

a change in the situation, such as a change in participant, topic or setting Metaphorical switching takes place in cases “the speaker decides to ignore the observable external situation and focus instead on less observable characteristics of code – switching of the people concerned” (Hudson, 1996, p 53)

In her seminal work, Poplack (1980) analysed the speech of 20 Puerto Rican residents, whose first language is Spanish, living in the United States of America to test a hypothesis concerning the degrees of bilinguals’ ability in English Poplack (1980) classified the Puerto Rican residents’ code – switching into three types: Intra – sentential code – switching, inter – sentential code – switching and extra – sentential code – switching, also known as tag switching

Intra – sentential code – switching occurs where switches of different types occur within the clause boundary, including within the word boundary The shift was done in the middle of a sentence, with no interruptions, hesitations, or pauses to indicate a shift The speaker is usually unaware of the shift This is the most complex type of code – switching, in Poplack’s view, mainly because of the high probability

of violation of syntactic rules, as well as the requirement of a great command of both languages and how they can map onto each other

Example 2.1 (switching Spanish and English)

Leo un magazine (I read a magazine)

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(Poplack, 1980, p 583) Inter – sentential code – switching refers to the switches at clause/sentence boundary, one clause being in one language, the other clause in the other (i.e., one independent clause/sentence in one language, the other in another language) In other word, the language switch is done at sentence boundaries – words or phrases at the beginning or end of a sentence This type is seen most often in fluent bilingual speakers

Example 2.2

Sometimes I'll start a sentence in Spanish y termino en Espaňol

(Sometimes I'll start a sentence in Spanish and finish it in Spanish)

(Poplack, 1980) Extra – sentential code – switching (or tag – switching) occurs when the speakers insert a tag, e.g “wow”, “yeah”, “you know”, “I mean” from one language into an utterance which is entirely in another language This type of code – switching

is very simple and does not require a great knowledge of both languages, since there

is a minimum risk of violation of grammatical rules

Example 2.3

But I wanted to fight her con los punos, you know

(But I wanted to fight her with my fists, you know)

One of these includes language classrooms in the multilingual context of Kenya Merritt et al (1992) used ethnographic observations of classroom interaction to explore teachers’ code – switching types These authors classified the types of teachers’ code – switching based on the content of the information of the switches in their instruction, rather the linguistic units or the social aspects, i.e., the situation and

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the topic Their inductive analysis suggested four types of code – switching They describe their first two types (type I and type II) as switches involving a whole sentence or interactional move i.e., switching across languages: English, Kiswahili and speakers’ mother tongue The third type (type III) is related to teachers’ translation or word substitution i.e., switching within a sentence The fourth type (type IV) is identified as teachers’ switches with interactional particles, including discourse markers (e.g., “now then”, “O.K.”, “All right”, “now”), and classroom management routines (e.g., “again, big voice”, “speak loudly”, “someone else”) (Merritt et al., 1992)

Merritt et al.’s (1992) type I and type II could be seen as Poplack’s (1980) inter – sentential code – switching (i.e switching between sentences) Their type III could

be Poplack’s (1980) intra – sentential (i.e switching within a sentence) However, their fourth type (type IV) does not appear to coincide with extra – sentential code – switching (i.e switching involving tags, fillers, etc.) in Poplack’s (1980) classification because they did not seem to consider such discourse markers as tags, but rather separate utterances

Other studies of code – switching in this context are Brice (2000); Rezvani & Raskh (2011) and Tayjasanant (2014) These studies also found the three types of code – switching classified by Poplack (1980)

In Vietnam, some authors recently examined this phenomenon For example, Nguyen (2013) and Grant and Nguyen (2017) analysed 12 English teachers’ speech and they found that they code – switched in five forms namely filler and tag switching, parts of an utterance, whole utterances, marginal code – switching and borrowing as code – switching Nguyen’s (2013) category of code – switching is in line with Poplack’s (1980) typology to the extent that the three types termed filler and tag switching, parts of an utterance and whole utterances fit in Poplack’s (1980) types

of code – switching Examples below are cited from Nguyen’s (2013) with respect to the three switching types

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Example 2.4

images] What are they?

T: Và tất cả các con đường dẫn tới mountains

(And all the roads lead to mountains)

(Nguyen, 2013, p 87)

Nguyen’s switching type 1 involved fillers/tags (i.e., “À” (Ah), “Ờ”(Er), “Ờm” (Erm), “Ừm” (Umm), “Ứm” (Umm), “Hừm” (Hmm)) or tags (i.e., “understand?”,

“right”, “okay”) The filler in example 2.4 is “Ờm (Erm)” and the tag in example 2.5

is “right” They are similar to the tag in Poplack’s typology

The switching involving parts of an utterance were in the form of a word or a group of words from one language that they inserted into an utterance in the other language That is, speakers were speaking in one language and, in the same utterance, they inserted a word or a group of words of the other language into that utterance, as example 2.6 Speaker was speaking in Vietnamese, and they inserted the English word “mountains” into their Vietnamese utterances In other words, this switches involving part of an utterance, i.e., single word in this case, occurred within an utterance

The third type of code – switching in Nguyen’s (2013) perspective was switching involving whole utterances That is, the speaker was using one language in

a utterance, then shift to another language in next utterance

In example 2.7, speaker was speaking in English, i.e., “language” is the first noun of

the compound, and then shifted to Vietnamese in the whole next utterance, i.e., ở đây

có một 1 cái danh từ ghép, đúng không ạ (one utterance was made in one language,

and the next utterance was in another language)

To date, there seems no evidence of the speakers’ switching in the contexts other than classroom setting in Vietnam

2.2.3 Functions of code – switching

Many people believed that code – switching may be the deficiency or lack of mastery of both languages of speakers However, as a common feature of bilingualism, code – switching serves different functions including discourse

functions and social functions

Discourse functions

In 1982, Gumperz suggested functions of codeswitching, including quotations, addressee specification, interjections, reiteration, and message qualification (Gumperz, 1982, pp.75-79)

First of all, Gumperz (1982) shows that code – switching has relevance in terms

of direct and reported speech Bilingual speakers quote a message in one language amidst the production of an utterance in the other language This is the function of quotations making Quotation is used when, for example, person A wants to report something person B has said; person A is talking in English but inserts the reported words of person B in Vietnamese

Secondly, code – switching can be used in addressee specification which means that by employing code – switching a person can direct his/her message to one of

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possible addressees (Gumperz, 1982) Addressee specification can be used with monolinguals and with bilinguals (Romaine, 1995) However, addressee specification can also be used to exclude someone by code – switching to a language no one else

in the group understands apart from the speaker and his/her addressee

Example 2.8

Where ‘nother knife? walima pocket-knife karrwa-rnana?

(Where’s the other knife? Does anyone have a pocket knife?)

(McConvell, 1988, p 135)

The example 2.8 was from a bilingual speaker living in an Australian village The speaker switches from Kriol (an English-based Creole spoken by Aborigines) to Gurindji (spoken in the Wave Hill area as 2nd or often 3rd or 4th language by Whites and Aborigines) His/her switch “walima” “karrwa-rnana” (Does anyone have a) implies the group of butchers who are indirectly spoken to (McConvell, 1988)

Thirdly, interjection occurs when code – switching is used to mark an interjection or serve as sentence fillers (Gumperz, 1982, pp.77-78) This can be tag – switching according to Poplack’s (1980) notion

Fourthly, reiteration occurs when a message is repeated in another language That is, the repetition may serve to clarify or emphasise a message

Finally, code – switching is also used to qualify a message That is, a message

is introduced in one language and qualified or expressed in another way in another language

Example 2.9

The oldest one, la grande la de once años

(The oldest one, the big one who is eleven years old)

(Gumperz, 1982, p 79)

The example 2.9 above is a sentence in English and Spanish, where the speaker

starts the subject in English (i.e., the oldest one) and switches to Spanish (i.e., la

grande la de once años) to qualify the subject

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Social functions

Social function is “the main cause for code – switching” (Auer, 1995) when speakers negotiate a change in social distance between themselves and other participants in a conversation (Hawazen, 2012) It performs in social relations between interlocutors, in establishing and maintaining social identity

As stated, Bloom and Gumperz (1972) classified code – switching to two types including situational code – switching and metaphorical code – switching (or conversational codeswitching) Although Myers-Scotton (1993) doubts about how these two functional types are classified, she notes that situational code – switching

is motivated by changes in factors external to the participants’ own motivations, and conversational code – switching is understood as a shift in topic and in other extra linguistic context markers that characterise the situation

Other authors (e.g., Auer, 1998; Baker, 2006; Hoffmann, 1991) also examined the phenomenon of code – switching and found other social functions of this phenomenon They found that code – switching can serve as a means for expressing group identity (an in-group marker) and solidarity with such a group (Auer, 1998; Hoffmann, 1991) As Myers-Scotton (1993), the different language choices used in other communities by speakers of different social backgrounds reveal different identities, or social roles Thus, social functions of code – switching can be understood as the functions that code – switching performs in social relations between interlocutors, in establishing and maintaining social identity In addition, Baker (2006) considers one social function of speakers’ code – switching as marking changes in attitudes or relationships with each other

In Nguyen’s (2013) study, she examined 12 teachers’ speech and found two main social functions of their switches, i.e., establishing good rapport and showing shifts in attitude The first social function, i.e., establishing good rapport, in her view

is when the speakers switched to joke, which had a positive effect on the listeners Such switches, from Nguyen’s (2013) perspective, served the purpose of building up

a good rapport between teachers and their students “The attitude shift included: commenting, criticising or even warning” (Nguyen, 2013, p.135) Similarity, some

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researchers, i.e., Flyman-Mattson & Burenhult (1996); Sert (2005), employed social function to refer to teachers’ switches that signal friendship or solidarity with their students

2.3 Summary

This chapter discussed two main phenomena including bilingualism and code – switching The first section gives an overview of bilingualism concept with three groups of perspective, i.e., the people use two languages in equal, the unequal in two languages proficiency of speaker, and the using of two or more languages alternately The next section provided a depth understanding of code – switching phenomenon in some aspects such as concept, types and functions The most common definition of code – switching was the alternation of two or more languages in an utterance or conversation Whereby, its classification were inter – sentential, intra – sentential, tag – switching (Poplack, 1980) or filler and tag switching, parts of an utterance, whole utterances, marginal code – switching and borrowing as code – switching (Nguyen, 2013) Code – switching served two main functions, including discourse functions and social functions

How do judges code-switch between Vietnamese and English in interactions on Vietnamese TV game shows?

Specifically, it deals with points as follows:

(1) The frequency of judges’ code - switching in their interactions with participants, also known as candidates, on Vietnamese TV game shows;

(2) The types of code - switching used by the judges on such game shows, and

(3) The functions their switches serve

The chapter begins with a brief presentation of the research approach, i.e a mix

of quantitative and qualitative research design It then justifies the methodology adopted in this study, which shapes the design in terms of the methods for collecting and analysing data The chapter ends with a summary regarding all points discussed

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A quantitative research in Kothari’s view is based on the measurement of quantity or amount It is applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in terms of quantity (Kothari, 1990) Interpretation of the information, to some extent, needs to

be evaluated through numbers, in Bhattacherjee’s language, statistics driven the researcher (Bhattacherjee, 2012)

On the contrary, qualitative approach is generally concerned with subjective assessment of attitudes, opinions and behaviour (Kothari, 1990; Hammersley, 1992) Researchers usually work with documents such as text data and request the researchers’ analytic and integrative skills and personal knowledge of the social context (Bhattacherjee, 2012)

In this study, I adopted the Kothari’s approach to the extent that I based on the analysis of numbers so that I obtain answers for my first and second research questions, i.e how frequently judges code – switch and what types of code – switching used The quantitative data were analyzed and processed using the Microsoft Excel software which helped count the number of code – switching instances Then, I classified the types of code – switching by adopting Poplack’s (1980) classification The qualitative approach was more clearly shown in my data collection and analysis of the functions of the judges’ switches in various situations

in the shows

3.2 Data collection

As stated, I collected information from six popular game shows These shows took place from 2015 to 2017 on Vietnamese television Table 3.1 below summarizes the game shows and the number of episodes collected and used for

analysis

Table 3.1 Summary of game shows and episodes

(mins)

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my work and collected enough data for this research

3.3 Data analysis

In Vietnam, various game shows have been flourishing over a period of 10 years, and there are shows with far more fans than others In my observation, the shows, which have been most interest of audiences, include Vietnam’s next top model, The face Vietnam, Sing my song, Master Chef Vietnam and Miss Universe Vietnam Many of these shows are adapted from Western shows This is the reason why I decided to choose these programmes as a source of information for analysis More importantly, I have chased these shows, seeing that the judges tend to insert

I could gain an understanding of how frequently they code – switched between their mother tongue and English Next, I made a list of the judges’ utterances in which there were switches In another table with no labels but numbers, I classified all the utterances on the list and based on the similarities and differences of the switching Then I compared my categories with Polack’s types of code – switching Finally, from my categories of the judges’ switching types, I attempted to reason why they code – switched and what function their switches served

3.4 Summary

A mix of qualitative and quantitative approach was adopted to this study as the

research methodology which frames my study, from designing the research (i.e formulating research question and collecting and analysing the information) to interpreting and discussing the results This helps to well address the research question and, thus, I was able to find the answers for all points concerning the frequency of the judges’ switching, the types of the switch as well as what functions that the switches take Details of what I found are discussed in the next chapter

4.1 Frequency of the judges’s code – switching

Five of the six game shows are evident in the judges’ code-switching The analysis of 71 video clips from five game shows revealed that the switching was not similar in all game shows There is no rule for the judges’ switching but depend on other elements With a total of 1123 instances of code-swich, on average, each video clip contains 15 However, the figures are not identical in every game show,

Total length of time (mins)

Code – switching instances