Code-switching in Conversation: A case study of Taiwan
Code-switching is one of the most prominent phenomena for a language contact situation like Taiwan, where the alternation of Mandarin and Taiwanese (Minnanyu) is frequent. Alongside code-switching and/or code-mixing in daily conversation, alternate use of these two languages has been on the increase in the media since the government lifted the ban on broadcasting in 1987. By collecting data from TV programmes, the my research has shown that code-switching is employed by conversation participants as a contextualisation cue, supporting the organisation of narrative structure (e.g. Extract 1, segment 3-12), the change of participant constellation (e.g. Extract 2, segment 2) and the differentiation of objectivity and subjectivity (e.g. Extract 2, segment 7), which is in line with the study of Gumperz (1982), Auer (1984, 1998) and Li Wei (1994).
TLPA and Pinyin transcription systems are adopted in the following excerpts for Taiwanese (Minnanyu) and Mandarin, respectively. Taiwanese is italicised, while Mandarin is not.
1. Y and Z are the host and hostess of the programme Xinwen WAWAWA ('news WAWAWA') with the topic of Dongshizang de Xinshueidai ('The Chair's salary'). At the outset, they were talking about the damage brought about by the typhoon.
Example 1 ![[Listen to example]](../images/soundicon.gif)
| 1 | Y: | Keshi | wo | jiuede | zhe | ken | dushi-jihua | ye | you |
| | but | 1SG | feel | this | COV | city-plan | also | have |
| 3 | Y: | [I-]a ca | e | XinShuiQu | dou | bu-neng-gou | jian- |
| | past | NOM | | all | NEG-can | build |
| | bu-neng-gou | kaifa | [ma | honn, | huozhe | shi]b |
| | NEG-can | develop | P | P | or | COP |
| | bu-neng | gei | renjia | qu | zhu | ma, | [dui-bu-dui |
| | NEG-can | give | others | go | live | P | right-NEG-right |
| | [ma | honn, | huozhe | shi]b | bu-neng | gei | renjia | qu |
| | P | P | or | COP | NEG-can | give | others | go |
| | zhu | ma, | [dui-bu-dui | honn?]c |
| | live | P | right-NEG-right | P |
| 4 | Z: | [dui | dui | dui | dui.]b | [henn...henn]c |
| |
| 5 | Y: | Ah | lang | lu.. | lu | tua | lu | khe | a::. |
| | P | DM | COMP | COMP | live | COMP | crowded | P |
| | Tioh | bo? | [honn?]d |
| | right | NEG | P |
| 7 | Y: | Huancin | hongcai | a | bo | lai | a, | [a]e |
| | at least | typhoon | again/again | NEG | come | P | again/still |
| | bo | imcui. | A-bo.. | chiaukue-citle, |
| | NEG | flood | if not | go beyond |
| 9 | Y: | Koh | chiaukue-citle. |
| | again | go beyond |
| 10 | Z: | Zheyang | honn. |
| | this way | P |
| 12 | | Na | ni | jiu.. | XinShuiQu | bei | zhan-man-le | zhihou, |
| | DM | 2SG | just | | PASS | occupy-full-CRS | after |
| | nage | shui | lai | jiu | mei | banfa | xuanxie | la! |
| | that-CL | water | come | just | NEG | way | drain off | P |
Example 1 Translation
| 1 | Y: | But I feel that this is related with the city plan. |
| 2 | Z: | [mm. |
| 3 | Y: | [In the past XinShuiQu could not be built or exploited, [or]b could not offer people to live in, [right?]c |
| 4 | Z: | [Right right right right.]b [Yeah, yeah..]c |
| 5 | Y: | The place becomes more crowded since more and more people live in the country, [right?]d |
| 6 | Z: | [humm..humm]d |
| 7 | Y: | Typhoon has not yet come, [yet]e no place is flooded over, why not.. go beyond a bit, |
| 8 | Z: | [mm.]e Yap |
| 9 | Y: | go beyond a bit further. |
| 10 | Z: | That's why. |
| 11 | Y: | Yeah. |
| 12 | | Then after XinShuiQu is fully occupied, when the water comes, it will not be able to drain off. |
Speaker Y brought up another reason, i.e. the city plans, that might cause such serious damage as flood whenever there comes a typhoon. In order to justify her position and speculation, she started to explain why it is related with the city plans by using the contrastive nature of the languages in her narratives through segment 3-12 to differentiate the transformative process from the very beginning (segment 3 >M) through the intermediate (segment 5, 7, 9 >T) and then to the present situation and its final consequence (segment 12 >M). One thing worth mentioning here is that the facts about the past and the present have been described in Mandarin while the speaker's own inferences and reasoning were expressed in Taiwanese, which also reveals her personal involvement.
2. The conversation was adapted from the TV programme Ming Zhi Tian Huang, with the topic of Puo chu buyun mizhou ('To break the curse of infertility'). L and D are the hostess and the host of this programme, while W and H2 are the guests they invited for the participation in the discussion. Mandarin serves the dominant language use for L and D, whereas Taiwanese for W and H2.
Example 2
| 1 | L: | Dui. | Na | weishemo:: | huaiyun | san-ge | yue | hai |
| | right | DM | why | pregnancy | three-CL | month | still |
| | meiyou | man | de-hua | BU-NENG | shuo? |
| | no/not | full | if | NEG-can | say |
| 2 | | {Look at W} | A-i, | ce | si | siannmi | tooli? |
| | Auntie | this | COP | what | reason |
| 3 | | [Laoyibei | chuanxialai-de, | erqie-]a |
| | old generation | hand down-NOM | besides |
| 4 | W: | [Oopehkong! | Gua | ma | kau | kin-a-]a ji | lai |
| | Nonsense | 1SG | also | till | today | come |
| | lok-iann, | lai | lin | ce// | lin | cit-le | cebok, |
| | video-record | come | 2PL | this | 2PL | this-CL | programme |
| | [gun | cia | tiann | thaucitpai!]b |
| | 1PLE | just | hear | first time |
| 5 | H2: | [Lang | he | A-i | khaca]b | hi-le | nitai, | u | tioh |
| | DM | DM | auntie | past | that-CL | generation | have | just |
| | sikue | kong | a | koh. {laugh} |
| | everywhere | say | PFV | P |
| 6 | W: | M-si | sikue | kong. | Gua | citma | e | i-su |
| | NEG-COP | everywhere | say | 1SG | now | NOM | meaning |
| | si | kong | | honn, | khaca | bo | cit-le | kimkhi. | |
| | COP | say | | P | past | NEG | this-CL | taboo | |
| 7 | | Wo | conglai | meiyou | ting | guo. |
| | 1SG | always | NEG-have | hear | EXP |
| 8 | H2: | [Ta | meiyou ]c | ting | guo | ye:! |
| | 3SG | NEG-have | hear | EXP | P |
| 12 | L: | Li | bo | tiann | kue | [oh?]e |
| | 2SG | NEG | hear | EXP | P |
| 13 | W: | [Ah..]e | Ah | punlai | tioh | si | [bo | tiann | kue.]f |
| | P | P | originally | just | COP | NEG | hear | EXP |
| 14 | D: | [Khoshi | gun | mama]f... ... {continue} |
| | but | 1PLE | mother |
Example 2 Translation
| 1 | L: | Right. But why cannot tell anyone within the first three month of pregnancy? |
| 2 | | {Look at W} Auntie, how come? |
| 3 | | [It is handed down from the old generations, and -]a |
| 4 | W: | [Nonsense, not until today]a when I come here for the programme recording [do we know for the first time. |
| 5 | H2: | [In Auntie's generation, if you are pregnant, you have already told everyone everywhere. |
| | {laugh} |
| 6 | W: | We do not spread the news over everywhere. What I mean now is, we did not have this taboo in the past. |
| 7 | | I have never heard of it. |
| 8 | H2: | [She has never heard of it:]c |
| 9 | L: | [Really?!]c |
| 10 | D: | [Really?]d |
| 11 | W: | [Yap.]d |
| 12 | L: | You haven't ever heard of it? |
| 13 | W: | from the very beginning I have [never heard of it.]f |
| 14 | D: | [But our mother ]f ... ...{continue} |
Speaker L, the hostess, started with one of the superstitions about pregnancy and miscarriage, rumours that have been passed on for ages, and asked the reason behind it to everyone (including the invisible audience at home) in Mandarin and then directed the question again to Speaker W only by switching the language to Taiwanese in segment 2. Code-switching here represents that the hostess intended to narrow down the participant constellation from the general to the individual by shifting from the official language to Speaker W's preferred language. Instead of giving a direct answer, Speaker W asserted that she had never heard of such a warning: 'Never tell the others about your pregnancy within the first three months.' While Speaker H made fun at her out of the reply, she reiterated her previous assertion by switching to Mandarin as highlighting the truth in segment 7.