The Characteristics and Ideologies of Code-mixing between Thai and English in Magazine Advertisements

Abstract

The purposes of this paper are to analyze the characteristics in terms of processes and structures of code-mixing between Thai and English magazine advertisements, and to analyze the ideologies of code-mixing related to Thai cultures. The advertisements including code-mixing were selected from Dichan Magazine. The data were collected from January 2011 to December 2011. The results showed that code-mixing was found in many kinds of advertisements: cosmetics, electrical equipment, and foods. The processes of code-mixing included borrowing, translation, and hybridization. The results showed the structures of English code-mixing in many levels: word level, phrase level, and sentence level. In addition, ideologies were related to beauty, modernity, and credibility. Code-mixing is one of the techniques that the writers use in order to help the consumers have positive attitudes towards the products.