Bilingualism and identity construction in the digital discourse

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study explores: (a) how Urdu/English bilinguals flag-up social identities and power relations in the digital discourse, and (b) whether or not bilingualism favours mixing and/or diffusing local identity in the global discourse. The data were sampled from 200 Bachelor of Science students (who had Urdu as their primary language of communication and English as one of the academic languages or the most prestigious second language) of 5 universities situated in Lahore, Pakistan. The data were delimited to their Facebook conversations ‘on the wall’. The analysis procedure was based on the Sociocultural Communication Approach to unpack selective discursive practices responsible for linguistic choices by Urdu/English bilinguals in the digital discourse. In addition to English–Urdu code-switching as an identity marker, they use a range of linguistic features covering linguistic reduction, neologism and paralinguistic features to reflect solidarity, power and gender within their speech community. The study further anticipates that prevalence of certain linguistic forms among the participants depends on their position in the social systems. It is hoped that the patterns found in this study regarding how Urdu/English bilinguals identify themselves in the digital discourse will continue to be relevant in the future.