Linguagem, interação social e cultura: alternância de código chinês-português por imigrantes chineses no Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

This paper studies Chinese-Portuguese code-switching by Chinese immigrants in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Twenty-two discourse excerpts, collected during three months, were analyzed in the interactional sociolinguistics approach (GOFFMAN, 2002; BLOM; GUMPERZ, 2002; TANNEN; WALLAT, 2002; AUER, 1955, 1999). The excerpts were grouped in four categories: information technology, culture, emotional role and functional role. A fifth set of excerpts was analyzed in what refers to the interference of Chinese on Portuguese in code-switching. The analysis showed that code-switching, circumscribed to topics and expressive needs related to technology, cultural differences, expression of emotions, functional uses, is a cue to the framing of interactional events in the Brazilian scene, but still in an eastern perspective. This state of affairs is reflected in the structure of alternated sequences in Portuguese, in which Chinese structural features are strong.