November 2021 – Languaged Life

Baltazar Sanchez III

In multilingual settings, speakers use several languages at the same time; this type of discourse is known as code-switching, where speakers may make switches at any point in their conversation between different codes, or languages. Many studies focus on the rules— or constraints, depending on the author’s approach— involved in this type of discourse while some describe the functions of such multilingual language use, in particular the pragmatic and/or conversational effects. The focus of this paper is insertional code-switching, which is a type of code-switching in which single words are inserted as opposed to entire phrases, as a type of discourse marker in conversations between bilingual individuals, in particular with the English word “but” and its Spanish equivalent pero. The inspiration for this comes from Gardner-Chloros, Charles & Cheshire’s (2000) discussion of code-switching in discourse as a further dimension to what may be classified as monolingual discourse marker. More specifically, this paper focuses on managing the conversational floor through contrastive conjunctions— English “but” and Spanish pero. After analyzing cases and data compiled from an online corpus, it becomes clear that contrastive conjunctions have multiple functions, which is a feature that is highlighted once these discourse markers are considered in the environment of code-switches in bilingual discourse. The findings contribute to the current understanding on discourse markers specifically and code-switching more generally, both of which intersect in establishing common ground between speakers.

You can read the entire paper HERE

Wenqian Guo

This study investigates how and why a specific speaker’s linguistic behavioral patterns may differ across channels on the same social media platform. Specifically, this research addresses important components in conversations, such as grammaticality and illocutionary indications, as well as the emoji feature that is exclusive to online media, the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo in this case. Through comparing speakers’ comments between posts on the state-controlled People’s Daily Weibo channel and the “super-topic” free discussion forum on social, cultural, and political events, it is clear that the topics being addressed and the functions that different channels serve in each case, respectively, contribute to the speakers’ different perceptions of these channels. Additionally, from individual speakers’ responses in interviews during the study, the special censorship nature of social media in China and the exclusively superior accessibility of state-controlled media also complicate speakers’ linguistic choices, emphasizing their consideration of locating “safety” and practical usefulness on social media. As there remains limited previous research focusing on this specific area, this research hopes to offer new insights on exploring sociolinguistic ideologies embedded in Mandarin online communication.

Examples

1. Discussions of Social Events

Event: The China Tax Administration declares its serious attitudes towards the actress Zheng Shuang’s tax fraud and evasion event

Fig. 1 Screenshot of the Zheng Shuang Event Under the People’s Daily Channel

Fig. 2 Screenshot of the Zheng Shuang Event Under the Free Discussion Forum

Comments under People’s Daily: mostly well-formed sentences, with either full SVO structures or simplified VO structures with implicit subjects in place, regarding one’s attitude toward the unfair privilege associated with Zheng, along with active and academic-like usage of vocabularies that urge for the government’s investigation. Emojis are more used in illustrative, direct manners.
Comments under the free discussion forum: fragmented, short phrases popping up randomly; the presence of “four-letter words” associated with negative emotions; pure complaints about unfairness that the general public is subjected to when compared with privileged individuals like Zheng. Emojis are more used in metaphoric and illocutionary manners.

2. Discussions of Cultural Events

Event: Around this year’s Spring Festival, the capital city of the Tang Dynasty, Luoyang, reconstructed the palace city of Tang and held light festivals that also reflected on the glorious past days.

Fig. 3 Screenshot of the Luoyang light festival Under the People’s Daily Channel

Fig. 4 Screenshot of the Luoyang light festival Under the Free Discussion Forum

Informal expressions and phrases that lack complete sentence structures appear frequently. As for contents, while comments under both platforms contain recurrent praise for the beauty of the reconstructed ancient city, specifically, among comments under the People’s Daily, there are some noticeable distinctions. For example, there are comments that urge the national government to propagate the replication of such efforts in other cities, as well as comments of local people of Luoyang that take the commenting channel as a place to advertise their cities to potential visitors who come from other cities. This clearly marks the distinctive characteristic that only the state-controlled People’s Daily channel could be entitled to, as being the representation of the government’s voices, the public may consider it as a direct and effective channel to communicate with the government, as well as its easy accessibility and widely accepted popularity makes it appropriate for propagation. On the other hand, the free discussion forum could not similarly reach the government, as well as it may not be entitled to that high level of popularity and accessibility, given that many people would not visit the forum if not necessary or not interested.

Month: November 2021

Understanding Contrastive Conjunctions as Discourse Markers in Bilingual Discourse

Pattern Differences Between Voices Across Sina Weibo and Their Indications on Speakers’ Sociolinguistic Ideologies