Chinese-English code-switching in Fashion Magazines - Essay Example

? Analysis of Chinese-English Switching in Fashion Magazines INTRODUCTION The utilization of switching in Chinese Fashion magazines acts asa motivator to fulfill a variety of communicative purposes that are improved by incorporating English as the primary linguistic resource. The four specified motivators in context include, but are not limited to, euphemism, bilingual punning, specificity, and principle of economy (David and Li, 2003) and these factors show how English is an important aspect of pushing messages in media outlets. Editors of fashion magazines pay close attention to the contexts of linguistics and how they relate to the reader. Catalogues of genre and cultural meaning play important roles in determining and feeding into target audiences so that the magazines make a profit. Both utilizations of code-switching describe how readers view text and absorb it from various geographical areas (Sankoff and Poplock, 2001). BACKGROUND The term code-switching derives from the linguistic term denoting the concurrent utilization of more than a single language in conversation. John Gibbons made the first major attempt to study it at Hong Kong University where the students spoke ‘university talk’ (David and Li, 2003). It is especially used in context of sociocultural linguistics, which is the study of how linguistic structure clarifies how a speaker’s selectivity of a specific language is influenced by social contexts in which it is given (Bucholtz, 2011). An example of this would be if some said: Woo! ? Bra ? ? tau3 BRA gaak3 gaak3 visible bra princess ‘Wow! (a) princess (whose) bra is visible!’ (David and Li, 2003). In the middle of the English sentence, the Chinese symbol for “a” and “whose” is inserted rather than the English word. The hypothesized reason to why this occurs is due to the fact that bilinguals are not completely efficient in the second language (Heredia and Brown, 2011). The variety of contexts may be race, gender, ethnicity, age, and sexuality. These factors are acknowledged when implementing code-switching into media forms like magazines (Viswamohan, 2004). Magazines are a main media source used because of how broad of an audience it reaches. The age group can vary from teens to the elderly and has the capability to reach its audience members via stores, mail, street stands, etc. Fashion in particular has dominated the market since the eighteenth century when the first Gentleman’s magazine came out in London (Ashish, 2009). This is why code-switching has been incorporated into this form of media outlet in an effort to get the target audience to respond in the desired manner. In Japan, the implication of foreign language into magazines of fashion is not subsidiary to any subject restrictions (Haarmann, 2000). With such a limitless palette in which to work with, the editors as well as advertisers were able to target their audience better. The four context motivators to utilizing code-switching first came to light in the late 1970s when Cantonese-English code-switching arose in Hong Kong (David and Li, 2003). Euphemism was a sociolinguistic phenomenon that illustrated relation connections with the community with its focus being to relay the intended message of the speaker (Wenzhao, 2001). It is the act of replacing a potentially rude or offensive word with a lesser one, not only to appease the listener but to protect the speaker from trouble. Although, it can be amusing, it can be misleading. Bilingual punning derived from the intent to assign double meaning (David and Li, 2003). The way it is done is by taking two different words in two different languages and combining them into a sentence to form a joke or amusing sentence, hence the term pun. In this context, the meaning of specificity is not far from what it implies in that English is used in place of Chinese/Cantonese words for either the reason that the English word is more specific or general (David and Li, 2003). Therefore, the sentence is issued the way it was initially intended. Lastly, the Principle of Economy came about following suit for the simple reason that a Chinese sentence may need more effort or become more complex to say or write rather than if it incorporates words from the English language (David and Li, 2003). METHODOLOY The methodological approach taken to collect data was to conduct scholarly searches and use research conducted no earlier than the year 2000. The aim of the search was to retrieve published literature, which complied with the criteria given below. The search strategy was ‘Chinese-English code-switching,’ OR ‘code-switching,’ OR ‘sociolinguistics,’ OR ‘code-switching in fashion magazines,’ OR ‘history of fashion magazines,’ OR ‘Principles of Economy,’ OR ‘Euphemism,’ OR ‘Specificity,’ OR ‘Bilingual Punning.’ Bing, Google and Google Scholar were search engines used to explore these topics. The literature review yielded 20 articles that were assessed for information relating to the research project. Several articles were deemed unrelated due to the fact that they did not directly relate to Chinese-English code-switching by offering articles of different languages, or by not relating the topic to fashion magazines in particular. Other articles were left out because they dated beyond the year 2000. The search strategy was limited to recent articles in English that related to Chinese/Cantonese language. Editorials, original papers and reviews were all included as well as data that was both primary and secondary. Abstracts and citations that were identified by the research were evaluated in order to identify paper relevancy. Full text copies of papers were then reviewed. The ethical issues explored center around the material about how advertisers in fashion magazines may or may not present misleading information by implementing Euphemism strategies. What this does is form unfair or imbalanced opinion of the usage of code-switching in magazines to gain popularity from the target audience. In this case, opinion does not take precedence over fact, and thus is deemed inappropriate for this research topic. Also, methodological ethical issues arise through fitting language by whether or not it is relevant to the topic, or if it counters the point that is being made because it lacks definitive meaning, or is the wrong meaning, i.e. Chinese symbols. ANALYSIS Chinese-English code-switching arises in fashion magazines for the same reasons as to why it occurs out in society. Chan (2009) explains that code-switching has frequently been viewed as a consequence of bilinguals using and expanding the functions of the two languages as well as pronouncing their attitudes towards these languages and the cultural connotations. There has been a ‘we-code’ vs. ‘they-code’ distinction between the two that directly relates to the context in which it is spoken (Chan, 2009). The initial studies as to why this was happening pointed to the consideration that quoting ‘Western’ concepts and ideas helped to convey certain messages that would otherwise be absent in Chinese/Cantonese (Chan, 2009). But later, the ‘Western’ idea was forgo when the realization hit that often times, English words function in a way that makes a sentence more flexible and this is why they are added. It is important to note that text is simply language that is functional (Sweeting, 2000), which means when a sentence is broken done the individual words still obtain meaning. Magazines utilize this idea because not to do so would be ambiguous to the readers. For example, the title of an article reads ‘Leather Jacket’, but it is not a complete sentence (Micky, 2000). However, to make it into a complete sentence such as: ‘This article is about a leather jacket’ fails to elicit a positive response in the reader. To go further, catalogue genre shows that one single genre may hold multiple meanings through incorporating illustrations followed by written text and pairing that with informing readers about the latest trends in fashion (David and Li, 2003). This is where the experts come in with who puts together the magazines. They have the option of manipulating genres for their own gain. This is not limited to those people, though, because readers can do the same thing. A reader can manipulate genre by tearing out a picture of a model that was intended to display fashion and putting her on the wall as a pin-up girl (Micky, 2000). The magazine Amoeba, for example, uses three articles catalogue genre in one issue (Micky, 2000). Although, words function separately from sentences, their meanings are not limited to a single definition. In fact, it is vital that single words in text are related to other text or meanings in order for the reader to comprehend what is going on in the article. The article page of a magazine shows the title and a captain. Both are functional parts, but they bear different functions in a genre (Bhatia, 2007). To be specific, the title says to the reader what to expect in the contents, acts as an attention-grabber to hook the reader into it. In terms of captains, they are used to explain a picture or illustration that is part of the article. Where code-switching comes in is through bilingual punning (Li, 2002). For example, an advertisement could depict a fashionably-dressed model on a bar stool glaring at a dead man who happens to still be gripping a weak-brand of beer in his hand. The title ‘If Look s Can Kill’ is the only explanation with the brand name of a competitor beer at the bottom of the ad. The obvious pun is understood because the two functioning words ‘looks’ and ‘kill’ complete the catalogue of genre in this fashion that has been introduced since looks cannot really kill people. Chinese letters were not used because they would not have functioned in the same way by lack of association (Fung (2002). Since language is a social endeavor (Foley, 2001), it is apparent that code-switching would frequent magazines as it is a social outlet for multiple readers. It not only encapsulates readers in catalogue genre, but forms bilingual puns at the phonetic level. Another example could be an advertisement titled ‘Sandal beaches’ where multiple people grace a beach and their only accessories are fashionable sandals rather than towels, sunglasses, etc., to illustrate the merchandise. The term in Chinese or Cantonese would not suffice as a decent usage for the pun because it lacks association at the phonetic level for this particular piece. In English, the word ‘sandals in this context makes no sense, however phonetically, it compares to the term ‘sandy’ and thus creates understanding in the reader as the sandals are in place of the sand, and it acts as a pun, replacing the frequented phrase ‘sandy beaches.’ On the contrary, a Chinese title that possesses a phonetic pun can appear as such: laul-laul-dei6 gwo3-dung1 [irritatingly pass through winter] as found in the magazine Eastweek (Halliday and Hansan, 2009). The reason for that is because the pronunciation is ‘laul’ and that is identical to the pronunciation of the word ‘irritated’ in Chinese. Despite the fact that the literal meaning says ‘jacketly pass through winter’ the phonetic meaning reads ‘irritatingly pass through winter.’ Jacketly, too, of course, is not an English word and the literal sentence does not make any sense. Comparably, the English language does not have as much function of word-play as Chinese/Cantonese does on the phonetic level (Fairdough, 2000). The fact that makes code-switching ironic, or pun-intended is through the act of defamiliarizing the familiar. Once a reader does that, he or she who is a proficient English speaker who belongs in the culture where the pun is frequently used will understand it, respond to it. The same goes for Chinese culture in regard to phrases like ‘irritatingly’ and what that means to them (Fairdough, 2000). The purpose of this is to acknowledge that readers need to understand the local and cultural ‘lingo’ or phrases to associate linguistic meanings in text. Magazine editors and other employees tackle this understanding when they assess their target audience. Some more examples of cultural integration in code-switching are popular television programs, films or songs (MacSwan, 2000). For one article, the title could be F.T. with models riding flying bicycles in front of a massive moon while wearing fashionable tanks [tops], which is what the initials stand for. The majority of people in the English culture know the initials should say E.T. By appropriating this parody in other media texts, it may be viewed as a means in which attracts the reader to read the article. Editors in fashion pay close attention to this appropriation because of the positive relation it has to the paying reader. In the field of discourse, different languages may perform different functions (Androutspoulos and Helge, 2004). Words that are taken out of phrases still hold meaning as long as they are associated with other words, oftentimes in the form of bilingual puns, euphemisms, specificities, and principles of economy (Clyne, 2000). The act of code-switching adheres to meaning of context and societal play-on-words. Fashion magazine editors apply this when attempting to capsulate the right description or pun in an article or advertisement in order to gain more readerships. Usually it is not a quest to implement ‘Westernized’ themes into a magazine, but a way to describe an illustration or text with understanding (Manhootian and Santorini, 2006). For as many words as there are in Chinese/Cantonese, an English one may suffice better for what the intention is and vice versa. Luna (2005) states that the associations of code-switching used in ad persuasiveness “influence the valence of consumers’ elaboration such that if the language a slogan switches to possess positive (negative) associations, consumers engage in positive (negative) elaboration, resulting in high (lower) evaluations.” In other words, by incorporating code-switching into magazine advertisements, it could elicit a positive response in the reader and the chances of them picking up the next issue of the magazine are high. DISCUSSION The analysis of code-switching in Chinese-English fashion magazines has produced positive results in terms of profit from achieving readerships. Although, the reaction to code-mixing can be negative as people claim that incorporating English words with Chinese is a form of great offense to the native language, a survey conducted by Chen (2006) indicates that the majority of respondents view the implementation of English very positively. The reason for that is due to the popularity of puns or other eye-catching language contexts that create cultural meaning. The advertisement in Amoeba that showed the ebony sleeveless top with the text ‘sleeveless night’ is a prime example of why Chinese would not have worked for the pun. ‘Sleeveless night’ is phonetically associated with ‘sleepless night,’ which is a common English phrase that is known in the culture (Lai, 2001). The process of determining a word from reading, like sleeveless, is also an important factor for magazine editors to formulate and understand. The brain activates by induced words, chequerboards, and consonant strings with a heavy dependency on the visual word as the primary initiative in brain recognition (Cohen, Lehericy, Chochon, Lemer, Rivaud, and Dehaene, 2002). Initially when code-switching was first studied, it was thought to be applied for the sake of copying ‘western’ words and context. The example provided by David and Li (2003) that broke down the sentence ‘Wow! (a) princess (whose) bra is showing!’ displays the word ‘bra’ specifically, which is a western term. However, upon closer inspection, the word ‘bra’ is provided in English because the only equivalent in Chinese is ‘breast’ or ‘chest.’ Bra was used instead based on the fact that it was a less explicit description of the female body part. When simply put, there are words that are more appropriate in Chinese or English. Sometimes there is word does not exist that explains the article or advertisement in the same language (Montes-Alcala, 2000). Magazine editors and other employees do not limit their decision to code-switch on cultural meaning or catalogue genre alone. They also research geographical areas that coincide with the readers’ ethnicity, race, age, sexuality, and gender (Buell, 2004) among other things. If their studies show the area is predominantly Chinese with little bilingual interest or capability then the magazine will be made predominantly in Chinese like Eastweek. On the other hand, if the culture is rich with both languages, English may be integrated more, even favored in code-switching like Amoeba to ensure frequent readerships. CONCLUSION Overall, the integration of Chinese-English code-switching in fashion magazines is a controversial topic, and its popularity is based on sociolinguistic context. Its implications depend on multiple factors that determine the most appropriate meaning being issued in an article or advertisement. The achievements of this paper center on the fact that the research is detailed and up-to-date. Strengths include research conducted, flow, detail and format. The weaknesses may be choosing specific articles over other ones that may have been used, weeding out other material and not being able to cover the topic as much as initially desired. 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