Relevance theory： the Cognitive Pragmatic Foundation of Code—switching

令狐曼

Abstract The paper will discuss the process of code-switching and its cognitive pragmatic motivation from the point of relevance. And code-switching is also regarded as a kind of communicative strategy. The process of the production of code-switching is also the cooperation and mutual constrain of communicators cognitive environment and ability. Cognitive effect can be obtained through communicators processing cognitive environment with their cognitive ability. In this process， the cooperation of cognitive ability and cognitive environment gives a guarantee to successful communication with code-switching.

Key words relevance theory， cognitive context， code-switching， cognitive environment

中圖分类号：H319.9文献标识码：ADOI：10.16400/j.cnki.kjdks.2015.09.072

1 Introduction

The core research subject of pragmatics is the content and comprehending process of language communication. Communication is regarded as encoding and decoding system， but some communications， code-switching will often be involved in the cases of cultural vacancies. With the conjunction of relevance theory， code-switching is that interlocutors communicate from one language to another language. From 70s in the last century till now， code-switching has been researched in diverse way by Gumperz， Myers-Scotton， etc. the representatives of sociolinguistics， Poplack， Disciullo & al.of linguistic structure and formation， and David Li， Ping Li， Belyayeva in the angle of psychology. Their researches in the different fields have excavate some important phenomena and uncovered some attributes and regulations of code-switching， which also lay a firm foundation for the shift from descriptive research to explainable research. The paper will try to unearth the process and motivation of code-switching in the point of relevance theory.

2 Relevance theory and code-switching

The key points of relevance theory proposed by Sperber and Wilson are communication and cognition. In communicative process， recognizing the intention behind the ostension it is necessary for efficient information processing. In the process， if some one fails to recognize the intention may fail to notice relevant information so that he also fail a successful communication. （Sperber and Wilson; 1999; P50-51） In communication， speakers will unconsciously or consciously involve themselves in these two principles.

Code-switching is a phenomenon of language variation， which cannot be understood or accepted without inference. The production and understanding of code-switching hold two sides， one is encoding and decoding， the other ostensiveness and inference. The course of encoding and decoding is the process of ostensiveness and inference. It means the production and comprehension of code-switching is an ostensive and inferential activity， and the process of production and comprehension is the process of looking for the optimal relevance.

3 Cognitive context and mutual manifestness in code-switching

In order to describe cognitive state in communication， Sperber and Wilson proposed aconcept， that is mutual manifestness. As a result of different external situations and internal cognitive ability of communicators， they establish conceptual representations in the respectively different ways， and their cognitive environments are also actually quite distinct. Ones cognitive environment is composed of a series of manifest objects and assumptions.

The cognitive context employed in communication process is just the part of mutual manifestness of their cognitive environment. In communicative process， when their manifest objects or assumptions are the same to each other in their cognitive environment， as a result， the overlaps compose of the mutual cognitive environment， in which each manifest assumption is mutually manifest.

In cognitive context， both addressers and addressees can reach an agreement through mutual manifestness in the same cognitive context， for example：

（1）A： 明天下午有空没？

B： 有空，啥事？

A： 我那台电脑的系统出了点问题， 能帮我看看吗？

B： 行！以前装的什么系统？

A： Window 2000.

B： 我可能会给你装Window XP.

A： 听说Window XP 比Window 2000 好使……

……

In this conversation， code-switching is involved in， but it does not impede interlocutors to understand their each others meaning， because the participants are located in the same cognitive environments， which includes the physical environment and internal or cognitive context.

4 Cognitive pragmatic inference in code-switching

The process of understanding the conversation with code-switching is often called cognitive pragmatic inference. It contains two parts. One is semantic inferential process， the other is pragmatic inferential process.

The process of semantic inferential is restricted to the vocabulary、 grammar、meaning， etc. of the used code system. Addressees can infer the object transformed in forms of codes according to the knowledge of language of codes system employed by addressers， for instance：

（2）“你再bully她，我不答应的。”

（3）“柔嘉，男人象孩子一样，不能spoil的，你太依顺他 ——”

In the sentences， the words bully and spoil can be easily understood under the guidance of conventional meaning of codes. With the assistance of semantic relevance of Chinese， people can successfully infer the conventional meanings of Chinese， and they are “欺負” and “娇惯”. This kind of semantic inference depends on the semantic relevance between codes in a language and that in another language.

The process of pragmatic inference is the extension of conventional meaning. Addressees can stimulate their own structure of knowledge to infer the conventional meaning of codes， for example：

（4） 她是外国语文系，我是政治系，将来到了学校，她是旁人的office wife， 跟我道不同不相为谋。

In this example， on the one hand， speaker delivers ingeniously his expressive intention with the communicative strategies of codes. On the other hand， the recipient looks for the corresponding code information like “办公室妻子” in the way of exerting his cognitive context， in particularly his social and cultural knowledge， and the optimal relevance between code information and contextual situation. In this cognitive process， the interlocutors will try to exchange conversational cognitive effect with their information processing in order to comprehend their partners communicative strategies and realize the communicative goal.

5 Conclusion

Code-switching is the result of communicators satisfying his needs of expression， and is also a communicative strategy of delivering communicators intention. The process of the production of code-switching is also the cooperation and mutual constrain of communicators cognitive environment and ability. Cognitive effect can be obtained through communicators processing cognitive environment with their cognitive ability. In this process， the cooperation of cognitive ability and cognitive environment gives a guarantee to successful communication with code-switching.

Bibliography

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