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Code-switching is a type of linguistic behaviour that juxtaposes "passages of speech belonging to two different grammatical systems or sub-systems, within the same exchange". Code-switching in Hong Kong mainly concerns two grammatical systems: Cantonese and English. According to Matrix Language Frame Model, Cantonese, as the “matrix language”, contributes bound morphemes, content and function words, whereas, English, the “embedded language”, contributes lexical, phrases or compound words. Distinctions still exist, albeit subtle, among "Hong Kong English", "borrowing", "code-mixing" and "code-switching". The definition of Hong Kong English is controversial, as to whether it is a type of learner language or a new variety of English. Nevertheless, it belongs to the domain of English. "Borrowing" or "loanwords" refers to words taken from another languages after the process of phonological and morphological assimilation. Borrowed items are supposed to be so deeply entrenched into the base language that speakers are not always conscious of their foreign origin. "Code-mixing" and "code-switching", on the other hand, incur less integration into the base language and speakers sometimes are aware of the coexistence of two systems. Various units can be involved in the process, from single words to longer elements such as phrases and clauses. Early works on this phenomenon in Hong Kong reserve "code-mixing" for intra-sentential alternation between Cantonese and English and "code-switching" for the inter-sentential alternation. Nevertheless, "code-mixing" has been gradually stigmatised, implying the incompetence of the bilingual speakers in either or both languages. As a result, "code-switching" tends to be employed as the umbrella term for both alternations, although the intra-sentential mode is predominant among Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong Chinese. Code-switching, deemed as less formal than pure English or Cantonese, appears mostly in interaction between peers. Still, this phenomenon occurs in written media, including local magazines, popular entertainment books, columns in newspapers and advertisements, especially on technology or business administration related topics ==Social background== *The history of British colonisation and the tradition of bilingualism since then exert significant influence on linguistic situations in Hong Kong. (See Bilingualism in Hong Kong for more) * For individual Hong Kong people, even after the handover to the People's Republic of China in 1997, the status of English remains both a cultural and symbolic capital. The fact that they code-switch, continue to use traditional Chinese characters (along with Taiwan, Macau, and the Chinese diaspora), and accord high "prestige value" to English, signals the gesture of maintaining a separate identity from the mainland China. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Code-switching in Hong Kong」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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