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IS-MOBIL-Mobilitetsprogr.f.utl.Ph.D-stu

Structural and socio-pragmatic aspects of Bulgarian-English code-mixing in some printed media

Tildelt: kr 81 999

The current study aims mainly at examining the grammatical and the socio-pragmatic aspects of one relatively new bilingual phenomenon, English-Bulgarian code-mixing, or insertion of words from English into the sentence structure of Bulgarian, in some Bulg arian printed magazines. The study can be seen as an attempt to show how the language of some media, and hence, the language of certain social groups which these media view as target ones, is already giving signs of developing bilingualism. On the groun d of this observation, I am prone to make the conclusion that bilingualism is already detected not only in the discourse of some strictly professional groups (i.e. IT specialists), but on a much larger scale. English-Bulgarian code-mixing is generally per ceived as means of indicating group solidarity or social identity, as well as of expressing a special attitude or emotional states. The research object comprises more than 500 sentences of mixed-code nature taken from printed magazines, commonly known as lifestyle magazines. The main method of examining the grammatical and structural aspects of code-mixing in the data is based on Muysken's classification of intra-sentential code-mixing and on Carol Myers-Scotton's Matrix Language Frame model. The d iscussion of the socio-pragmatic functions of the instances in the data, which is the second aim of the study, supports the view that the socio-linguistic advantages of code-mixing stem mostly from the fact that it is an expressing tool for showing affili ation to a certain social group. We should therefore consider code-mixing a linguistic advantage rather than an obstacle in the process of establishing communication. The sociolinguistic analysis of the data challenges the widely-shared view of English as a potential threat for the purity of Bulgarian. It can be also regarded a basis for hypothesizing about the possibilities of developing bilingualism in an originally monolingual society.

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IS-MOBIL-Mobilitetsprogr.f.utl.Ph.D-stu