Duelling Languages, Duelling Values: Codeswitching in bilingual intergenerational conflict talk in diasporic families

This paper aims to investigate the complex relationship between social interaction and socio-cultural values. Samples of conflict talk between parents and children in the Chinese diasporic families in the UK are examined. Through a detailed analysis of the sequential organization of codeswitching as well as what is termed as “talk about social and cultural practice”, we aim to demonstrate how conflicts in values and identities are negotiated, mediated and managed in bilingual interaction and the emergent nature of new family dynamics and values. The study provides new insights into the (changes of) socio-cultural values in diaspora and migrant communities and contributes to the development of a general theory of the pragmatics of bilingual codeswitching.