Length, position, and functions of inter-clausal Chinese–English code-switching in a bilingual novel

Abstract

Abstract Based on a written Chinese–English code-switching corpus compiled from a Singaporean bilingual novel, this paper reports on the distribution of instances of inter-clausal code-switching in terms of their length, the distribution of the position of instances of inter-clausal code-switching in mixed sentences, and the pragmatic functions of inter-clausal code-switching of different lengths in different sentence positions. The study yields four results. First, the distribution in terms of length fits Zipf’s Law well, and bilingual speakers attempt to avoid lengthy inter-clausal code-switching in their communication. Second, the majority of inter-clausal code-switching appears in sentence boundary positions. Third, the major pragmatic functions of shorter or longer instances of inter-clausal code-switching are turn-opening, turn-closing, explicitness, and accuracy. Finally, instances of inter-clausal code-switching with medium clause lengths have two main functions, which are the conveying of irony and emphasis.