Codeswitching between English and French on an online discussion forum
Kirsimägi, Margus (2024-05-13)
Codeswitching between English and French on an online discussion forum
(13.05.2024)
Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on:
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2024061351898
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2024061351898
Tiivistelmä
This master’s thesis examines codeswitching between English and French on an online discussion
forum. The purpose of the study is to examine in what contexts does codeswitching take place, what
types of codeswitching occur in the discussion forum, and what are the functions of different
codeswitches.
The materials consisted of 582 forum posts that were analysed for French codeswitches. 150 posts in
total contained codeswitching. The analysed codeswitches were divided into intersentential,
intrasentential or metalinguistic commentary categories on the basis of the structure of codeswitches.
Intrasentential switches are also categorised into nouns, adjectives, verbs etc. The codeswitches were
also analysed in terms of their function in a context and divided into several different categories, such
as cultural switches, language discussion, quotations, and humour.
The results show that intrasentential codeswitching occurs much more frequently than intersentential
switching. Intrasentential switches consisted of different French words or short French phrases. The
functional analysis showed that cultural switches occur much more frequently than any other function
category in the data. Cultural switches often referred to objects and concepts specific to French culture
and society. Language discussion codeswitches were also quite frequent. These involved discussion
about the French language, how to translate certain words into English or discussion about the
meanings of different French words.
forum. The purpose of the study is to examine in what contexts does codeswitching take place, what
types of codeswitching occur in the discussion forum, and what are the functions of different
codeswitches.
The materials consisted of 582 forum posts that were analysed for French codeswitches. 150 posts in
total contained codeswitching. The analysed codeswitches were divided into intersentential,
intrasentential or metalinguistic commentary categories on the basis of the structure of codeswitches.
Intrasentential switches are also categorised into nouns, adjectives, verbs etc. The codeswitches were
also analysed in terms of their function in a context and divided into several different categories, such
as cultural switches, language discussion, quotations, and humour.
The results show that intrasentential codeswitching occurs much more frequently than intersentential
switching. Intrasentential switches consisted of different French words or short French phrases. The
functional analysis showed that cultural switches occur much more frequently than any other function
category in the data. Cultural switches often referred to objects and concepts specific to French culture
and society. Language discussion codeswitches were also quite frequent. These involved discussion
about the French language, how to translate certain words into English or discussion about the
meanings of different French words.