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[Abstract] This paper conducted a research on examining the code-mixing phenomenon in Chinese local newspapers. This paper will find out the top ten frequently used code-mixing between Chinese and English in local newspapers. After analysing the data, this paper will study the purpose of using code-mixing in Chinese local newspapers .The findings indicate that the code-mixing is a trend in Chinese internet discourse, but there is not a sign of cultural invasion by those words, because those words are purely having the linguistic function other than other features.
[Key words] code-mixinglinguisticsculture invasionpurpose
Theory about code-mixing
The definition of code-mixing:
According to Hamers and Blanc (1989:35), code-mixing usually involved with the use of elements from language B in an utterance in language A (code-mixing) as well as the alteration between language A and Language B in the same utterance (code-switching). In their book, code-mixing is defined as ‘an integral part of bilinguistic development. The majority of mixings are lexical in nature and nouns are most often substituted words (Hamers and Blanc, 1989:35).
1.Where is code-mixing
Recently, code-mixing become a great concern in many fields .It does not only exist in the field of bilingualism, but also in websites, business, media, and our daily life .There are also a huge number of code-mixing existing in other areas.The most popular focuses of this topic in China are still on traditional media such as News paper, TV, magazine, website etc (Li, 2000).
2. Why code-mixing is used
There are some reasons for using code-mixing and many researchers have already done some researches about the purpose of using code-mixing, Also, the previous studies are good references for examining whether these findings are consistent with the previous results.
The study of Li (2000: 95) on code-switching in Hong Kong is an important research on code-mixing in China, he also summarised four motivations of code mixing:
(1) Euphemism
It is embarrassing for some Chinese to speak some words in Chinese culture such as wenxiong (bra); therefore, if using the English code-mixing, it will avoid the embarrassment for the speaker or the listener.
(2) Specificity
Compared with its Chinese equivalents, English word is more specific.
(3) Bilingual punning
In terms of Li, another important motivation of code mixing is to produce a double meaning with the English words
(4) Principle of economy
An English expression may be preferred because it is more economical than Chinese/
Cantonese in terms of linguistic effort.
According to Li (2000:98), it is also highlighted in his study that English is preferred because it has simple structure and is less time-consuming to remember compare to its Chinese Equivalents.
Those findings from previous researches will further the understanding of why and how English words are used in Chinese Newspapers. This paper will advise those previous findings to compare with current research results.
Methodology
The methodology used in this paper is based on collecting data from two Chinese local newspapers (electronical newspapers on internet).One is named China daily the other one is global newspaper (dating from 1st Aug, 2008 to 31st Aug, 2008), which are the popular Chinese local newspapers. I found out what were the ten frequently used code-mixing words. I selected some of the popular sentences that contain code-mixing words from newspapers as examples.
The data collections avoided the English brand names and company names, because they are just the common name or simple abbreviations, and they are not taken into account of the code-mixing in this paper. The words and expressions selected are directly from news titles, sentences from latest news content, internet advertisement. The data was collected without any bias or preference.
Results
Top ten most often used English words are recorded in the table 1.1
Examples as code-mixing sentences:
(1)NBA 里面没有神! (News title) (NBA li mian mei you shen! )(English Translation: There is no god in NBA.)
(2)超级女什么虽不很专业,但征服无数fans的声音也将在长久回荡在互联网间。(News). (Pinyin: chao ji nv sheng sui bu hen zhuan ye, dan shi zheng fu le wu shu fans de sheng yin ye jiang zai chang jiu hui dang zai hu lian wang jian) (English Translation: Though Super girls are not professional singers, innumerable fans have already been conquered and their song will be heard in internet for a long time.)
(3)QQ shang zhao wo ( English translation: look for me on QQ).
(4)七成网友跟恒源祥说bye bye。 (News Title) www.sina.com.cn (Pinyin: qi cheng wang you gen heng yuan xiang shuo bye bye.) (English Translation: 70% people said bye bye to Heng Yuan Xiang (a clothing Manufacturer).
(5)女人第一次和男人ML的感觉。(Article title) www.baidu.com (nv ren di yi ci he nanren ML de gan jue) (English Translation: When making love the first time, what is the feeling a woman has with a man.)
Findings and discussion:
The pattern of top ten words is also similar to the recent study on code-mixing on magazine advertisement in Taiwan (Chen, 2006). The above categories include many abbreviations which are not traditionally recognized English words; however, the study found that some nouns, adjectives, verbs, even interjection are also used in Chinese media. This paper will analyse the purpose of using some code-mixing words according to Li’s findings (2000:98):
1. ML (avoid embarrassment): ML is short for make love. Making love will make speakers or listeners feel embarrassed because it is a taboo topic in China. People always feel ashamed to talk about their personal life. Therefore, When talking about this taboo topic, Chinese will choose an English expression (make love) to replace the Chinese word( zuo ai). Although ML in English and ‘zuo ai’ in Chinese express the same idea, Chinese will feel more natural to express it in English. There are also some other code-mixing used in newspapers, such as sex, gay, bra, etc. Those topics sound less embarrassing or more acceptable for Chinese to use.
2. Words and expressions such as e- are more specific than their Chinese equivalents. ‘E’ is used for talking about the electronic products such as e-dictionary, e-commerce, e-bay, e-learning. Using the English code-mixing directly not only make the expression more tidy, but also more precise and specific.Top plus numbers usually refers to a particular ranking. For example, there are sayings like top 20 pop music ranking, top 50 places to visit, etc. Furthermore, it is hard to find an absolute precise and accurate equivalent in Chinese expression. Therefore, direct use of English expressions here seems very reasonable.
3. Thirdly, words like wow, bye, and fans have the similar meaning to Chinese words. 哦(Oh), 拜拜(bai bai), fen si (fans) The use of such English expressions is to simplifythe complexity of writing Chinese characters and makes the sign clearer for the familiar users.The three English words not only have the similar meaning as Chinese equivalent, but also have the similar pronunciations. Chinese newspaper readers have no difficulties in understanding these simple short words. In the articles (not political ones), ‘Wow’ is used to express a surprising or draw the readers’ attention.
4.Finally, the most common reason for code mixing is the principle of economy (Li, 2000).These kinds of words are used because they are the original English abbreviation, more and more media and even official text books have used this kind of code-mixing. NBA, the abbreviation of National Basketball association appears most frequently than all the words. Instead of writing it in the Chinese character ‘美国职业篮球联赛’, nearly all newspapers refer it to its English Abbreviation. It really fulfils the function which mentioned above, making the expression much easier and more expressive. Actually those 30 words are most used in this manner to make the language much simpler and avoid inaccurate translation.
According to the analysis above, there is a trend of the code-mixing phenomenon in Chinese newspaper language. The function of English code-mixing is fulfilled with Li’s findings (2000; 95), and there is no evidence of culture invasion or impurity from the meaning of those English words. The main function of code-mixing in newspaper is to attract audience’s attention or avoid embarrassment. From various examples from different discourse and newspapers, it can be seen that English abbreviation are used very frequently in the newspapers. Most of them are noun expressions, but some world classes like adjectives, interjections and even verbs are also seen there.
Limitations of this paper:
Because of time and word limit, only small number of data is analysed and the research and conclusion are only based on the investigation itself. In future study, more data should be collected and surveys from the newspaper readers may be conducted to make the study more complete and convincing. Another limitation of this research is that there are no comparisons with other media such as website, radio. Therefore, the paper only represents the code-mixing used in newspaper language, future studies need to analyse whether different media have different code-mixing words or have difference purposes of using code-mixing. There are no surveys conducted in relation to the user’s attitudes on Code-mixing phenomenon. Both researches from Hong Kong and Taiwan were both conducting surveys to obtain the public attitudes towards code-mixing. In future studies, such surveys may be conducted to investigate whether people from different background, age, career etc have positive or negative attitudes on this phenomenon.
Conclusions
Newspaper has become the most popular media among Chinese people, and the code-mixing phenomenon also frequently happens in this new media. Though Chinese language is predominant language in newspaper language, the mixing use of English words in newspapers has become an inevitable trend. In this current research, it is found that the wide use of English words in Chinese media is quite popular, and the main function is to attract audiences, avoid embarrassing topic, simplify and specify particular terms or words. However, there are also many disadvantages of code-mixing in China now. Widely adoption of those English words may impurity Chinese language and make confusions among different users, and also it will produce more inappropriate or non-standard English and non-standard Chinese expressions. Though there are many criticisms, in the near future code-mixing will definitely happen much more often in different Chinese media. Even government bodies now have to make a concession to use much simpler English abbreviation terms and expressions. Therefore, Future studies must pay close attention to this phenomenon and ensure the development of code-mixing is healthy and keep balanced with Chinese language.
Reference:
[1]Bruthiaux, Paul (1996) .The Discourse of Classified Advertising: Exploring the Nature of Linguistic Simplicity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[2]Chen, Cheryl, W. Y (2006). The mixing of English in magazine advertisement in Taiwan. World Englishes 3 (4): 467-478 ﹡
[3]Hamers. J. F. & Blanc, M. H. A. (1989). Bilinguality and Bilingualism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
[4]Herbert, R. K. (1998). Codes and Consequences: Choosing Linguistic Varieties.
Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 8 (2): 251-253 ﹡
[5]Kashrus, (1983). The Indianziation of English: The English Language in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
[6]Li, David C. S. (1996) Issues in Bilingualism and Biculturalism: A Hong Kong Case Study, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.New York
[7]Myers-Scotton, Carol (1993) Social Motivations for Code switching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[8]Wu, Y. A (1985). Code-mixing by English-Chinese bilingual teachers of the People’s Republic of China. World Englishes 3(4): 303-317
[9]Xing, Z. G (2004), Purity of Chinese Language Debated. China Daily. 13-Sep-2004.
[10]Zhou, Z. P. and Feng, W. C (1987). The two faces of English in China: Anglicization of Chinese and notarization of English. World Englishes 6(2): 111-125
[11]Tay, M. W. J. (1989) Code switching and code mixing as a communicative strategy in multilingual discourse. World Englishes, 8(3), 407-17.
[Key words] code-mixinglinguisticsculture invasionpurpose
Theory about code-mixing
The definition of code-mixing:
According to Hamers and Blanc (1989:35), code-mixing usually involved with the use of elements from language B in an utterance in language A (code-mixing) as well as the alteration between language A and Language B in the same utterance (code-switching). In their book, code-mixing is defined as ‘an integral part of bilinguistic development. The majority of mixings are lexical in nature and nouns are most often substituted words (Hamers and Blanc, 1989:35).
1.Where is code-mixing
Recently, code-mixing become a great concern in many fields .It does not only exist in the field of bilingualism, but also in websites, business, media, and our daily life .There are also a huge number of code-mixing existing in other areas.The most popular focuses of this topic in China are still on traditional media such as News paper, TV, magazine, website etc (Li, 2000).
2. Why code-mixing is used
There are some reasons for using code-mixing and many researchers have already done some researches about the purpose of using code-mixing, Also, the previous studies are good references for examining whether these findings are consistent with the previous results.
The study of Li (2000: 95) on code-switching in Hong Kong is an important research on code-mixing in China, he also summarised four motivations of code mixing:
(1) Euphemism
It is embarrassing for some Chinese to speak some words in Chinese culture such as wenxiong (bra); therefore, if using the English code-mixing, it will avoid the embarrassment for the speaker or the listener.
(2) Specificity
Compared with its Chinese equivalents, English word is more specific.
(3) Bilingual punning
In terms of Li, another important motivation of code mixing is to produce a double meaning with the English words
(4) Principle of economy
An English expression may be preferred because it is more economical than Chinese/
Cantonese in terms of linguistic effort.
According to Li (2000:98), it is also highlighted in his study that English is preferred because it has simple structure and is less time-consuming to remember compare to its Chinese Equivalents.
Those findings from previous researches will further the understanding of why and how English words are used in Chinese Newspapers. This paper will advise those previous findings to compare with current research results.
Methodology
The methodology used in this paper is based on collecting data from two Chinese local newspapers (electronical newspapers on internet).One is named China daily the other one is global newspaper (dating from 1st Aug, 2008 to 31st Aug, 2008), which are the popular Chinese local newspapers. I found out what were the ten frequently used code-mixing words. I selected some of the popular sentences that contain code-mixing words from newspapers as examples.
The data collections avoided the English brand names and company names, because they are just the common name or simple abbreviations, and they are not taken into account of the code-mixing in this paper. The words and expressions selected are directly from news titles, sentences from latest news content, internet advertisement. The data was collected without any bias or preference.
Results
Top ten most often used English words are recorded in the table 1.1
Examples as code-mixing sentences:
(1)NBA 里面没有神! (News title) (NBA li mian mei you shen! )(English Translation: There is no god in NBA.)
(2)超级女什么虽不很专业,但征服无数fans的声音也将在长久回荡在互联网间。(News). (Pinyin: chao ji nv sheng sui bu hen zhuan ye, dan shi zheng fu le wu shu fans de sheng yin ye jiang zai chang jiu hui dang zai hu lian wang jian) (English Translation: Though Super girls are not professional singers, innumerable fans have already been conquered and their song will be heard in internet for a long time.)
(3)QQ shang zhao wo ( English translation: look for me on QQ).
(4)七成网友跟恒源祥说bye bye。 (News Title) www.sina.com.cn (Pinyin: qi cheng wang you gen heng yuan xiang shuo bye bye.) (English Translation: 70% people said bye bye to Heng Yuan Xiang (a clothing Manufacturer).
(5)女人第一次和男人ML的感觉。(Article title) www.baidu.com (nv ren di yi ci he nanren ML de gan jue) (English Translation: When making love the first time, what is the feeling a woman has with a man.)
Findings and discussion:
The pattern of top ten words is also similar to the recent study on code-mixing on magazine advertisement in Taiwan (Chen, 2006). The above categories include many abbreviations which are not traditionally recognized English words; however, the study found that some nouns, adjectives, verbs, even interjection are also used in Chinese media. This paper will analyse the purpose of using some code-mixing words according to Li’s findings (2000:98):
1. ML (avoid embarrassment): ML is short for make love. Making love will make speakers or listeners feel embarrassed because it is a taboo topic in China. People always feel ashamed to talk about their personal life. Therefore, When talking about this taboo topic, Chinese will choose an English expression (make love) to replace the Chinese word( zuo ai). Although ML in English and ‘zuo ai’ in Chinese express the same idea, Chinese will feel more natural to express it in English. There are also some other code-mixing used in newspapers, such as sex, gay, bra, etc. Those topics sound less embarrassing or more acceptable for Chinese to use.
2. Words and expressions such as e- are more specific than their Chinese equivalents. ‘E’ is used for talking about the electronic products such as e-dictionary, e-commerce, e-bay, e-learning. Using the English code-mixing directly not only make the expression more tidy, but also more precise and specific.Top plus numbers usually refers to a particular ranking. For example, there are sayings like top 20 pop music ranking, top 50 places to visit, etc. Furthermore, it is hard to find an absolute precise and accurate equivalent in Chinese expression. Therefore, direct use of English expressions here seems very reasonable.
3. Thirdly, words like wow, bye, and fans have the similar meaning to Chinese words. 哦(Oh), 拜拜(bai bai), fen si (fans) The use of such English expressions is to simplifythe complexity of writing Chinese characters and makes the sign clearer for the familiar users.The three English words not only have the similar meaning as Chinese equivalent, but also have the similar pronunciations. Chinese newspaper readers have no difficulties in understanding these simple short words. In the articles (not political ones), ‘Wow’ is used to express a surprising or draw the readers’ attention.
4.Finally, the most common reason for code mixing is the principle of economy (Li, 2000).These kinds of words are used because they are the original English abbreviation, more and more media and even official text books have used this kind of code-mixing. NBA, the abbreviation of National Basketball association appears most frequently than all the words. Instead of writing it in the Chinese character ‘美国职业篮球联赛’, nearly all newspapers refer it to its English Abbreviation. It really fulfils the function which mentioned above, making the expression much easier and more expressive. Actually those 30 words are most used in this manner to make the language much simpler and avoid inaccurate translation.
According to the analysis above, there is a trend of the code-mixing phenomenon in Chinese newspaper language. The function of English code-mixing is fulfilled with Li’s findings (2000; 95), and there is no evidence of culture invasion or impurity from the meaning of those English words. The main function of code-mixing in newspaper is to attract audience’s attention or avoid embarrassment. From various examples from different discourse and newspapers, it can be seen that English abbreviation are used very frequently in the newspapers. Most of them are noun expressions, but some world classes like adjectives, interjections and even verbs are also seen there.
Limitations of this paper:
Because of time and word limit, only small number of data is analysed and the research and conclusion are only based on the investigation itself. In future study, more data should be collected and surveys from the newspaper readers may be conducted to make the study more complete and convincing. Another limitation of this research is that there are no comparisons with other media such as website, radio. Therefore, the paper only represents the code-mixing used in newspaper language, future studies need to analyse whether different media have different code-mixing words or have difference purposes of using code-mixing. There are no surveys conducted in relation to the user’s attitudes on Code-mixing phenomenon. Both researches from Hong Kong and Taiwan were both conducting surveys to obtain the public attitudes towards code-mixing. In future studies, such surveys may be conducted to investigate whether people from different background, age, career etc have positive or negative attitudes on this phenomenon.
Conclusions
Newspaper has become the most popular media among Chinese people, and the code-mixing phenomenon also frequently happens in this new media. Though Chinese language is predominant language in newspaper language, the mixing use of English words in newspapers has become an inevitable trend. In this current research, it is found that the wide use of English words in Chinese media is quite popular, and the main function is to attract audiences, avoid embarrassing topic, simplify and specify particular terms or words. However, there are also many disadvantages of code-mixing in China now. Widely adoption of those English words may impurity Chinese language and make confusions among different users, and also it will produce more inappropriate or non-standard English and non-standard Chinese expressions. Though there are many criticisms, in the near future code-mixing will definitely happen much more often in different Chinese media. Even government bodies now have to make a concession to use much simpler English abbreviation terms and expressions. Therefore, Future studies must pay close attention to this phenomenon and ensure the development of code-mixing is healthy and keep balanced with Chinese language.
Reference:
[1]Bruthiaux, Paul (1996) .The Discourse of Classified Advertising: Exploring the Nature of Linguistic Simplicity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[2]Chen, Cheryl, W. Y (2006). The mixing of English in magazine advertisement in Taiwan. World Englishes 3 (4): 467-478 ﹡
[3]Hamers. J. F. & Blanc, M. H. A. (1989). Bilinguality and Bilingualism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
[4]Herbert, R. K. (1998). Codes and Consequences: Choosing Linguistic Varieties.
Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 8 (2): 251-253 ﹡
[5]Kashrus, (1983). The Indianziation of English: The English Language in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
[6]Li, David C. S. (1996) Issues in Bilingualism and Biculturalism: A Hong Kong Case Study, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.New York
[7]Myers-Scotton, Carol (1993) Social Motivations for Code switching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[8]Wu, Y. A (1985). Code-mixing by English-Chinese bilingual teachers of the People’s Republic of China. World Englishes 3(4): 303-317
[9]Xing, Z. G (2004), Purity of Chinese Language Debated. China Daily. 13-Sep-2004.
[10]Zhou, Z. P. and Feng, W. C (1987). The two faces of English in China: Anglicization of Chinese and notarization of English. World Englishes 6(2): 111-125
[11]Tay, M. W. J. (1989) Code switching and code mixing as a communicative strategy in multilingual discourse. World Englishes, 8(3), 407-17.