Functions and reasons for code-switching on facebook by UTAR English-Mandarin Chinese bilingual undergraduates

As Facebook, one of the social-networking websites, has swiftly become one of the favoured modes of communication on the Internet, language has also been influenced in terms of its usage and practices. Code-switching, the alternate use of more than one language in a discourse, is one of the language...

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Main Author: Choy, Wai Fong
Format: Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis
Published: 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.utar.edu.my/263/
http://eprints.utar.edu.my/263/1/EL%2D2011%2D0803813%2D1.pdf
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author Choy, Wai Fong
author_facet Choy, Wai Fong
author_sort Choy, Wai Fong
building UTAR Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description As Facebook, one of the social-networking websites, has swiftly become one of the favoured modes of communication on the Internet, language has also been influenced in terms of its usage and practices. Code-switching, the alternate use of more than one language in a discourse, is one of the language phenomena where such changes can be traced. This research investigated on the occurrences of code-switching in asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) between bilingual university students via social networking website by taking a functional approach in examining the various functions and reasons for codeswitching. The data consisted of messages posted by Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FAS) Mandarin Chinese-English bilingual students of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) on their Facebook profile pages. Data was then analysed based on an integration of Appel and Muysken’s (2006) six functions of code-switching and Malik’s (1994) ten reasons for code-switching. Findings suggested that code-switching would occur in online communication mainly to serve referential, expressive and metalinguistic functions. For more substantial results in the future, researchers may consider larger numbers of participants to observe the occurrence of code-switching in asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC).
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format Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis
id utar-263
institution Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-15T19:18:54Z
publishDate 2011
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling utar-2632019-08-15T17:19:10Z Functions and reasons for code-switching on facebook by UTAR English-Mandarin Chinese bilingual undergraduates Choy, Wai Fong PE English As Facebook, one of the social-networking websites, has swiftly become one of the favoured modes of communication on the Internet, language has also been influenced in terms of its usage and practices. Code-switching, the alternate use of more than one language in a discourse, is one of the language phenomena where such changes can be traced. This research investigated on the occurrences of code-switching in asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) between bilingual university students via social networking website by taking a functional approach in examining the various functions and reasons for codeswitching. The data consisted of messages posted by Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FAS) Mandarin Chinese-English bilingual students of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) on their Facebook profile pages. Data was then analysed based on an integration of Appel and Muysken’s (2006) six functions of code-switching and Malik’s (1994) ten reasons for code-switching. Findings suggested that code-switching would occur in online communication mainly to serve referential, expressive and metalinguistic functions. For more substantial results in the future, researchers may consider larger numbers of participants to observe the occurrence of code-switching in asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC). 2011-03 Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf http://eprints.utar.edu.my/263/1/EL%2D2011%2D0803813%2D1.pdf Choy, Wai Fong (2011) Functions and reasons for code-switching on facebook by UTAR English-Mandarin Chinese bilingual undergraduates. Final Year Project, UTAR. http://eprints.utar.edu.my/263/
spellingShingle PE English
Choy, Wai Fong
Functions and reasons for code-switching on facebook by UTAR English-Mandarin Chinese bilingual undergraduates
title Functions and reasons for code-switching on facebook by UTAR English-Mandarin Chinese bilingual undergraduates
title_full Functions and reasons for code-switching on facebook by UTAR English-Mandarin Chinese bilingual undergraduates
title_fullStr Functions and reasons for code-switching on facebook by UTAR English-Mandarin Chinese bilingual undergraduates
title_full_unstemmed Functions and reasons for code-switching on facebook by UTAR English-Mandarin Chinese bilingual undergraduates
title_short Functions and reasons for code-switching on facebook by UTAR English-Mandarin Chinese bilingual undergraduates
title_sort functions and reasons for code-switching on facebook by utar english-mandarin chinese bilingual undergraduates
topic PE English
url http://eprints.utar.edu.my/263/
http://eprints.utar.edu.my/263/1/EL%2D2011%2D0803813%2D1.pdf