Frontiers in Educational Research, 2023, 6(18); doi: 10.25236/FER.2023.061808.
Wang Haobin1, Xie Jiguang2
1College of Foreign Studies, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, China
2College of Foreign Studies, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, China
Born a Crime is the first memoir of American popular talk show host Trevor Noah. The social background of this book is South Africa on the eve of the end of apartheid. The author presents the experience rich in sentiment in life in the form of short stories from the perspective of the first-person. Since the South African nation is composed of four major races, namely, black, white, colored, and Asian, the black people are divided into nine tribes, and the language of each tribe is also differentiated accordingly. Under such an era and social background, multilingualism, code-switching, and other linguistic phenomena are inevitable. There are also many plots to be reflected in the book, which provides sufficient language materials for this study. These linguistic phenomena play an important role in reflecting the social background and the psychological motivation of the characters at that time. Therefore, based on Verschueren's "theory of linguistic adaptation", this paper analyzes the phenomenon of code-switching in the book Born a Crime and explores the motivation of code-switching mainly from the aspects of adaptation to social norms and psychological motivation.
Adaptation Theory, Code-switching, Memoirs, South Africa
Wang Haobin, Xie Jiguang. A Study of Code-switching from the Perspective of Adaptation Theory—A Case Study of Born a Crime. Frontiers in Educational Research (2023) Vol. 6, Issue 18: 41-46. https://doi.org/10.25236/FER.2023.061808.
[1] Verschueren, J. Understanding Pragmatics [M]. New York: Edward Arnold Publishers Limited, 1999.
[2] Trevor Noah. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood [M]. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2016.
[3] Chang Yongcai, Li Hongji. Discuss the Evolution of the New South African Language Policy and its Effects on Education [J]. Journal of Tibet University (Chinese version), 2006(01):109-114.
[4] Fan Xiaodi. Linguistic Adaptation Theory and Teachers' Code-switching in English Classroom [J]. Teaching and Management: Theoretical Edition, 2007(6):82-83.
[5] He Muying. Language Choice and Cultural Orientation -- An Interpretation of the Code-switching Function of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club [J]. Journal of Southwest Minzu University (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition), 2004(10):316-319.
[6] He Ziran, Yu Guodong. A Review of Code-switching Studies [J]. Modern Foreign Language, 2001 (1).
[7] Wang Chuan, Xu Meiyan. On the Social and Psychological Motivation of Code-switching [J]. Journal of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, 2005 (2).
[8] Xu Yin. A Study of Code-switching from the Perspective of Adaptation Theory[D]. Jilin University, 2022.
[9] Zhang Yi. The Evolution of Language policy in Higher Education in South Africa and the Dilemma in the Implementation of the Current Multilingualism Policy [J]. Comparative Education Researc, 2010, 32(04):12-17.
[10] Zhou Qingsheng. A Review of Domestic Research on Language and Identity [J]. Language Strategy Research, 2016, 1(01):72-79.