‘¡Hable Bien M’ijo o Gringo o Mx!’: language ideologies in the digital communication practices of transnational Mexican bilinguals

Discourse markers in online writing by early balanced English/Italian bilinguals

“…Prior studies associated with written discourse on social networking sites (SNS) are widely represented (Androutsopoulos 2014;Blommaert, Collins and Slembrouck 2005;Christiansen 2018; Pérez-Sabater and Moffo 2019; Riley 2015). SNS are typically regarded as offering users a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system; an articulated list of other users with whom the user shares an interest, and the ability to traverse the list of connections made by themselves and others within the system (Page 2010: 425) Recent research literature indicates that written discourse on SNS involves such variables as i) semiotic materiality, ii) access to online media networks, and iii) a networked audience (Androutsopoulos 2015).…”

“…(Androutsopoulos 2014;Blommaert, Collins and Slembrouck 2005). Whereas the literature suggests that writing on SNS is characterised by variability due to the varied resources and the writer's identity (Androutsopoulos 2014;Blommaert, Collins and Slembrouck 2005), recent studies argue that variability appears to be a frequent phenomenon in online writing by bilinguals (Christiansen 2018;Pérez-Sabater & Moffo 2019;Riley 2015), who code-switch while online. Written discourse on SNS involves such variable as a bi-and multilingual public audience that is characterised by a varied social distance to the bilingual writer (Androutsopoulos 2015).…”

“…Written discourse on SNS involves such variable as a bi-and multilingual public audience that is characterised by a varied social distance to the bilingual writer (Androutsopoulos 2015). In particular, an online bilingual writer's public audience on such SNS as Facebook may involve family, close friends, acquaintances, work colleagues, people who follow the writer on Facebook (followers), and any user of Facebook provided they have access to the public updates and/or public posts by the Facebook writer (Christiansen 2018;Pérez-Sabater and Moffo 2019;Riley 2015). Presumably, the variation in the audience as well as the social distance within the members of the social networks map onto a bilingual writer's choice of the linguistic code while writing on SNS.…”

“…There is a burgeoning line of research that explores written discourse produced by bilinguals on SNS, in particular, on Facebook (Christiansen 2018;Pérez-Sabater and Moffo 2019;Riley 2015). Arguably, there are several research themes that provide a common denominator for the studies conducted between 2015 and 2019.…”

“…They argue that code-switching serves to establish identities and create in-group language styles. Written discourse on Facebook by English/Spanish bilinguals is investigated by Christiansen (2018), who contrasts US-born and Mexico-born bilinguals' writing on Facebook in order to establish how bilinguals construe and view their identity depending on whether they communicate in Spanish or English. Christiansen (2018) argues that Facebook offers an empowering discursive space for the bilinguals in her study.…”