Tag: Code-switching

The impact of English as a second language in the construction of youth identity in Europe

By Doni Ebongue & Rebeca Negash

Classroom
Image free of copyright: www.flickr.com

In this blog entry, we will investigate, from a sociolinguistic perspective, the impact that English as a second language has in the construction of the identity of high schoolers aged between thirteen and eighteen years old in Europe. We will consider the main techniques that adolescents use to create and model their linguistic repertoire, such as code-switching and language mixing. In addition, we will observe that the creation of their multilingual identity is influenced by many sources like CMC and CMD, globalization, academical success, music or video games.

Keywords: multilingualism, Europe, youth language, code-switching, language identity, repertoire, CMC

Introduction

While the Statista Research Department stated that in 2019 English was the most spoken language in the world either spoken natively or as a second language (Statista Research Department, Nov 27, 2020), there are still more non-native speakers of English in the world than native ones (Leppänen and Peuronen 2012). Therefore, this language is present everywhere: in social media, in advertisements, at schools, at work, etc. It has become such an important language that most academic institutions have included the learning of English as a mandatory subject. Considering that young people construct their personal and social identity during their teenage years, one might wonder what impact the learning of English has from a social perspective, on the creation and development of their multilingual identity and from a linguistical perspective, on the formation of their personal repertoire. Therefore, through a social approach to multilingualism some key concepts will be defined in order to open a discussion on the effect the practice of English as a second language in Europe has and its role in the multilingual identity performances of adolescents aged between 13 to 18 years old. 

While the Statista Research Department stated that in 2019 English was the most spoken language in the world either spoken natively or as a second language (Statista Research Department, Nov 27, 2020), there are still more non-native speakers of English in the world than native ones (Leppänen and Peuronen 2012). Therefore, this language is present everywhere: in social media, in advertisements, at schools, at work, etc. It has become such an important language that most academic institutions have included the learning of English as a mandatory subject. Considering that young people construct their personal and social identity during their teenage years, one might wonder what impact the learning of English has from a social perspective, on the creation and development of their multilingual identity and from a linguistical perspective, on the formation of their personal repertoire. Therefore, through a social approach to multilingualism some key concepts will be defined in order to open a discussion on the effect the practice of English as a second language in Europe has and its role in the multilingual identity performances of adolescents aged between 13 to 18 years old. 

Theoretical framework

As we will focus on the effect that English has in the construction of young people’s multilingual identity in Europe, we will try to determine whether there are any differences between the English variety that European teens use at home and the one they use in a formal educational context. For example, Grau (2009) makes a distinction between those two speeches by saying “that the use of English in young people’s free time can differ immensely from the English used in school” (Grau, 2009: 161).  In order to do so, we will need to clarify a few important concepts that will be developed later in this paper

First, it is important to define the notion of “repertoire”, which is to be opposed to the notion of “language” as a bounded system. The notion of language is to be considered as a conventional, standardized communication system that humans use orally (speaking) or manually (writing) to interact with each other. According to Bristowe, Oostendorp & Anthonissen, the notion of repertoire can be characterized as follows:  somebody’s repertoire represents every resource that this person uses in order to communicate.

The notion of code-switching needs to be also developed, as this concept represents one of the most important features of young people’s use of different languages. Code-switching is realized by using features of more than one language in the same conversation (Deumert 2011). An example of code-switching from French to English would be an expression like “Je ne suis pas dans un bon mood tonight”. The basis language is French and some words were changed by English ones, possibly because this new expression sounds better in the speaker’s opinion. Another feature used by multilingual people is the notion of language mixing which differs from code-switching. While code-switching replaces a few words of the basis language by words of a different language, language mixing represents the actual use of a foreign language instead of the basis language. For example, in a class about American literature in Germany, the usage of English would be considered as language mixing since students would be speaking only in English, a foreign language, with each other instead of German, their mother tongue.Finally, it is important to define which sources have the more influence on young people’s multilingualism. According to Grau (2009), there are three main factors that have a crucial effect on European youth’s contact with English: “the media, personal networks (friends and family), and intercultural contacts through travelling” (Grau, 2009: 163). As mentioned above, there can be a big difference between the English spoken at home or with friends and the one spoken at school, or “school English” as Grau (2009) describes it (which is a translation of the German word Schulenglisch). Following Leppänen and Peuronen’s work, we will differentiate the notions of CMC (computer-mediated communication) and CMD (computer-mediated discourse). While CMC refers “to interaction that occurs via computer-mediated formats”, CMD “refers to all the different kinds of interpersonal communication carried out on the Internet” (Leppänen and Peuronen 2012). The difference between those two concepts is rather simple, as it is very similar to the notions of “repertoire” versus “language” explained before, where CMC represents the language, and CMD is the repertoire.

Literature review

In this section, we will take a look on previous research regarding the effect of English on youth in Europe and its impact on the construction of their multilingual identity. The studies have been categorized in three themes: language & identity, context choice of English and influence of English in the construction of youth language.

Language & Identity

Exploration is a term that well defines the adolescence period. Indeed, it is a time where boys and girls try, adapt, accept and reject many norms in order to construct their identity. Among their areas of experimentation, they also investigate the limitlessness of language. Through language, young people, in particular, try to express their identity. As a matter of fact, linguistic variation which is “the coexistence of several ways to express a message with the same referential context” (Nortier 2018: 5) is commonly used by teenagers. From this definition, it is understandable that the choice of a linguistic form is never neutral. It is a reflective process that depends on one’s own repertoire, on the identity he or she wants to be associated with and the identity he or she identifies with. Since identity is formed by the self and the others, language can be perceived as an “act of identity” (LePage and Tabouret-Keller 1985 and Auer 2005, as quoted in Nortier 2018: 6). For instance, a same variant can be used differently depending on the context and on what the speaker wants to share about himself or herself. In order to show belonging to a certain group, teenagers are innovative in terms of language. More than other generations, they borrow words from other languages, mix them with their own mother tongue, create new words, adapt the linguistic rules of a standard language, etc. As they investigate the many possibilities that a standard language has to offer and they create their personal repertoire, they succeed in creating their own identity and thus, differentiate themselves from other people and groups. Moore’s study of two groups of high school girls focuses on the distinctive usage of the same variant to create their own repertoire and thus, demarcate themselves from the other group (Moore 2004). Thus, through what Nortier names languaging, youths construct their repertoires from various sources (Nortier 2018: 6). In her paper about young people in multilingual area, Nortier also mentions the term enregisterment which was developed by Agha to determine the “process by which a linguistic repertoire comes to be associated with particular social practices and with the people who engage in such practices” (Agha 2003, as quoted in Nortier 2018: 7). As the interest in youth language is increasing and its vocabulary is more and more developed, it is safe to say that language plays an important role in the creation of personal and social identity.

Context choice of English

Since youth is “a flexible and contestable social category that can be variously reproduced in different social and cultural contexts” (Leppänen 2007: 151), looking at their language practices is one approach to understanding the construction of their identity. From this point of view, their language choice is seen as a social and cultural linguistic “act of identity”. Consciously or unconsciously, every action is the result of a choice. Thus, the use of a specific language or certain linguistic features is also a choice made by the speaker. Among the reasons that might support this decision are the context of speech and the topic discussed. Young people, like other generations, often use English even though it might not be their mother tongue. It can be used as a lingua franca, that is a shared medium of communication between speakers of different languages, in alternation with their primary language, in code-switching as defined earlier or simply in the borrowing of some words. Leppänen and Peuronen (2012) noted that, in the case of CMC, the recourse to another language had multiple effects. English, for example, could be used in the creation of a communicative style of its own, for stylistic or narrative purposes, for clarification, or even help in “the negotiation of identity and communality” (Leppänen and Peuronen 2012: 388). In conclusion, English is linked to a sociolinguistic change, since it has an impact on most youth’s repertoire but also to a social and cultural one, as it also has an influence on the construction of their identity.

Influence of English in the construction of youth language

While English is essentially learned at school, teenagers also developed this language outside of this institution through other English resources, such as TV, internet, music, etc. Additionally, English appears in CMC and young people interact with it. Nevertheless, it seems that teachers do not consider their speaking or writing skills to have improved since schools are expecting a monolingual standard variety of English that those resources do not provide. However, as teenagers are anyway exposed to non-academic English in various contexts, they use it to innovate and model their own repertoire. Therefore, English takes an important role not only in schooling but also in the pupils’ free time.

As CMC is increasingly more present in people’s life, linguists have been interested in its impact on youth language. While in CMC multiple languages can interact with each other, some language features are revised and/or adapted to the CMC context which render difficult to fully acquire a language. Nevertheless, Stæhr and Madsen (2015) have pointed out that, in a few cases, CMC can also help youth to stick to and master a standard language. Indeed, in a research on adolescents in Copenhagen, they realized that teenagers increasingly used more monolingual, standard linguistic practices in their hip-hop productions on YouTube. The reason for their monolingual rap is due to the influence of their local rap mentor, the “hegemonic language ideological beliefs linking linguistics standard and correctness to intelligence”, their consideration for their audience and their ambitions to be a successful musician. What is interesting here is that rap and the resources around it (mentors, videos, songs, etc.) are being used to master a language. Indeed, the adolescents claim that if they want to be listened to they need to rap and speak in standard English. Their message is more powerful if their grammar is correct, thus they associate rap with formal education. While this study showed the advantage of CMC on mastering a language, this is not usually the case.

Thus, even though the type of English youth encounter outside of the academic institution does not significantly improve their speaking or writing skills as teachers would like to, it still plays an important role in the development of the individual. Depending on the kind of English resources and varieties teenagers want to interact with, thus in selecting a certain variety (standard vs. non-standard), they unconsciously shape their identity around it. As Berns and de Bot state (2005) “different language and media environments shape different kinds of English proficiency” (Berns and de Bot 2005, as quoted in Maike 2009: 171).

Discussion

As seen in previous studies, the practice of English in Europe has an effect on youth and plays a role in the construction of their multilingual identity. Indeed, according to Grau (2009) “A number of research reports focusing on youth cultures have emphasised the important role of English for young Europeans” (Grau 2009, 161). Teenagers give English learning a really meaningful importance and tend to speak a more formal, more standardized English in an academic context, while in their free time their English would be more vernacular, more popular. As mentioned earlier, the standard monolingual English expected at school would here represent the concept of “language-mixing”, whereas the “free-time English” would be more prone to code-switching, using English words to replace others of the basis language in a sentence. In his analysis of young people in Denmark, Preisler (1999) “even suggests the terms “English from above” for the English that teenagers use in the institutionalised setting of language classes at school, versus “English from below” for the English they use in their spare time” (Preisler 1999, as quoted in Grau 2009, 161). Of course, in their free time, teenagers in non-English speaking contexts are confronted to this language mostly through CMC. For instance, in video games where English is usually the main language used by the players, or through what is called “language SMS” in French (texting language) where the use of code-switching is high. Also, we can see that the English languages in general (either General American English, British English or other varieties) have a huge impact on youth language with the success of American movies in particular, series and music. Hip-hop for example, which is originally associated to American lower-classes, represents one of the most popular music genres listened to by teenagers and therefore constitutes a rich source of exposure to English for young people. As Leppänen reports in her analysis of Finnish teenagers, “In, for example, subcultural activities and lifestyle communities centred around some shared interest (e.g. musical style) or activity (e.g. skateboarding) English functions as an additional language, mixing and alternating with Finnish” (Leppänen, 2007: 149).

Also, the use of English for young European L2 speakers is associated to one’s own creation of a personal identity, and induces a feeling of belonging in a specific youth culture. Leppänen claims that “In the younger generations this positive allegiance with the West has shown, for example, in their willingness to study Western foreign languages, particularly English” (Leppänen, 2007: 150). With the rise of globalisation and internationalisation in the economic department as well as social interactions becoming worldwide with the invention of Internet in the 20th century, younger generations seem to have a closer relation toward English for various reasons, such as social interactions with people from different countries as well as academic success, since English became the main language used in international exchange, global economy, and therefore allow students to travel and sometimes establish themselves abroad. The English language has also become a marker of appurtenance to a certain culture, for:

“in many other European countries the choice and use of English is also increasingly a key aspect of youth language. Importantly, it has been claimed by a number of researchers that there is often an association between belonging to the youth culture and using English, either along with or mixed with the native language”

(Leppänen, 2007: 151)

All across Europe, English has now become a main language in the areas mentioned earlier and its spreading across Europe shows how young people develop their speech and widen their repertoires as they give more and more importance to English. 

Limitations

It is impossible to determine one fixed repertoire, or one fixed CMD (especially in a media approach) for language is ever-changing, and so is one’s repertoire. The Internet, for example, used to be governed by English. But with time, other languages have started to gain in usage on the web, such as Cantonese and Spanish. With the growth of internationalisation and globalisation, the access to information in one’s home language is much frequent than in the preceding century. Additionally, considering the fact that new generations are more and more present on the Internet, this allows small communities to appear and therefore add new features to people’s repertoire. Also, if we focus once again on Europe, there are mostly L2 speaking countries regarding English, and within the borders of a country not everybody possesses the same level of English, even for younger generations. The preview studies therefore used to focus on a specific group of people, people with a certain level of English available for their repertoire. The level of education is also crucial when analysing young people’s speech in English. While it was not an issue for research concerning secondary education, in higher education teens would have a better proficiency in English than others, which would indubitably have an effect on the resources they have and will use.

Possible future directions

New studies could analyse the evolution of the differentiation between “school English” and “outside school English”. As defined earlier, the interactions that teenagers entertain with the media, their friends and family and with travel has had a deep influence on their repertoires. However, considering once again the notion of “repertoire” as ever-changing, future research might notice any new feature in the following generations.

References

  • Bristowe, Anthea and Marcelyn, Oostendorp and Christine, Anthonissen. 2014. Language and youth identity in a multilingual setting: A multimodal repertoire approach. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 32:2, 229-245.
  • Faas, Daniel. 2007. Youth, Europe and the Nation: The Political Knowledge, Interests and Identities of the New Generation of European Youth. Journal of Youth Studies 10:2, 161-181.
  • Hoffmann, C. 2000. The Spread of English and the Growth of Multilingualism with English in Europe. In J. Cenoz, & U. Jessner (Eds.), English in Europe: The Acquisition of a Third Language. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1-21.
  • Kerswill, Paul. 2013. Identity, ethnicity and place: the construction of youth language in London. In Auer, Peter, Hilpert, Martin, Stukenbrock, Anja and Szmrecsanyi, Benedikt (Eds.), Space in language and linguistics. linguae and litterae. Walter de Gruyter, 128-164. 
  • Leppänen, Sirpa and Saija, Peuronen. 2012. Multilingualism on the Internet. In Marilyn Martin-Jones, Adrian Blackledge and Angela Creese (Eds.), Handbook of Multilingualism. London: Routledge, 384-402.
  • Leppänen, Sirpa. 2007. Youth Language in Media Contexts: Insights into the Functions of English in Finland. World Englishes 26: 2, 149-169.
  • Maike Grau. 2009. Worlds apart? English in German youth cultures and in educational settings. World Englishes 28:2, 160-174.
  • Moore, Emma. 2004. Sociolinguistic Style: A Multidimensional Resource for Shared Identity Creation. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique 49:3-4, 375-396.
  • Nortier, Jacomine. 2018. Language and Identity Practices among Multilingual Western European Youths. Language and Linguistics Compass 12:5.
  • Stæhr, Andreas and Lian Malai Madsen. 2015. Standard language in urban rap: Social media, linguistic practice and ethnographic context. Language & Communication 40, 67-81.

How Does Social Media Influence our Use of Languages on the Internet?

By Céleste Leu and Nadia Abdi Mohamoud

KEYWORDS: Multilingualism, Social Media, Language choice, Code-switching, Abbreviation

“Social Media Koppelingen” by ATLAS Social Media is marked with CC PDM 1.0

In this blog entry, we investigate multilingualism in computer-mediated communication, and more specifically, the use of languages on social media.

In our multilingual society, computer-mediated communication (CMC) has become prevalent and its further development led to social media 2.0, which are currently a key medium for the spread of multilingualism on the Internet. The term CMC is defined by Leppänen and Peuronen (2012: 384) as “any communicative action that takes place through the use of networked computers” and thus involves several forms of discourse whether asynchronous (e-mail, Facebook wall, forum, YouTube comments) or synchronous (real-time chat, instant messaging, video calls). In the early days of the Internet, English was the dominant language and a vast “majority of websites and Internet users were English-speaking” (Leppänen and Peuronen, 2012: 385). Being the invention of English-speaking scientists, the Internet was designed to compute only in Roman alphabets (Leppänen and Peuronen, 2012: 385). Nowadays, Internet users are offered a wide range of writing systems which has led to the increased use of other languages. Consequently, language choice among Internet users has been the object of many studies but few researched written language shift (i.e., online code-switching) (Lee, 2017: 41). In this context, social media are a promising case to study written language shifts. Social media are defined as “websites and applications which enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking” (Social media, n. (2016)). Subsequently, social media websites such as YouTube, Twitter or Facebook draw “users from different cultures and language backgrounds [who] are generating and sharing content” (Eleta and Golbeck, 2014: 1). In the studies reviewed below, the impact and influence of social media websites on the use of any second language by bilingual and multilingual speakers for monolingual speakers and the spread multilingual practices (i.e., code-switching or abbreviation from other languages) will be discussed.  

Multilingualism in CMC

Multilingualism in CMC and especially the impact of social media websites and apps on the use of a second language by multilingual users are important because nowadays, more and more people from around the world use the internet and communicate with total strangers who might not have the same mother tongue. Furthermore, “the media contribute to the experience of linguistic diversity” (Danet and Herring 2007) and hence help the spread of multilingual practices – in other words, how we use different languages and go from one to the other. Indeed, the internet and especially social media – such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. – allow us to express ourselves and talk with anyone in any language. By using several languages, Internet users tend to employ a special instrument of communication which is called “code-switching” (henceforth CS). It is defined by John Gumperz as “juxtaposition within the same speech exchange of passages of speech belonging to two different grammatical systems or subsystems” (1982, cited in Lee, 2017: 39). It is commonly used by multilingual people and often appears on the World Wide Web and social media. Another common practice is the abbreviation, like “WTF”, “LOL”, “tbh”, “brb”, which you certainly have already used as well! To attempt to answer our research question – What is the impact and influence of social media websites on the use of any second language by bilingual and multilingual speakers for monolingual speakers and the spread multilingual practices (i.e., code-switching or abbreviation from other languages) – we divided the reviewed academic studies in three themes which are bilingual and multilingual users, multilingual practices (abbreviation/code-switching) and social network websites (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube). We will develop these themes in the following sections with evidence from different studies in sociolinguistics.

Tell me how many languages you speak; I’ll tell you how to behave on the Internet

The Internet englobes different interlocutors who all have different language repertoires. Monolingual, bilingual and multilingual users frequently interact together and each draws on large and various linguistic resources. Hence, researchers have an interest in the use of languages on the internet and especially on social media to “examine […] the strategic use of multilingualism on Twitter” (Kim et al. 2014: 2) for example. The internet is a worldwide phenomenon and people from (almost) every country have the possibility to access this system, as a result “the Internet has had a profound effect on communication around the globe” (Paolillo 2007:1). Furthermore, “the media contribute to the experience of linguistic diversity: television, radio, literature, popular film, and digital media may be consumed from foreign sources” (ibid: 6). 

Although people from many different countries might add up to a wide range of languages available, sadly languages are not all represented in the same way on the web. Indeed, “groups with more socio-economic power have a crucial impact on the spread of particular languages” (Kim, et al. 2014: 2) and thus there are languages that are seen more frequently than others. According to Paolillo, “[t]he best available data for the Internet represent only 11 languages, all of which have speakers numbering in the tens or hundreds of millions, and all of which are national languages of presently or historically powerful nations.” (Paolillo 2007: 2). For example, English is highly visible and largely used by a lot of different people on the Internet. There are multiple reasons behind this. 

Firstly, the internet was first developed in English in the United states and thus, “the sheer concentration of [Internet] resources in North America [and northern Europe] mean[s] more use of English than any other language on the Internet.” (Paolillo 2007: 13). Moreover, “[these] two regions […] turn out to be among the least linguistically diverse regions” and their linguistic diversity is smaller compared to other regions (ibid;17). In addition to that, one research by Kim et al. showed that – in the case of Twitter – languages spoken by people who are monolingual (for example, an only English-speaking user) are more used than the languages used by bilingual or trilingual people:

“It has been shown that a single monolingual speaker of a particular language may hold the key to the survival of the language in the bilingual community, as the bilingual speakers try to accommodate the monolingual speaker ” (Kim et al. 2014: 2)

Because of that the monolingual language stays on top as its speakers cannot speak another language. Hence, “the proportion of English users in the network [Twitter] constitutes a key influencing factor in the frequency of English use by the multilingual subject.”  (Eleta & Goldbeck 2014;8) because L2 English speakers (who are bilingual or multilingual; English being their second language) tend to try to “accommodate” monolingual speakers – who are in a lot of cases native English speakers – and act as “bridges” – allowing people who speak different L1 languages (L1 meaning your first language) to see the same content as their L2 language is English –  for monolingual groups (Kim et al. 2014; 4). 

Consequently, “English is used as a lingua franca on Twitter” (ibid) and people who speak two languages, including English, will prefer to tweet in English so that the vast majority can understand them.  If they have a lot of followers who do not speak their L1, they’ll be tweeting in English. These are the reasons why English is so widespread on the internet and social media. 

Multilingual practices

Language choice

Language alternation and other multilingual practices such as code-switching and abbreviation from other languages are the focus of several studies. Currently, most Internet users and thus social media users are non-native speakers of English; the language is a resource among their L1 which they draw on for several purposes (Leppänen and Peuronen, 2012: 388). In fact, social media sites are spheres where multilingualism blossoms and language choice heavily depends on the linguistic resources available and on the context (Lee, 2017: 16- 23). Carmen Lee (2017: 23) noted that language choice indeed depends on the “linguistic resources available to online participants”, but also on the users’ use and preferences when communicating with others. For example, in a predominantly English website or discussion, multilingual users tended to choose English to match other users (Eleta and Golbeck, 2014: 431). Influenced by the large number of English users, L2 users will draw on a specific linguistic resource: English.

Code-switching à la carte

One multilingual practice which occurs in social media sites is code-switching (CS). Nur Syazwani Halim and Marlyna Maros (2014) looked into CS and its functions among Facebook users. Examining Facebook interaction and especially status updates, they attempt to reconcile oral CS and written CS. Malay-English users’ occurrences showed that CS had 11 main functions, following the Androutsopoulos’ categorisation (Androutsopoulos 2013b: 681, as quoted in Lee 2017: 50; 51): switching for quotation; for addresses specification; for reiteration, etc. Some Facebook features such as tagging another user led to CS (1) :

(1) has headache preparing timetable for the 1st time ~~ tima kaseyy la kpd [thanks to] Ophelyatie Zin atas tunjuk ajar yg diberikan [for your assistance] 🙂 (Halim and Maros, 2014: 130)

A Malay-English user proceed from Malay to English to direct a message to a specific person with a tag. CS allows users to enrich their Facebook interaction and communicate more effectively. Halim and Maros (2014, 129-132) highlight CS’s functions on Facebook. CS is used to preserve the accuracy of a message, to direct a message to one of many recipients, to repeat a message with the intent to make it understandable, to clarify, emphasis or check a message. Moreover, the switch from one language to another also occurs when a user wants to start a new topic in a specific language (2) :

(2) Crafter’s rule: Kalau tengah banyak idea jangan berhenti [Don’t stop if you’re flooded with ideas].   (Halim and Maros, 2014: 130)                                                                                         

Finally, CS is also used when a specific language can convey more effectively a user’s emotions than the other or if expressions are not translatable or existent in the other language.

How Are You or How Are U? 

Another multilingual practice which often occurs in CMC are abbreviations. They are used in an informal setting where the writers are not paying attention to their language proficiency (Halim and Maros, 2014: 128). On social networking sites such as Twitter, abbreviations are preferred to respect the maximum length of a post, to show informality, closeness or anonymity (Dabrowska, 2018: 235). Similarly, Halim and Maros (2014: 133) highlighted that abbreviations are a response to the “principle of economy” which rules blog or blogging type websites. Marta Dabrowska (2018: 247) analyses the type of abbreviation used by participants and their functions. She highlighted the use of abbreviations by both native English speakers and Indian speakers. Among nine different categories, sound-word substation (“u” for “you”), rebus writing (“bcoz”) or number-word substation (“2 wear”) are illustrated by Dabrowska and are well known abbreviations in online discourse. Although there is a large type of abbreviations, they appear occasionally (Dabrowska, 2018: 248). Moreover, their frequency varies in function of social media websites. YouTube and Twitter are the media platforms with the most abbreviations (with YouTube ranking first). Dabrowska (2018) rationalizes her results by highlighting that these two social media have greater anonymity than Facebook. A user’s image is less at stake on anonymous accounts than on Facebook-private accounts. The users do not feel to the need to use proper spelling and grammar because no one will judge them for an approximate writing. Nonetheless, in Facebook status updates, abbreviations still flourish due to the function of the feature: “convey one’s feelings and thoughts” (Halim and Maros,2014: 128).

Social network websites

Twitter is described as a micro-blogging site which “spread information across languages and countries” (Eleta and Golbeck, 2014: 424). It has a format which limits every post to 140 characters. Users share posts with other users (Eleta and Golbeck, 2014: 425). Twitter allows three types of posts: public post; public post reposted (retweet); and a reply to a post. In a multilingual network such as Twitter, the multilingual audience is encouraged to use English as a lingua franca due to the common belief that English is the language of the Internet (Kim et al., 2014: 243; Eleta and Golbeck, 2014: 425). On these type of social networking websites, many of the users are multilingual and navigate between language groups. These users write in at least two languages and thus form bridges between monolingual communities because they translated and spread information between communities (Eleta and Golbeck, 2014: 425). Multilingual users alternate between languages in a form of reaction to the composition of a group (Eleta and Golbeck, 2014: 431). If a multilingual user stumbles upon a monolingual group, they will use the language of the group; if the user stumbles upon a bilingual group, they will use the dominant language. Dabrowska notes (2018: 242) that users’ identities are known but does not impact on the use of abbreviations. Users frequently have a fan-idol relationship, and thus do not maintain a close connection (ibid). On Twitter, users prefer two types of abbreviations: sound-wording substitution (“u” for “you”) and rebus writing (“bcoz”) (2018: 249). Furthermore, Multilingualism is also seen through hashtags, Lee highlights that Twitter posts frequently are in one language and the hashtags in another language (2017: 51-52). This kind of code-switching involving hashtags can be the subject of further studies. Likewise, the choice of language can be a tool to attract a specific type of followers (2014: 431), and thus increase popularity. Lastly, Twitter’s design forces multilingual users to choose one language among their linguistic resources because the platform do not offer a translation feature if several languages are used in one tweet (Eleta and Golbeck, 2014: 431).

Facebook is another social platform which allows a computer-mediated communication. With its microblogging concept which includes asynchronous messaging such as status updates, users can post short messages (Halim and Maros,2014:127). The social media offers an informal setting on which abbreviations, acronyms, spelling mistakes arise. The use of English among users (in this case Malay-English users) is once again supported by the popular belief that the Internet’s language is English (Halim and Maros,2014:128). Halim and Macros also reveal that English is used to enhance the Facebook experience by facilitating the communication (2014:133). Moreover, Facebook’s main purpose is “to maintain contacts with others, create a positive social image… and exchange news.” (Dabrowska, 2018: 239). As a result, Dabrowska notes that compared to other social media, Facebook shows a lower level of multilingual practices. Users know each other’s identities and wish to protect their image (Dabrowska, 2018: 241), and for this reason refrain themselves from using any form of multilingualism (abbreviations from other languages, for example) that might be affect their real-life image.

YouTube, last but not least, shows the higher use of non-standard language such as abbreviations (Dabrowska, 2018: 241). This result highlights that the platform’s users frequently use nicknames to hide their identity and thus are more prone to using non-standard language (2018: 241).

All in all, these studies have shed light on the multilingual practices on social media 2.0. However, studies on the multilingual practices are still limited, and for example, more the use of code-switching in social media would be a great addition (Lee, 2017: 44).

At the end of the day, English is still the LANGUAGE

In essence, the impact of social media websites on the use of English is a historical result. Since it was created in the United States and the first available sites and scripts were in English, it is believed to be the Internet’s language. Moreover, it is a socio-economically dominant language and thus it imposes itself to the Internet users, including the fact that English speakers tend to be monolingual. Accordingly, multilingual people use English on the internet to adjust to those who are monolingual, mainly on predominantly English websites, making it a lingua franca. They also opt for English in the hope that they could attract more followers if using the dominant language of the Internet. But the Internet is still highly multilingual because there are a lot of different people from different countries using their L1, making code-switching a popular multilingual practice. Social media also pushes people to use language in a certain way, for example making abbreviations popular because of word limits or code-switching for international purposes as it could reach more people who speak different languages (as with the same hashtags but in different languages). All in all, we can say that social media has a big impact on the use of English, especially for non-native speakers, and on the spread of multilingual practices. What is more, English has been a popular language for many years now, with a fairly easy grammar and taught at school, the language had already spread with ease around the world, without the help of social media, and became a lingua franca.

Our research was limited by the fact that social media is still a very recent phenomenon and is growing more and more every day, which makes it difficult to track every occurrence. For instance, a number of websites are unknown to plenty of people but popular in countries where English is not the dominant language. Likewise, an imbalance in studies is shown among social media. Twitter, for example, is the subject of an important of number of studies whereas multilingualism on YouTube is less studied. In fact, multilingual practices vary from one social media to another, and thus a more balanced set of data could lead to different observations. Furthermore, we cannot know if social media have helped specific speakers become more multilingual, simply because they sometimes are in contact with content in other languages or if they were already multilingual. It would be interesting, for further studies, to analyse more in depth the question of multilingual practices, looking thoroughly at who is using which kind of code-switching, on which social media and search why it changes from user to user (e.g. in terms of gender, social class) or from language group to language group. 

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