Code-switching in the Context of Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle from Perspective of Sociolinguistics

Code-switching is a common phenomenon when speakers change from two or more languages or language varieties during communication. It serves as a communication strategy to achieve speakers’ communicative purposes. This paper discusses code-switching cases from perspective sociolinguistics to explore the motives and implication of code-switching. Two theories, Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle, are adopted in the study and both offer good explanations for code-switching from different perspective. The maxim of quantity, the maxim of quality, the maxim of relation and the maxim of manner under Cooperative Prince principle explain the mechanisms by which people interpret conversation implicature by using code-switching. Six maxims of Politeness Principle are discussed to explore the motives of code-switching from another angle: the tact maxim, the generosity maxim, the approbation maxim the modesty maxim the agreement maxim, and the sympathy maxim. The study finds that code-switching happens because of speakers’ purposes from communication convenience to social rules. The study helps reader better understand the practical motives and importance of code-switching; meanwhile, it provides more insights to the research of code-switching.