Code switching and code mixing in the broadcasts of Commercial Radio Hong Kong (CRHK)

Abstract

Being a British colony for more than a century, Hong Kong has been influenced by the western culture in multiple aspects. One of the prominent western footprints is the ubiquitous Cantonese-English code switching and code mixing behavior which permeates all walks of life in this bilingual community. Though having seen its pervasiveness in different domains, limited studies from the sociolinguistic perspective have been conducted in the broadcasting domain, especially within the radio broadcast domain. This research gap prompts a study idea to unravel the sociolinguistic motivations behind the Cantonese-English code switching and code mixing behavior in Hong Kong radio broadcasts. Instances of code-switched and code-mixed which happened during the conversations among radio hosts were transcribed from the broadcasts of Commercial Radio Hong Kong (CRHK) between April 26th and May 24th 2013 for exploratory analysis.

The language alternation behavior was investigated through a communicative discourse context. In essence, the reasons motivating code switching and code mixing behavior among radio hosts include ‘principle of economy’, ‘generality/ specificity’, ‘euphemism’ and ‘emotional buffer’. Code switching/ code mixing also serves as a purposeful communicative strategy in tone switching or creating comical effect to enhance the entertainment value of the programs. It also helps the speakers to portray a particular social orientation or specifically, to project a western image. By code switching/ code mixing, the hosts also take into consideration of the societal preference of codes. The ideas of ‘we-code’, ‘they-code’, and ‘social distance’ are also applicable in exploring the social meaning of code switching/ code mixing within the Hong Kong radio broadcasts.