Code‐switching, preference marking and politeness in bilingual cross‐generational talk: Examples from a Chinese community in Britain

Abstract This paper deals with two related research questions: (1) how an understanding of the meaning of bilingual code‐switching can be achieved, and (2) how speakers with very different abilities in and attitudes to the languages communicate with each other in close and informal encounters. Drawing examples from the Tyneside Chinese community in the North East of England, a sequential analysis of conversational code‐switching by speakers of different generations is presented. Particular attention is paid to the marking of preference organisation in bilingual cross‐generational family talk. The meaning of code‐switching is interpreted with reference to the participants’ own consideration of the communicative and social consequences, along the lines of Brown & Levinson's ‘politeness’ theory.