Congratulations to Mary TSANG Yuen Man, who was recently awarded the Exemplary Capstone Award at the Chinese University of Hong Kong for her project "A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Cantonese-English Code-Switching in Hong Kong WhatsApp Conversations"
This competitive award is given to students who have presented a notable artifact that showcases their learnings from their short stay at CUHK English.
The accomplishment is not only a testament to her hard work but can act as an inspiration for fellow students who are seeking the same excellence that she has achieved. We congratulate Tsang Yuen Man on winning this prestigious award and wish her continued success in whatever she sets out to do!
A summary of her project can be found below.
"Language and culture are inseparably intertwined and cannot be disentangled from one another since each has a significant impact on the other. Because of the mutual effect that occurs when different languages communicate, linguistic variation and change are inevitable results of such interactions. Code- switching is the consequence of linguistic interaction and is a defining attribute of a culture that makes use of more than one language. The subject of this study is Cantonese-English code-switching, specifically focusing on the following three key areas: The first section is dedicated to research on the linguistic conditions of code- switched items. The objective of the second section is to examine code-switching behavior in relation to Gender, English Major Status, and EMI/ CMI Status. In the final section, we will look into the possible causes and motives for Cantonese-English code-switching in Hong Kong. The study will be conducted by constructing a corpus of modern WhatsApp conversations, assisted with the use of a sociolinguistic survey. Participants are given questions regarding the reasons, motives, and functions of code-switching, as well as the attitude toward particular opinions. According to the findings of the research, code-switching is more prevalent in nouns. And English Major Status is the most important element determining a person's propensity to use English code-switches. It reveals that students who study English and of high English proficiency prefer using pure English and do not necessarily employ English code- switches more. It is also discovered that social and socio-psychological motivations induce code-switching, and that code-switching serves a variety of roles when exploited as a language resource and strategy."