Applies the Statistical Method to Investigate the Syntactic Structure of Cantonese-English Codeswitching

Abstract

Conversational codeswitching (henceforth CS) is the deliberate CS of two languages without an associated topic change – different from situational CS.Based on the quantitative and qualitative data analysis of the Cantonese-English CS in Guangzhou entertainment radio programs, the present study aims to present a comprehensive investigation into the forms and functions of CS by categorizing and quantifying the various syntactic features and the multifarious conversational functions of CS in Guangzhou entertainment radio programs. Both the intrasentential CS and intersentential CS have been identified in the transcribed data. The overwhelming majority (98.9%) of the syntactic structure fall into the category of intrasentential CS.