Luận văn Thạc sĩ Vietnamese English code switching in blogs by young beauty bloggers in Vietnam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES NGUY ỄN THỊ KIM CHI VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH CODE-SWITCHING IN BLOGS BY YOUN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUY ỄN THỊ KIM CHI

VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH CODE-SWITCHING IN BLOGS

BY YOUNG BEAUTY BLOGGERS IN VIETNAM

Hi ện Tượng Trộn Mã Việt-Anh Trong Các Bài Viết Blogs Về

Làm Đẹp Của Một Số Blogger Trẻ

T ại Việt Nam

MA THESIS Major Thesis

Major: English Linguistics Major code: 8220201.01

HÀ NỘI – 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUY ỄN THỊ KIM CHI

VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH CODE-SWITCHING IN BLOGS

BY YOUNG BEAUTY BLOGGERS IN VIETNAM

Hi ện Tượng Trộn Mã Việt-Anh Trong Các Bài Viết Blogs Về

Làm Đẹp Của Một Số Blogger Trẻ

T ại Việt Nam

MA THESIS Major Thesis

Major: English Linguistics Major code: 8220201.01

Supervisor: TS Nguy ễn Thị Thu Thuỷ

Declaration

I, hereby declare that this written thesis is all my own work except where I indicate otherwise by proper use of quotes and references and has never been submitted to any other institution This thesis has been submitted for examination with approval from the candidate‟s supervisor

Nguy ễn Thị Kim Chi

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to acknowledge my most sincere gratitude towards my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, without whose kind support and invaluable guidance, this thesis will be in complete failure Her unfaltering encouragement and genuine motivation have planted great inspiration in me in fulfilling this research

I am also forever indebted my most profound appreciation and gratitude to my family, who has not for one moment resigned faith on me I was so blessed with constant moral support to eventually reach the end of the thesis

Finally, I would like to express my deepest thanks to the Faculty of Graduate Studies, without whose support and assistance, I would not have been able to complete my whole journey of MA study as well as this MA thesis

ABSTRACT

This research attempts to investigate the language behavior of Vietnamese-English code-switching behavior presented in blogs, a typical mode of computer-mediated communication belonging to young beauty bloggers in Vietnam Although there have been exhaustive numbers of definition regarding the issue in question, the definition of code-switching in the study was adopted from Myers-Scotton‟s stating that code-switching is a term to refer to the alternations of linguistic varieties within the same conversation In this research it is displayed through the genre of written text The first goal of this study is to describe the presentation in which the linguistic patterns of Vietnamese-English code-switching are exhibited in journal entries written by five blog owners The second purpose aims at evaluating the social functions that are positioned in such switches As a result of this study, it is discovered that Vietnamese-English code-switched language in blogs is in fact an extension of language in spoken interaction, and there are some distinctive features

in the distribution of major parts of speech regarding noun, verb and adjective insertion in the language contact Switches for idiomatic expressions are also evident In addition, examples on the social functions of clarification, quotation, interjection, and repetition under unmarked choices of code-switching are identified and explained with in-depth illustrations

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract iii

Table of Contents iv

List of Abbreviations vi

List of Figures and Tables vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the thesis 1

1.2 Aims and objectives 3

1.3 Scope of the thesis 4

1.4 Method of the thesis 5

1.5 Design and structure 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Definitions of Key Terms 8

2.1.1 Code as Language Variety 8

2.1.2 Code-switching 9

2.1.3 Code-switching and Code-mixing 10

2.1.4 Code-switching and Borrowing 12

2.2 Literature on Code-Switching 14

2.2.1 Literature on Structural Approach 15

2.2.2 Literature on Functional Approach 17

2.2.3 The Thesis‟s Theoretical Framework 24

2.3 Review on Related Studies 25

2.3.1 Studies on Code-switching in Social Network Context 25

2.3.2 Studies on Blogs and Blogging 26

2.4 Summary 29

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 30

3.1 Methods of the study 30

3.2 Subjects of the study 32

3.3 Data Collection 35

3.4 Data Analysis Procedure 37

3.5 Summary 39

4.1 Findings 40

4.2 Linguistic Presentation 43

4.2.1 The EL noun in ML + EL constituents 45

4.2.2 The EL verb in ML + EL constituents 48

4.2.3 The EL adjective in ML + EL constituents 50

4.2.4 The entire EL islands 53

4.3 Functional Presentation 56

4.3.1 Code-switching as unmarked choice 56

4.3.2 Code-switching for clarification 58

4.3.3 Code-switching for quotation 59

4.3.4 Code-switching for interjection 60

4.3.5 Code-switching for repetition 60

Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 62

5.1 Summary of Findings 62

5.2 Significance of the Research 63

5.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research 64

REFERENCES 66 APPENDICES I APPENDIX A: Transcription Conventions I APPENDIX B: Transcription Sample II APPENDIX C: Text Identification Sample III

List of Figures and Tables

List of figures

Figure 1: The Continuum for Levels of Borrowing in Code-switching Utterances

(Poplack et al., 1987) 13

Figure 2: Four different quadrants of blogs 28

Figure 3 Sample segmentation and en-pos run results 41

Figure 4: Summary in the total use of code-switching 42

Figure 5: Comparison in the use of total CS among five subjects 43

Figure 6: Distribution of EL nouns in ML + EL constituents 45

Figure 7: Distribution of EL verbs in ML + EL constituents 48

Figure 8: Distribution of EL adjectives in ML + EL constituents 51

List of tables Table 1 Distinction between code-switching and code-mixing 12

Table 2: Poplack‟s (1980) Identification of Code-switching Based on the Type of Integration into the Base Language 12

Table 3: Description on Subjects‟ Details 33

Table 4 : Coded Scheme for Collected Data Error! Bookmark not defined

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the thesis

The study of code-switching has been ubiquitous for over several decades and has still received a significant amount of attention from researchers universally now Among major scholars working both intensively and extensively on the topic, Gumperz (1977; 1982), Poplack (1978; 1980; 1987), Myers-Scotton (1992; 1993; 1995; 2002) and Muysken (2000) Milroy & Muysken (2012) are most acknowledged and prolific authors to provide insights to the subject matter of code-switching from both structural and sociolinguistic approach Even though each author has their different theories in defining and clarifying code-switching from their ground approach, one universal truth is made clear: code-switching is a popular linguistic behavior occurring at either utterance level or at discourse level, towards which code-switching is familiarized with the term intra-sentential (when the switch is made within sentences) and inter-sentential level (when the switch is across sentences)

On the one hand, there is the majority of studies on code-switching situations from sociolinguistics (or ethnographic) descriptions On the other hand is the volume of research conducted on grammatical analyses of code-switching to underlie universal rules, models and explanations of the patterns in the switch A more recent branch emerging in studying code-switching is the pragmatic and conversation analytic approach in which most of the researchers attempt to identify the meanings of this language alternation in conversations (Gardner-Chloros, p.10) Scholars from the first approach, typically Gumperz (1977), believes that the outcome of language contact situations is determined by social and economic variables, either due to the relative prestige of one variety as opposed to another or its association with a more powerful group (Gardner-Chloros & Gardner-Chloros,

2010, p.42) Advocates of the second approach also encounter various challenges in explaining the phenomenon from a universally acute explanation Problems with grammar are placed centrally in the universalness of grammar itself The third

approach sees the rise in the accountability for the social circumstances that affect the form of the language alternation Affluent work by Muysken (2002) as well as other projects under this branch have looked at code-switching from further sociolinguistic determinants, specifically from 1-conversational/pragmatic motivations; 2- social psychological influences; and 3- gender preferences (2010, p.65) Each approach would step further in providing more practical evidence proving that their theoretical frameworks work, and with that different streams of research would emerge

However different each author may follow in their approaches, one similarity remains unchanged, that is to highlight the importance of studying code-switching

as a linguistic behavior and a social phenomenon In addressing the significance of this increasingly controversial issue (Gardner-Chloros & Gardner-Chloros, 2010), each researcher apparently has their major claims and proposals While the prominent author of the 1970s - Gumperz (1977) asserts that understanding code-switching helps providing insights to understand the functioning of human signs in communication, the social symbols in verbal interaction and the role of speech variation in human groups (Gumperz, 1977, p.31), pioneer in grammatical approach Poplack suggests that “code-switching, rather than representing a debasement of linguistic skill, is actually a sensitive indicator of bilingual ability” (1980, p.581) Others even do further research in order to acknowledge the ideological values of this bilingual behavior (Salzmann & Auer, 2000) Thus, Muysken (1995) strongly advocates that there are significant effects related to the characteristics of the contributing varieties and the combination of more or less closely related languages – different pairings provide different opportunities and difficulties at a linguistic, and in particular at a syntactic level

Similarly, the study of webblogs, or blogging, or blogs, has welcomed various opportunities for novice researchers and experienced scholars alike Webblog (blogs), a social media network, is the online platform and technology that people use to build social networks by communicating with others via sharing experiences,

increasing exponential since mid-1999 and fueled by reports from the mainstream media of the grassroots power of blogs as alternative news sources (Huffaker & Calvert, 2006) Thus, blogs are well suited to serve as on-line personal journals Pinkman (2005) [cited in (San, 2009, p.30)] indicates that blogging becomes communicative and interactive when participants assume multiple roles in the writing process, as writers who write and post, as readers/reviewers who respond to other writers‟ posts, and as writer-readers who, returning to their own posts, react to criticism of their own posts Although blogs can be placed in secured environments, readers in turn can comment on what they read The act of self-publishing in blogs encourages ownership and responsibility of the writers, who may be more thoughtful (in content and structure) if they know they are writing for a real audience It is considered ideal to create blog as a means of studying, sharing or self-expressing Alternatively, following others‟ personal pages would also be more intriguing than creating one‟s own Such cases are often in evidence when blogging

is by no means a new method of communicating among young people but a shared community where people of certain expertise write about topic-related issues Beauty bloggers, in this sense, have emerged in a follow suit

Given the fact that the majority of blog entries by beauty bloggers are in Vietnamese, English can be often seen at various points Blogs‟ owners are often in their mid-20s and early 30s, which associates with the fact that they were relatively around 1980s and 1990s-born – the time when English has already been introduced

to Vietnam as a mandatory subject, and students are required to study English from early ages Apparently, throughout their blog entries, the phenomenon of language contacting between English and Vietnamese does frequently occur This is the reason why the research aims at investigating the behavior of code-switching in the context of webblogs among Vietnamese beauty bloggers community

1.2 Aims and objectives

As within the small scale of a minor thesis in applied linguistics, the research is obviously incapable of covering a large scale of every single blog and blog entry in

the beauty community in Vietnam This study, however, focuses more on generally well-received blogs generated by widely accepted beauty writers aged 25-35 (the quality of well-received is defined by the number of followers in each page – averagely 10,000 and above) Additionally, for the collecting data of the study to be conducted thoroughly, entries with the occurrence of code-switch rather than randomly chronological posts are chosen as the primary material for valid and reliable linguistic analysis

This minor study aims to discover Vietnamese-English switching performances available in blogs created by popular and well-followed beauty bloggers in Vietnam In other words, typical patterns of structurally-engaged and socially-motivated code-switching will be investigated Therefore, the study is to answer the following question:

How is Vietnamese-English code-switching in blogs written by selected beauty bloggers presented?

In particular, two sub-questions derived from the research question are going

to be answered and explained:

(1) What linguistic patterns do the switches present?

(2) What functions do the switches serve?

1.3 Scope of the thesis

First, beauty bloggers community is a huge network consisting of mostly people aged between 25 and 35 with determined passion and enthusiasm in creating confident and fashionable look This community is millions worldwide, making it a large society influencing both locally and internationally According to roughly made statistics, the number of bloggers worldwide have reached around 500 million, among which beauty bloggers should account for a large portion A beauty blogger would often have their own channels on several different platforms, namely Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, or Twitter, where they update brief updates, real-

are done more thoroughly and intensively Within the scope of this study, only written entries on personal webpage are employed for research and analysis Any vlogs (or video blogs, another form of doing blogging through Youtube channel) or status updates (another form of written entries carried out primarily on Facebook and Instagram) would not be considered proper for the study, which might open doors to various other studies

Secondly, in Vietnam, beauty bloggers, sometimes are referred to as social influencers or beauty gurus, are many in number This quantity may reach as high

as hundred people In order to secure the validity and reliability that the researcher can commit, a total number of five popular candidates is considered to be feasible and more compatible

All in all, the main subject of this study is written journals/ entries on blog pages completed by bloggers in beauty industry with 10,000 followers or more A collection of posts in which the alternation between Vietnamese and English occurs will be examined accordingly

1.4 Method of the thesis

The study intends to follow the approach of qualitative orientation with discussions and explanations being the most significant part, centering around the purpose of providing insights into the issue Quantitative analysis, however, also plays an indispensable role in implementing such intention

To start with, due to the small scale of the research, the subjects are five beauty bloggers (criteria for selecting these five would be thoroughly considered and illustrated in chapter 3) These beauty workers are from 20 to 35 years of age, having worked intensively in the field of writing and promoting beauty products for

a certain time period; and having a large number of followers on their fan page (mainly on their Facebook page, a popular social platform as mentioned previously) Their written (not videos or Vlog) reviews on their pages will be the key subject of the study These five beauty bloggers, first, would have agreed in advance as to whether they are willing to allow their entries to be collected as data

for the research; and second, would be renamed for the ethical purpose of doing research

As bloggers are as productive as they could in producing at least one entry per week, the number of posts and entries would have reached hundreds, rendering it a great amount of data for the feasibility of the study Thus, a collection of ten written texts involving code-switching from each author will be retrieved regardless

of their chronological order and length Topical theme for each entry is as diversified as the blogger could go, which means providing that there exists language alternation in the entry, that entry would qualify for the data analysis This would open more room for data collection and result discussion

All of the entries collected for the study were originally produced in the form of personal journals, so another important step is to code the entries accordingly with the authors This is to secure confidentiality for the blog owners This stage would

be followed by the analyzing process by using tokenization and pos-tagging tool to categorize switches into major parts of speech, namely nouns, verbs, adjectives, and others Tabulated data will then be converted into charts for visual illustrations and elaboration

Results will be presented with supplementary charts and illustrations, followed by in-depth analysis and discussion

1.5 Design and structure

This thesis is organized into the following chapters:

structure of the study

code-switching and its closely related term code-mixing and borrowing in the context of bilingual and multilingual community In this chapter, the researcher also provides

a broad picture of what has been researched regarding the topic of code-switching

Chapter 3 presents the methodology issues including the subjects of the study and the subject selection criteria, data collection procedures, and the data analysis process

Vietnamese-English code-switching in journal blogs for the purpose of promoting and reviewing beauty products and beauty tips Underlying social functions for the employment of such language alternation method would also be presented and explained accordingly

findings, the study‟s significance, followed by implications and suggestions for further research studies in the same area

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter discusses in detail a review of the literature on the topic of switching The first section of the chapter is assigned to clarify several key definitions regarding language varieties, bilingualism, and the central term of code-switching in companion with its frequently-confused counterpart, borrowing The second part, which is also the emphasis of the chapter, is dedicated to describing and explaining major theoretical frameworks about code-switching from both structural and sociolinguistic approaches, followed by the researcher‟s comment and summary on which framework is applied for the study Last section of the chapter provides a more dimensional view on the picture of researching about CS from various contexts and purposes A concluding segment is then drawn upon previous frameworks and studies to close the chapter

code-2.1 Definitions of Key Terms

As with any aspect of language contact phenomena, research on code-switching is flooded by the thorny issue of terminological confusion Apparently, not all researchers use the same terms in the very same way as their approach varies, nor

do they agree on the scope covered by terms such as code-switching, code-mixing,

distinction between the terms code-switching and borrowing on the one hand and code-switching and code-mixing on the other Several criteria have been proposed

to distinguish between these two pairs of concepts which will be illustrated in the later part of this chapter Thus, before looking at them more closely in the next section, a consideration of the definitions of some basic terms in language contact would be of immediate necessity

2.1.1 Code as Language Variety

The term varieties, as Wei Li (2013) puts it is a catch-all term which covers

different languages, dialects, accents, registers and styles speech (Wei, p.156) The

author of the book Applied Linguistics also stated that language varieties can be

grouped into written or spoken categories, standard or non-standard ones, or can be varieties used for communication between people who do not share a mother tongue or varieties that develop between people who have no common language at all For this research, the term of language varieties is exactly what has stated above

It is certain that the study of language alternation, or in this case is code-switching,

has been resourceful over the past several decades In one single search-click on academic works related to the subject, there appear over 86,000 search results in the database of <scholar.google.com> As (Nilep, 2006, p.2) has put it in his overview “the term code-switching has been based on a strict identification

between the notions of code and linguistics variety, be that a language, dialect,

style, or prosodic register.” This view was also agreed upon by other authors when

the term code is described as a relatively neutral conceptualization of a linguistic

variety

In short, the term code used in this research generally refers to a specific language

variety, which in this case are Vietnamese and English language

2.1.2 Code-switching

Many attempts have been made in settling a most agreed-upon definition for the term of code-switching To name a few are Sridhar & Sridhar (1980), Poplack (1980), Gumperz (1982), Myers-Scotton (1993), Milroy and Muysken (2000), Gardner-Chloros (2010), and Bell, A (2014) 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) In sociolinguistic branch, each dialect can be seen as a language code In this perspective, code-switching is identified by Gardner-Chloros (2010) as “the use of several language dialects in the same conversation or sentence by bilingual people” (p 4) Similarly, code-switching is used to refer to the phenomenon in which

“speakers switch backwards and forwards between distinct codes in their

repertoire” (Bell, 2014, p 111) This author also considered code-switching to be a complex and skillful type of language choice, which involves the accomplished handling of two or more languages simultaneously – structurally, psychologically and socially By means 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” (Gumperz, 1982, p 59) Muysken (2000) prefers using other terms, “insertion” and “alternation” to refer to the process of mixing elements from different languages (p 1), whereas refers to code-switching

as “the rapid succession of several languages in a single speech event” Scotton (1993) believes that insertion is one form of borrowing, in which the difference, if any, between mixing and borrowing is the size and type of the element inserted Meanwhile, Poplack (1980) views alternation as the switching of codes between turns or utterances

Myers-This research adopted Poplack‟s 2001 revisited definition of CS in her review on

the linguistic study of code-switching included in the International Encyclopedia of

“the alternation, by bilinguals (or multilinguals), of two or more languages

in discourse, often with no change of interlocutor or topic And that such alternation may take place at any level of linguistic structure, but its occurrence within the confines of a single sentence, constituent or even word.”

(Poplack, 2001, p.2062)

2.1.3 Code-switching and Code-mixing

Code-switching (CS) and code-mixing (CM) are most important features and studied speech processes in multilingual communities A frequently made distinction between code-switching and code-mixing has been conducted over and over through decades, though the line has been drawn in different ways Definitions

well-may vary, but both adopt the term “code” which was accepted by linguists from the field of communication technology, referring to “a mechanism for the unambiguous transduction of signals between systems”, similar to what switching of language signifies a system used by bilingual speaker-hearer in everyday communication Therefore, term “code” is frequently used nowadays by the linguists as an

“umbrella term for languages, dialects, styles etc” (Gardner-Chloros, 2010, p.11)

In addressing these two terms, two popular schools of distinction have been developed The first one viewed CS and CM from the involvement of linguistic features Specifically, some reserved code-switching for cases where the two codes maintain their monolingual characteristics and used code-mixing for those where there is some convergence between the two (Gardner-Chloros & Gardner-Chloros,

2010, pp 12–13) In other words, code-switch exists when there are no changes in the linguistic units of any language varieties in the speech event Code-mix, however, requires the cases where lexical items and grammatical features from two languages appear in one sentence The second view was proposed by Sridhar and Sridhar (1980) and Bokamba (1989) when they used code-mixing for alternation within the sentence and code-switching for alternations going beyond the sentence borders

In terms of linguistic features preservation

Code-switching

maintains monolingual characteristics

Tớ thấy vô cùng confused với hướng

dẫn sử dụng mới của sản phẩm

Code-mixing

contains convergence of linguistic units

Hướng dẫn sử dụng sản phẩm mới

thật quá hoang mang-ing

In terms of sentential boundary features

Table 1 Distinction between code-switching and code-mixing

Since more recent work has not focused on differences between these two terms, this research will refer to the all the switching between languages (i.e., whether it

be within topics, paragraphs, sentences, etc.) as code-switching In other words, the

term code-switching (with a hyphen in between) will be used as an umbrella term in

the remainder of this paper to cover the phenomena of alternating between two languages or dialects of the same language within the same conversation

2.1.4 Code-switching and Borrowing

On the one end of the spectrum is Poplack (1980) with her argument that lone other-language items are fundamentally different from longer stretches of switches

the recipient language as criteria for establishing the status of such single words

On the other end, other researchers (Bentahila & Davies, 1983; Myers-Scotton, 1995), on the other hand, have chosen to deal with the problem by claiming that the perceived distinction between the two processes is not really critical to analyses of bilingual speech ((Boztepe, 2002) Moreover, unlike the former, they acknowledged single-word (i.e., insertions) and multiple-word (i.e., alternations) occurrences as two forms of CS, rather than as distinct processes to be distinguished from each other

Table 2: Poplack’s (1980) Identification of Code-switching Based on the Type of

Integration into the Base Language

Type

Levels of Integration into Base Language

Code-switching? Phonological Morphological Syntactic

According to Poplack and her supporters, borrowing and CS are in fact based on different mechanisms Using participant observation performance data of CS from the bilingual Puerto Rican community in New York City (Poplack et al., 1988), she proposed three types of criteria to determine the status of non-native material in bilingual utterances These include whether or not single lexical items from a donor language in code-switched utterances were (1) phonologically, (2) morphologically,

and (3) syntactically integrated into what she called the base language She

identified four possible combinations of integration as shown in Table 1, which is often referred to as the table for identification of code-switching In this table, the term code-switching is as the language alternation between two language varieties,

or two codes

At the other end of the continuum are those who claim that assimilation may not

always be the defining criterion to distinguish borrowing from CS Myers-Scotton

(1992, 1995) rejects morphosyntactic integration as a basis for distinguishing between CS and borrowing because she sees them as universally related processes such that both concepts are part of a single continuum She therefore argues that a categorical distinction between CS and borrowing need not be made, yet she proposes frequency as the single best criterion to link borrowed forms more closely with the recipient language mental lexicon She also disagrees that one of the major characteristics of borrowed items is to fill lexical gaps in the recipient language Instead, she argues that not all established borrowings actually occur due to the perceived absence of an equivalent term in the recipient language culture

Figure 1: The Continuum for Levels of Borrowing in Code-switching Utterances

(Poplack et al., 1987)

The important point in Myers-Scotton‟s argument is that, unlike Poplack, she does not see CS and borrowing as two distinct processes, nor does she see such a distinction to be critical Indeed, there seems to be very little reason to distinguish borrowing from code-switching for purposes of formulating grammatical constraints on the surface syntactic level After all, there are more similarities than differences between the two concepts This does not of course mean that morphological and syntactic integration are not reliable criteria to distinguish the two processes However, it may be impossible to systematically categorize instances of foreign elements as either CS or borrowing

All in all, this study is bound to follow the trend stating that efforts to distinguish codeswitching, codemixing and borrowing are unnecessary, and that it is crucial that we free ourselves of the need to categorize any instance of seemingly non-native material in language as a borrowing or a switch if we want to understand the social and cultural processes involved in CS

2.2 Literature on Code-Switching

Over the past decades, the study of code-switching, henceforth CS, or the alternate use of two or more languages in conversation has developed in two distinct but

related directions: Structural and Sociolinguistic While the structural approach to

CS is primarily concerned with its grammatical aspects (Poplack, 1980; Sankoff, Poplack, & Linguistic Research, 1981; Bentahila & Myers-Scotton, 1995;

MacSwan, 2005), the sociolinguistic approach constructs their theories on attempts

to explain why bilingual speakers produce their utterances the way they do (Blom

& Gumperz, 1972; Nishimura, 1995; Salzmann & Auer, 2000) It should be noted

at the outset, however, that these approaches are not in contradiction, but complementary to each other (Nilep, 2006, p.2) The structural approach tries to identify the structural features of morphosyntactic patterns underlying the grammar

of CS, whereas the sociolinguistic approach looks beyond formal interests, to the social and cultural functions and meanings of language use

Others, most prominently (Milroy and Muysken, 1995; Muyksen, 2000) seeks to explain the phenomenon from a more pragmatic point of view In the scope of this study, some of the major theories will be chronologically discussed with their framework on how CS is built and developed

2.2.1 Literature on Structural Approach

Myers-Scotton: Code-switching and the Matrix Language Model

2.2.2.1 Key terms

Matrix language

The second thing needing clarifying in Myers-Scotton theory is matrix language and embedded language definition In identifying the matrix language (ML), Myers-Scotton proposed that ML is the language that projects the morphosyntactic frame for the utterance in question (1993, p.486) However, this is more operational

in terms of the ML Hypothesis and the Blocking Hypothesis, which will be discussed later in this section In this sense, ML might be recognized as the first language of the speaker or the language in which the morphemes or words are more frequently produced in speech Matrix language is also considered to be the language that determines the syntax of a code-switching instance and its presence is obligatory in the instance In another summarizing report, the ML was originally determined by a quantitative criterion It was said to contribute the greater number

of morphemes in a discourse sample consisting of more than one sentence (Gardner-Chloros & Gardner-Chloros, 2010, p 101) After certain criticism and revision, the ML is identified under the morpheme-type criterion in which the ML was said to provide the function words, except within EL “islands”

Embedded language (EL)

The embedded language in the alternation of code-switching, on the other hand, can

be either one language variety or more This is identified as the code of a lesser

degree of contribution in the CS instance According to Myers-Scotton, EL helps to fulfill the code-switching instance in the formula of the MLF framework

2.2.1.2 The MLF model

Prior to Myers-Scotton, many researchers had tried to determine whether there were structural constraints on the point in a sentence to which a switch might occur The scholar herself and colleagues also developed a grammatical theory to state the structural constraints for CS, which is called the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model The following section is dedicated to explaining the major concepts constructed in this theory

The three constituents’ classification

To start with, in assigning the participating languages as the MLF status, Scotton categorized intra-sentential code switching into the three different kinds of constituents:

Myers-(a) the Matrix Language island, which consists of only the ML; they show

internal structural dependency while meeting ML well-formedness conditions

(b) the Embedded Language island, which consists of only the EL; and must

meet EL well-formedness conditions

(c) the mixed ML+ EL constituent, which consists of items from ML and EL,

categorizing into two patterns: (1) a singly occurring lexeme from the EL embedded in any number of ML lexemes, or (2) an EL island (typically a noun + modifier) within a larger ML frame

(Myers-Scotton, 1993, p 486)

It should be noted that the first two are called “islands” because the codes are

strictly from one language while the third constituent is called “constituent” rather than “island” because the morphemes from two languages are mixed in one segment

Myers-Scotton‟s (1995) technical definition of CS captures the very aspect of asymmetry: “CS is the selection by bilinguals or multilinguals of forms from an embedded language (or languages) in utterances of a matrix language during the same conversation” (p.4) The central assumption behind Myers-Scotton‟s model is that code-switched utterances have an identifiable matrix language, and that there is always an asymmetrical relationship between the ML and EL

2.2.2 Literature on Functional Approach

A Gumperz: Code-switching and Contextualization

John J Gumperz, in the field of sociocultural linguist, has been immensely influential in the study of code switching His work on code switching and contextualization in particular, has also been significant in the fields of sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and the sociology of language

As abovementioned, in defining code-switching (CS), Gumperz (1977) acknowledged the “juxtaposition of passages of speech belonging to two different grammatical systems or sub-systems, within the same exchange” (1977, p.1) In his argument, the scholar asserted that the situation in which a speaker use code-switching is due to the fact he is inclined to reemphasize the message or response to his partner in exchanging information The phenomenon occurs within a single sentence of two distinct grammatical systems, but the messages remain clear and understandable to whosever receives the them

In his analysis, Gumperz tried to separate conversational code-switching from

recognized when distinct varieties are employed in certain settings such as home, school, work, and is largely associated with separate bounded kinds of activities, namely public speaking, formal negotiations, special ceremonials, verbal games This type of CS is also indicated by being spoken with different categories of speakers, ranging from friends, family members, strangers to social inferiors or government officials (1977, p.3) One comment for this type of CS is that in carrying on the daily affairs, only one code is used at one time It is also noted that,

in some cases of situational alternation, passages in the two varieties may be preceded by the other within a relatively short lifespan When such cases happen, norms of code selection tend to remain relatively stable In another remark, Blom and Gumperz (1972) in their co-written work with Hymes, posited that social events, defined in terms of participants, setting, and topic, “restrict the selection of linguistic variables” in a manner that is somewhat parallel to syntactic or semantic restrictions That is, in particular social situations, some linguistic forms may be more appropriate than others Among groups of men greeting each other in workshops along the fjord (inlet), the variety of language used differed from that used by teachers presenting text material in the public school, for example It is important to recognize that different social events may, for example, involve the same participants in the same setting when the topic shifts Once again, this type of shift, wherein a change in linguistic form represents a changed social setting,

California, the items in the chunks form part of the same minimal speech act, and the message elements are tied by syntactic and semantic relations which are identical to those joining the passages (Gumperz, 1977, p.4) The implication here

is that the relationship of language usage to social context is much more complex Rather than concerning with highly salient grammatical systems, Gumperz is more concerned with the communicative effect of what the speakers are saying He pointed out that the social norms of rules which governs language usage may seem

to belong to grammatical rules on the surface, but under the tip of the iceberg, the speakers presumably build on their own and the audience‟s abstract understanding

of situational norms to communicate metaphoric information And that is how

Gumperz concludes the message is conveyed through CS

Since conversational code switching is not agreeable to intuitive methods, and not strictly relatable to macro-sociological categories, Gumperz (1982) argued that close analysis of brief spoken exchanges is necessary to identify and describe the

communities, the scholar suggested a list of six code switching functions which

“holds across language situations” but is “by no means exhaustive”

Function 1: Quotation

Code-switched passages can be clearly identified as direct or indirect speech At some points, the switch can be in full quotation (Gumperz, 1977, p.14)

Function 2: Addressee Specification

Code-switched passages are performed to direct the message to one of several possible addresses in the audience

Function 5: Message qualification

Code-switched passages are used in sentences where switches consist of qualifying construction as sentences and verb complement or as predicates

Function 6: Personalization versus Objectivization

Code-switched passages occur when the code contrast relate to such things as: the distinction between talk about action and talk as action, the degree of speaker involvement in, or distance from, a message, whether a statement reflects personal opinion or knowledge, refers to specific instances or whether it has the authority of generally known fact

Notably, Gumperz contributed a significant job in providing a list of functions for code-switching in general, however, this fails to identify the relationship between

forms and functions The list is helpful in understand the conversational purposes

of the alternation, but to understand why switching occurs as it does, further analysis is required

B Myers-Scotton: Code-switching and the Markedness Model

Another affluent theory in the sociolinguistic approach, Myers-Scotton‟s

incorporate the micro- and the macro- perspectives into CS research According to Myers-Scotton, [originally 1993, revised in Lipski & Myers-Scotton (1998)], each language in a multilingual community is associated with particular social roles, which she calls rights-and-obligations (RO) sets By speaking a particular language,

a participant signals her understanding of the current situation, and particularly her relevant role within the context By using more than one language, speakers may initiate negotiation over relevant social roles Myers-Scotton assumed that speakers must share, at least to some extent, an understanding of the social meanings of each available code If no such norms existed, interlocutors would have no basis for understanding the significance of particular code choices (Nilep, 2006) Following

Grice‟s (1975) cooperative principle, she formulated a negotiation principle as

underlying all code choices in bilingual speech, for which she claims universality and predictive validity: “Choose the form of your conversation contribution such that it indexes the set of rights and obligations which you wish to be in force between speaker and addressee for the current exchange” (1998, p.21)

The Markedness Model (MM) is based on the assumption that both speakers and analysts are able to distinguish between marked and unmarked codes or choices Myers-Scotton (1998, p.22) explained that all speakers have a „markedness evaluator‟ which consists of a cognitive capacity to evaluate markedness In order

to be able to conceptualize markedness speakers need to develop two abilities:

(1) the ability to recognize that linguistic choices fall along a multidimensional continuum from more unmarked to more marked and that their ordering will vary, depending on the specific discourse type;

(2) the ability to comprehend that marked choices will receive different receptions from unmarked choices (Myers-Scotton, 1998)

Speakers acquire these abilities through contact with both marked and unmarked codes Consequently, speakers need to be exposed to the use of marked and unmarked codes in community discourse in order to learn which codes are expected

to be used under which circumstances The markedness evaluator can be regarded

as an additional filter which occurs in between the structural constraints of the first filter and the rationality of the second filter (Myers-Scotton, 1998, p.34) In order to

be able to decide which code will have the best overall outcome in a particular situation (second filter) a speaker must first know whether the code is marked or unmarked (markedness evaluator) MyersScotton also claims that the markedness evaluator further biases „the selection of alternatives from the initial, structurally determined opportunity set, this time in terms of „„successes‟‟ or „„failures‟‟ based

on the actor‟s previous factual experience, facts previously categorized in an unconscious cost-benefit analysis‟

In order to elaborate for the model, Myers-Scotton proposed several related maxims

to account for such switching phenomena In her article (Myers-Scotton, 1993), four maxims are proposed as below:

(a) The Sequential Unmarked Choice Maxim: Switch from one unmarked

code to another when situational features change during an interaction such that the unmarked choice changes

(b) The CS as an Unmarked Choice Maxim: Maintain a pattern of switching

between codes when the unmarked rights and obligations balance for participants is that indexed by both codes, not one alone

(c) The Marked Choice Maxim: Switch to a marked choice in order to

negotiate a different rights and obligations balance than the one indexed by the unmarked choice

(d) The Exploratory Choice Maxim: In the less conventionalized exchanges

where an unmarked choice is not obvious, use CS to propose one or more

codes, each the unmarked index of a possible rights and obligations balance for the interaction

(Myers-Scotton, 1993, p 480)

As in (b), as the author claimed, such CS happens in many bilingual communities, but by no means in all as a universal pattern While unmarked CS is reported to occur when speakers have social profiles encompassing the identities associated with two languages, and have the desire to signal these identities, marked CS is believed to be negotiations to change the social distance Very often, marked CS is employed as certain moves to increase social distance, expressing anger by invoking the authority associated with the code to which the switch I made (1993, p.484)

Further example of marked and unmarked codes can be exemplified with Scotton‟s [2002a: 209 in (Redinger, 2010, p 63)] analysis of code-switching between English and Chichewa in a Malawi family living in the United States Chichewa is identified as the parents‟ unmarked code during home conversations as

Myers-it constMyers-itutes the most frequently spoken language by the parents Only 6 percent of the father‟s and 7 percent of the mother‟s utterances are English-only (Myers-Scotton, 2002b, p 210) Myers-Scotton (2002b) explains that this identification of Chichewa as the unmarked code based on simple frequency counts is supported by the parents‟ language attitudes, which were assessed in a follow-up interview The parents described their conscious efforts to speak Chichewa at home with their children in order to maintain their indigenous language The children, on the other hand, largely speak English at home as approximately 70 percent of their utterances are English-only The identification of English as the children‟s unmarked code is not only supported by these frequency counts but also by the children‟s attitudes towards English as the language awarding them independence from their parents However, both children switch to Chichewa at various points during family conversations in order to fulfil temporary goals For example, during an argument between the two children one of them addresses their father in Chichewa, the

support from the father This temporary switch to the marked code constitutes an example of a speaker abandoning their prior attitudes (i.e preference for English)

in order to achieve a temporary goal (i.e receiving support)

Although socio-psychological factors such as language attitudes and speaker identity are incorporated in the Markedness Model, critics of this model argue that the Markedness Model is based on the assumption that all speakers have an innate

„markedness evaluator‟ which allows them to evaluate which codes are marked and unmarked in any given interaction Which means the Markedness Model requires the analyst to make assumptions about each individual speaker‟s knowledge and understanding of the speech situation Code-switching is then explained on the basis of the analyst‟s assumptions about speakers‟ internal states (including shared judgments about rights and obligations) rather than its effects on the conversation at hand Further, he points out that empirical studies have failed to reveal the strong correlations between particular languages and speech activities that the Markedness Model predicts (Redinger, p.65)

Both Myers Scotton‟s Markedness Model and Gumperz‟s distinction between „we codes‟ and „they codes‟ in bilingual interactions form part of what Cashman [2008:

276 in (Redinger, 2010, p.64)] terms the „symbolic approach‟ to language alternation Symbolic approaches employ speakers‟ macro-level identities in order

to explain language choices Macro-level identities are defined as the speaker‟s

„membership in social categories such as sex-based, racial or ethnic groups Symbolic approaches are based on the idea that speakers exploit the social connotations attached to the various codes in order to make meaning in interaction Researchers employing this alternative approach to codeswitching refrain from basing any interpretations of multilingual language behavior on socio-psychological factors such as attitudes and identity or on theoretical constructs such

as rationality

2.2.3 The Thesis’s Theoretical Framework

It is without doubt each theory has expanded its significance on its own merits In other words, each theory, whether structural, conversational analysis (CA), or sociolinguistic all has distinctive strength and weaknesses Some may focus heavily

on the linguistic features that seemingly ignorant of the contexts while others may talk so majorly from CA perspective that may be unable to provide a universally generic structure Apparently, one theory cannot address and satisfy one behavior entirely and universally As formerly discussed, there have been two major approaches, namely structural and sociolinguistic, to the study of CS universally: First framework is MLF by Myers-Scotton in relation to classifying the codes in the code-switched behavior into three categories:

(a) the Matrix Language island, which consists of only the ML; they show

internal structural dependency while meeting ML well-formedness conditions

(b) the Embedded Language island, which consists of only the EL; and must

meet EL well-formedness conditions

(c) the mixed ML+ EL constituent, which consists of items from ML and EL,

categorizing into two patterns: (1) a singly occurring lexeme from the EL embedded in any number of ML lexemes, or (2) an EL island (typically a noun + modifier) within a larger ML morphosyntactic frame

In this theory, the researcher adapted the categories, but chose to analyze on the

lexeme or word level instead of the characteristics of morphosyntactic features

mentioned due to the nature difference of isolating and inflected languages between Vietnamese and English

Second framework is Scotton‟s Markedness model in terms of unmarked choices and Gumperz‟s six groups of social functions, namely quotation, addressee

2.3 Review on Related Studies

There have been innumerable studies on the subject of code-switching between the two languages or two language varieties (could be three or multi-languages alternation) Within the small scope of this research, it would be difficult to discuss the essence of such a wide range of studies related to code-switch Several broad contexts in which code-switching is frequently recorded in multilingual communities may include daily situational settings, classroom setting, and social network establishment Thus, in this research, a review of the last group was conducted to form a more direct link to the topic of the thesis statement

2.3.1 Studies on Code-switching in Social Network Context

On the platform of electric-mediated writing, Halim & Maros (2014) conducted their research on code-switching on Facebook, a popular social site Their reason is that many studies on code-switching over the past decades have focused on its spoken context, but few on its written production And by investigating the occurrence of CS on electric writing (which is on social network), the two researchers aimed to examine the code-switching functions performed by five Malay-English bilingual users in their Facebook interactions within one year from status updates posted by the bilingual users on their Facebook wall As presented, this study primary purpose is on the functions of code-switching rather than how it

is formulated or the distinctive features of written CS, how CS in written text is different from spoken recorded one

On another virtual platform, Kosoff, Z (2014) studies the use of code-switching in Egypt when Twitter users switch multilingually among Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA), English, and Arabizi In the findings, among the selected Twitter users, Arabizi is less likely to be employed as it is considered to be a very informal writing system and is consequently associated with ECA, another considered-informal language On the contrary, MSA is reported to be acknowledged as a formal and traditional language of higher education In other words, the results of the study showed that Twitter user‟s tweets

can reflect the socioeconomic and educational background of the Twitter user‟s target audience A shortcoming of the research is the small and indistinctive group

of participants, which in this case include a primary group of prominent activists, bloggers famous venues and restaurants, and other followers of the first initial group Again, this study helps to illustrate a snapshot in the use of code-switching over social networking sphere, and such research is an essential contribution to the whole bigger picture

Still on the use of alternation in Arabic languages, Eldin (2014) conducted a sociolinguistic study of code-switching among Arabic language speakers in social networks His study attempted to examine the concept and functions of code-switching in electronic contexts as used by Arabic-English bilingual university students in their Facebook interactions The study showed that participants switched codes for several reasons, such as showing solidarity with a social group, distinguishing themselves, participating in social encounters, discussing certain topics, expressing feelings and affections, and impressing and persuading the audience Eldin (p.82-83) outlines 10 reasons for code-switching: (1) lack of facility; (2) lack of registral competence; (3) mood of the speaker; (4) amplifying and emphasizing a point; (5) habitual expressions; (6) semantic significance; (7) showing identity with a group; (8) addressing a different audience; (9) pragmatic reasons; and (10) attracting attention His finding corresponds to Blom and Gumperz (1972) that code-switching requires speakers to be fully competent in the two languages In summarizing his report, Eldin points out that code-switching is a natural phenomenon that not only occurs in bilinguals‟ speech, but also in their electronic discourse It can be concluded that code switching not only apparent in spoken discourse but also in online written discourse and the reasons for switching codes are similar to those of verbal communication (2014, p.85)

2.3.2 Studies on Blogs and Blogging

A blog (a contraction of the term „weblog‟) is a web application which allows users

internet users writing blogs in Vietnam was more than three million, accounting for 31.7% of the whole population (Cimigo Netcitizens‟ report, 2010) It is also reported that Vietnam is rapidly moving online, with the Internet penetration of 49,063,762 people, accounting for 52% of the population (Internet Live Stats 2016) The young generation seems to be the most active group, since 95% of the population in the 15-24-year age group being counted as internet users (Evans 2015) This number may have fallen over years after the emergence and rise to popularity of other social platforms such as Facebook or Instagram On the contrary, writing more professional journals sharing knowledge and experience about beauty products, beauty routines or lifestyle has risen to attract more attention in recent years While previously, people chose to write blogs for sharing personal stories and circumstances or viewpoints on topic of general interest, after the peak time, mainly blogs dealing with more expertise requirements remained In addition, 54% of Internet users have a habit of reading blogs and reviews when

looking for a needed product This is exceptionally true with beauty blogs

Blogging, the act of maintaining a weblog, is more preferred to diary-writing or bulletin-posting as the posts are listed in a reverse chronological sequence (Herring,

2005, p.142) As Blood (2002) suggested, blogs have a considerable number of uses: at one end of the spectrum there is the personal blog, a vehicle for self-expression and self-empowerment as well as a record of an individual‟s daily life, thoughts and feelings; at the other there is the corporate blog which is maintained

by an institution While Blood categorizes blogs into basically three types: filters, personal journals and notebooks, other authors have different approach to the grouping For Herring et al (2005), blogs are a hybrid of genres; many blogs are a combination of public and private, personal and professional A personal blog covers various kinds of linguistic activity (Crystal, 2006, p.242) It can be a diary/journal, or it can be used to catalogue creative writing In order to explain the writing style used in personal blogs, Crystal (pp.243-4) indicated that the style employed in blogging lies between standard and non-standard English He comments that the language used in personal blogs (what he calls „free prose‟) is a

kind of written language in its most naked form as there is completely no editing undertaken in the writing process Thus, blogs are a new variety of writing which showcases linguistic peculiarity Furthermore, blogging can also be seen as a new medium through which adolescents present themselves, and it can particularly

copy-be seen as a method for self-expression or a method of building peer group relationships (all related to the construction of identity) (Huffaker and Calvert, 2005)

Different from Blood (2002) or Crystal (2006), Krishnamurthy (2002) proposed a classification of blogs into four basic types according to two dimensions: personal

vs topical, and individual vs community His schematic representation is reproduced as in the figure below where type 1 refers to online dairies or personal journals; type 2 is related to support group; type 3 concerns enhanced column, which is another term for column of expertise; and type 4 is the collaborative content creation in which Metafilter is an example

Figure 2: Four different quadrants of blogs

From these observations that the blog as a form of mediated human expression and blogging as a human activity is of interest to academics from a variety of scientific

disciplines In this study, blogs serve as the medium to analyze and explain the linguistic behavior of code-switching between Vietnamese and English languages

2.4 Summary

This chapter has served to provide insights into different frameworks constructed

by major authors and scholars in the research field of language contact and bilingualism Among those, Myers-Scotton and Gumperz are the two key figures in contributing theoretical scaffold for this study By using Scotton‟s MLF model for structural analysis, Gumperz‟s conversational situation and Markedness model for functional analysis of the switches

Another goal that has been achieved through the chapter is a brief review of previous research and studies to understandi the nature of code-switching in different contexts, from global cases to local situations, and from different approaches, structural, conversational analysis (CA) and socio-linguistic approach Thanks to these grounding work, this research finds its immediate urge to understand CS in blogs which is a new and modern text genre rather than conventional types

The final part in the chapter has proved blogging to be a resourceful channel for examining the phenomenon of language alternation This means of communication will also provide researchers with data to study CS pattern and the linguistic components or social motivation involving in the use of CS

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter proposes an overall description towards the methodological approach

of the study and related issues attached to such method While the first section deals with specific method orientations applied in the research, the next three parts explicitly deal with matters concerning the subjects of the study, data collection process and the procedures that are engaged in data analysis

3.1 Methods of the study

In this part, first section is dedicated to deal with defining the methodology for the research while the second one majorly discusses how the framework presented in chapter 2 was applied to support findings in the next chapter

This is a qualitative-oriented research with a focal aim of bringing descriptive analysis to the phenomenon of code-switching in fifty blog entries

First and foremost, concerning the classification in which a research might belong

to, Neuman (2012) argues that one research study can fall into a number of different types of research, such as by its purpose – exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory; or by its research technique of either qualitative or quantitative; or by its use and audience – academic research or applied research (Newman, 2012, p.53) His argument suggests different methods to be applied with such a research study when one may be qualified for different categories

In this research, several major theories of major scholars were introduced in the previous chapter, it is apparent that there have been well-developed ideas about the social phenomenon already, which in this case is the issue of code-switching in language interaction Therefore, this research is primarily going to present a picture

of the specific details for the situation in which this phenomenon occurs, that is the context of code-switching in webblogs

The study followed qualitative approach in a descriptive way to fully describe the case study of language behavior of code-switching between Vietnamese and