Code-mixing of English in Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine in Vietnam patterns and readers’ attitudes

Code-mixing of English in Hoa Hoc Tro  attitudes  i hc Ngoi ng  ngành: ; 60 22 15   2012 Abstract: Under the influence of globalization, English is becoming more popular in Vietnam. Many Vietnamese, especially youngsters, like mixing English terms in their formal and informal communication. This language phenomenon is referred to as code mixing which is found to be quite common in Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine, a magazine for teenagers published weekly and has great influence on Vietnamese youth. This study aims to find out the features  mixed in the corpus. In six volumes of magazine investigated, there were 1379 English lexical items mixed; among which more than 90% are nouns while the rests are verbs and adjectives. Most of the words mixed belong to entertainment or IT topics. The results from 239 questionnaires collected from there different regions of Northern Vietnam showed that approximately half of the readers understood and felt good about the mixed codes. Despite dealing with code-mixing better, the readers with higher education level or better living conditions do not find code-mixing attractive as much as those living in rural areas or studying in lower grades. A significant finding is majority of readers refuse to blame on English code-mixing for destroying Vietnamese purity. Keywords: ; ; ;  Content CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale Under the influence of globalization, English has become worldwide popular and used as a second language in many countries. Thus, many of these territories have become multilingual with the frequent use of English in their daily life. Also, it is no longer a rare phenomenon to find many English words used as substitutes appearing in the newspapers or magazines of other languages, which has aroused interest of various linguistic and sociological researchers. Sharing the same desire, we also wished to get the holistic view on the process of producing 2 gue, Vietnamese, as well as the reaction of Vietnamese, especially Vietnamese youth, towards the cases. The reason for me to choose Vietnamese youngsters as the subject of study is that they are assumed to have the highest frequency of mixing languages in their daily environment. Obviously, as English have been nationwide taught in all Vietnamese schools for the past ten years, they could be exposed to English at the early age. As a result, English turns out to be familiar with them. Additionally, under the boom of entertainment industry and Western influence, English, more or less, become preferable in media. It was also proved by Leung (2010) that young people preferred code mixing in advertising. Since 1970s, quite a number of researches have been done on code-mixing both in spoken and written languages in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and France. In 2003, Ho-Dac Tuc also had a close view on spoken code-switching of English into Vietnamese community in Australia. Though valuable results have been found, they still leave the gaps for code-mixing in written language, i.e magazines and newspapers for Vietnamese youth. For all of the reasons listed above, this research was carried out to focus on illustrate the -mixing of English in Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine, a magazine for Vietnamese youngsters, using eclectic across qualitative and quantitative methods. The research, once finished, is expected to shed some light on code-mixing patterns ral, raise sociolinguistics related issues and lay foundation for further studies. 1.2. Scopes and aims Although there are various dimensions of code-mixing and magazine languages to be studied, this combination of qualitative and quantitative study only examines the phenomenon of code- work also focuses on the written articles, though code-mixing is more popular in spoken form. 1.3. Research questions In order to reach the aim o of code in Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine, the research answered two questions as follows: 1) What are the patterns of code-mixing used in Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine? 2)      de-mixing phenomenon in Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine? 3 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW A-THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1. Code mixing 2.1.1. Code  system of computer programming instructions in computing, or considered as a set of moral principles or rules in laws or even systems of symbols in telephoning. As this is a               symbols that represent a message or re Advanced Learners, 8 th             defined as  complex as the entire  2.1.2. Code mixing and code switching In brief, code switching refers to both inter-sentential and intra-sentential code-alternation occurring when a bilingual speaker uses more than one language in a single utterance above the clause level to appropriately convey his/her intents, thus code switching relates to participants and discourse. Code mixing, whereas, refers to mixing the various language units below clause level within a sentence, which results no discourse meaning occurring sentence internally. 2.1.3. Code-mixing and borrowing Poplack and Sankoff (1984) (see Tuc (2003:9)) discussed the relationship between code- mixing and borrowing as follows: Code mixing Borrowing Frequent use - + Synonym displacement - + Integration: Phonological +/- +/+ Morphological - - Syntactic - + Acceptability by native speakers - + Table 1: Distinction between code-mixing and borrowing 2.2. Linguistics constraints on code- mixing Sociolinguists have been interested in not only the functions, meanings and patterns of code mixing but also the points at which code-mixing occurs in the sentence. In other words, what are the constraints on code-mixing? 2.2.1. Particular grammatical constraints 4 In 1970s, a large number of researches were carried out to study specific constraints on code mixing (Gumperz and Hernandez- Chavz 1975; Timm 1975; Lipski 1978; Plaff 1979). Most of these studies looked at a specific case of code-mixing and impose specific constraints rather than formulating universal constraints. Therefore, it has been recognized that the specific constraints are applicable with these language pairs code mixing but fail to explain the phenomenon among other diverse pairs. This impair proved the necessity and the extent stimulation of a general theoretical constraints in later studies on code-mixing. 2.2.2. Universal constraints on code- mixing In brief, there are there prominent theories on universal constraints on code-mixing. Equivalence and Free Morphemes Constraints limit the scope of code-mixing in the equivalence of word order and words category. In other words, code-mixing cannot happen if the two languages do not have the same structures or a free morpheme can be switched with a bound one. In Government Constraint, code-mixing will not happen between certain types of word categories or within prepositional phrase in a clause. Matrix Language Model illustrates a frame in which system morphemes are embedded into the matrix language. All these theories, either reach agreement or attacks from research community, carry unconvincing counter-evidence to attack themselves. While the two former constraints could not be applied to all specific language pairs, the later one failed to define and distinguish the notion of system morphemes. Thus, it is reasonable to admit that adequate formulation of constraints on code-mixing are not yet possible. This study is not meant to support any specific constraint of code-mixing but rather take these constraints into consideration when dealing with English and Vietnamese in contact in a given corpus. 2.2.3. Extra-linguistic factors related to code-mixing Myers- Scotton (1993a) made an attempt to provide a general theoretical explanation of the sociolinguistic and pragmatic aspects of code-    - mixing is considered as a socially functio  intention. In a given social context, if there are some conventionalized of code choice and code use, which are expected the majority of speakers, this is called code mixing as unmarked choice. Whereas, if the speaker uses the unexpected code to negotiate or achieve a strategic effect in conversation, it is called marked code. The theory of Markedness model as well as the role of extra-linguistic factors are valuable to the researcher when she analyzes the patterns of code-mixing in the corpus in later parts. In this study, the use of English in magazine is regarded as a marked choice because he 5 normative medium (i.e., the unmarked choice) of written communication in Vietnam is Vietnamese. Hence, this study wil-than- to English in the Magazine. 2.3. Patterns of code mixing In order for an easy approach, the researcher took the methods of categorizing codes mixed in terms of their parts of speech such as Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs and others. This classification was already done in the empirical studies carried out by different researchers before. A clear justification of these empirical studies will be illustrated in the following part. B - EMPIRICAL STUDIES As taken code mixing is a sub-kind of code switching, the current study adopts the analyzing              classified into parts of speech. The findings of the study would be compared  when relevant. Nevertheless, as the focus of this study is intra-sentential code mixing, all the cases of English switched above clause level will not be counted. Also, as the given corpus is a magazine written in spoken language, the method of data collection will be of difference. No interview will be recorded but will be observed through publications of mentioned Magazine. Chen (2006) investigated code-mixing of English in magazine advertisement in Taiwan. Kia (2011) and his Malaysian colleagues identified the features of English lexical items code- mixed into Chinese entertainment news. To be brief different context with different corpus. At the same time, unlike the focus of the studies on advertisement in different magazines, it is to focus on a variety of columns but only in one magazine. 6 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 3.1. Data Corpus 3.1.1. Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine Hoa Hoc Tro is a magazine published weekly under the verification and censorship of             students of secondary schools, high schools and colleges. As it is written for the youngsters, the magazine is also believed to  The first volume of Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine was published on October 15 th , 1991. Up to now, Hoa Hoc Tro is one of the most successful and best-selling magazines in Vietnam. 3.2. Corpus observation The volumes are chosen randomly through lot drawing carried out by the researcher to find out 6 among 60 volumes collected. Before analyzing, all the cases of code mixing are highlighted and recorded before categorizing into the patterns of code mixing basing on their parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, interjections and others. Also the frequency of patterns is calculated to see which phenomena are the most common in the magazine. 3.3. Questionnaires delivery 3.3.1. Sampling Totally 450 respondents, with 150 from Thai Binh, Son La and Hanoi, were handed the questionnaires respectively.As the informants are mostly secondary and high school students, their ages range from 12 to 19. Their first language is Vietnamese, and all of them have learned English at school. 3.3.2. Questionnaires The questionnaires comprise 13 questions structured in four main parts. The first part, also the first question (Q1) asks about the frequency of respondents to read Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine. The second part includes two questions exploring if readers can understand English code- mixing words in the four extracts. Likert scale was used and respondents might select from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. 7 The third part -mixing of English in Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine. Likert scale was also implemented in these questions so that informants selected from Strongly agree to Strongly Disagree. The last part consists of the questions about personal information of respondents such as age, place of living, their school and their contact information (if they are willing). 3.4. Data analysis Research question 1: All the phenomena of English code-mixing were highlighted and recorded. The codes were categorized according to parts of speech, so that all the code-mixed words or phrases would be put into these groups of parts of speech to see: (1) Among all the intra-sentential code-mixed words, what functions most of them have. (2) Which words or phrases and seem to happen the most often, (3)In which column the frequency of code-mixing is the highest. Research question 2: In part 1: As stated earlier, only answers from those who sometimes, usually and often read would be taken as valid responses. All the questionnaires will be counted and classified into valid and invalid groups. In part 2: In both Questions 1 and 2, Agree and Strongly Agree answers would be counted to see the percentage of people who (1) understood each extracts of magazine given and (2) found it comfortable to read the extracts with code-mixing. Questions in part 3 were similarly analyzed to part 2. 8 CHAPTER IV: PATTERNS OF CODE-MIXING FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1. Findings of the quantification of mixed word class From the six volumes of Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine synthesized, 1379 code-mixing of English phenomena were found into Vietnamese sentences. Among these 1379 intra-sentential code- mixing words, the most commonly used parts of speech in the sentences are 1261 nouns, followed by 69 verbs, 53 adjectives and only one interjection. In other words, more than 90% of the lexical items code-mixed in Hoa Hoc Tro magazine are nouns. Nevertheless, English pronouns, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions and interjections are not mixed in Vietnamese Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine. 4.2. Distribution of mixed words in the corpus                      mostly the stories translated from English, there is not even an English word mixed. More or less mixed words catering are found in other columns. However, the ones with the highest    2 (   (Teen manual),  (Fan club News ), 360   (360 ), CINELAND,      (Will loves these) and the news about music and film stars at the back of the magazine. 4.3. Overview description and discussion of mixed word classes 4.3. 1. Nouns 9 -mixed the most in Hoa Hoc Tro magazine. This can be reasoned by the age of the target readers who are mostly from 11 to 19 years old. Besides, As suggested by Tuc (2003), Vietnamese do not contain any notion of number or amount. Vietnamese noun is transnumeral, or in other words, has no marking between singular and plural. Therefore, the nouns maintain invariable as non-count nouns in English no matter what their number is even though they followed such numbers as           4.3.2. Verbs English verbs occupies 5% of total 1329 mixed words. Most of the mixed verbs are in the        -person-singular, past or past participle forms. Vietnamese verbs are distinguished with English ones by several features. The most typical one of Vietnamese verbs is that they themselves do not demonstrate a clear notion of  passive verbs. Unlike English verbs, Vietnamese ones are also neutral to tense or grammatical functions. 4.3.3. Adjectives The mixed adjectives comprised 3,55% of the total mixed words with 53 words. The most -- Besides, there are less popular adjecti  -     and Vietnamese ones is their position when co-occurrence with nouns. In English, adjectives are modifiers preceding nouns while the order in Vietnamese is noun + adjective, but mixed English adjectives in the corpus are in the (i) attribute position, or following nouns, (ii) predicative position. Many English nouns change their original nominal function to be viewed as adjectives finally. 4.4.4. Vocabulary combined between English and Vietnamese In the corpus, there was appearance of the English words change themselves to be similar to Vietnamese. Eg 24:       -       10 As Vietnamese is a mono-syllabic language in which all the syllables are meaningful, the                   . Some authors also add suffix into Vietnamese words to create new lexical items. In Eg (28),      Even though the total number of these newly invented words is not large (seven cases), it can still be inferred that youngsters are very creative in using and combining the two languages.  using languages of the youth, who are always active and desire for movement and innovation. CHAPTER V: READERS’ ATTITUDES TO CODE-MIXING FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 5.1. Part 1 of the questionnaires There were only 239 valid questionnaires in which all readers respond 5.2. Part 2 of the Questionnaires Four extracts numbered Extract No.1, Extract No.2, Extract.3 and Extract.4 from four columns of Hoa Hoc Tro Maga         understanding and comfort while reading code-mixed words. With only around 50% say yes, tt is apparent that not all of these articles are really understood and favored. [...]... particular magazine for certain readers Therefore, this study was not attempted to uncover all the specific or general features of English code mixing in Vietnamese in general but just to contribute a better understanding of specific code mixing used in Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine as a result of the influence from the West The respondents, in spite of being taken from different places in the North of Vietnam In order... (5%) and adjectives (3,56%) Code-mixing is quite popular in the columns about entertainment, i.e music or movie; internet and express news As for the attitude of readers towards code-mixing in the four extracts, only half of the readers could understand them or feel comfortable with the English words embedded This synchronized with the opinion on code mixing in Hoa Hoc Tro magazine in general in the... Code-Mixing and Code-Choice: A Hong Kong Case Study, Bath: Multilingual Matters 11 Holmes, J (1992) An introduction to sociolinguistic, London Longman 12 Kia, L S., Cheng, X., Yee, T K., & Ling, C W (2011) Code-Mixing of English in the Entertainment News of Chinese Newspapers in Malaysia”, International Journal of English Linguistics Vol 1, No 1; March 2011 , 3-14 13 Leung, C.-h (2010) Code-Mixing in Print... Contraints, Myers-Scottons (1993a) Markedness Model and empirical studies conducted by Chen (2006), Leung (2010), Kia (2011) on code-mixing in advertisements and entertainment news in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan Six volumes of Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine were chosen to find out the cases of code-mixing before categorizing them along parts of speech and the columns in which the frequency was 12 the highest 239... have more positive attitudes towards code mixing articles in the corpus CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSION 6.1 Summary With the expectation of finding out the patterns of code mixing (intra-sentential) used in Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine as well as the reactions of readers towards this phenomenon, the researcher based on the theories of Poplack’s (1980) Free Morpheme Constraint and Equivalence Contraints, Myers-Scottons... expose to English either because of their English level or places of residence Writers should be more aware of the difficulty level and the popularity of the words embedded and determine whether codemixing matches with the formality of the column and readers’ anthropological features properly 6.3 Limitations On the basis of previous researches on code-switching and code-mixing of English in other languages,...5.3 Part 3 of the questionnaires Unlike part 2 which asks for direct opinions on detailed extracts quoted from specific columns in particular volumes, this part of the questionnaires focuses on readers’ general attitudes to code-mixing used in Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine The results of part 3 of the questionnaires indicates that despite the appearance of code mixing in the corpus, only nearly half of the respondents... specific extracts as well as code-mixing found in the corpus in general Places of residents (including the rural, mountainous and urban areas) and level of education were taken into consideration in the third part of the questionnaires The results showed that there were 1379 English words mixed into six volumes, or an average of about 200 English words in each volume Most of the English words mixed are... Smelser & P Baltes, eds International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Elsevier Science, 2062-2065 24 Poplack, S and Sankoff, D (1984) “Borrowing: the synchrony of integration”, Linguistics 22, 99-136 25 Poplack, S and Sankoff, D (1988) “Code-switching”, in U Ammon, N Dittmar and K J Mattheier (eds) Sociolinguistics: An introduction Handbook of Language and Society, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter... “Code-switching and code-mixing: style of language use in childhood in Yoruba speech community”, Nordic Journal of African Studies, 15(1), pp.90-99 3 Bentahila, A and E.E Davies (1983) “The syntax of Arabic-French code-switching”, Lingua, 59:301-330 14 4 Berk-Seligson, S (1986) “Linguistic Constraints on Intra-Sentential Code-Switching: A Study of Spanish/Hebrew Bilingualism, Language in Society 15:313-348 . IV: PATTERNS OF CODE-MIXING FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1. Findings of the quantification of mixed word class From the six volumes of Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine synthesized, 1379 code-mixing of English. general features of English code mixing in Vietnamese in general but just to contribute a better understanding of specific code mixing used in Hoa Hoc Tro Magazine as a result of the influence from. Distinction between code-mixing and borrowing 2.2. Linguistics constraints on code- mixing Sociolinguists have been interested in not only the functions, meanings and patterns of code mixing