Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 134

Thematic Session (Papers belonging to this Thematic Session)

Using multilingual written internet data in language contact studies

Authors: Dorleijn, Margreet; Verschik, Anna
Submitted by: Dorleijn, Margreet (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, The)

Multilingual internet data are often studied in their own right. Topics such as typical CMC-features like emoticons, typographic matters, the use and adaptation of different alphabets as well as pragmatic issues, style etc. have mainly be discussed for CMC-data per se.

The innovative language use, the specific CMC-driven features have been highlighted in several studies (cf e.g. Danet and Herring (2007). The majority of these studies has an interactional approach or is concerned with macro sociolinguistic issues such as language choice. Surprisingly little use is made until to date of CMC-data for linguistic aspects of binlingual speech (code-switching, code-copying, structural convergence etc). The problem is acknowledged by e.g., Danet and Herring, pioneers in CMC-data research (2003)

We want to discuss in how far internet data can be considered a reflection of spoken data. In this thematic session we wish to investigate in what sense, if and if so, to what extent CMC data can be used for linguistically oriented research. We want to investigate CMC-data from two general perspectives:

1. from the perspective of CMC put on a par with spoken data: can CMC data be considered a reflection of spoken data, and as such be used for the study of language contact features?

2. highlighting the specific character of CMC data. Can it offer insight in mechanisms of contact-induced language change that are hard to uncover on the basis of naturalistic data?

1: In studies on the nature of internet communication, it is often noted that CMC is a hybrid somewhere between speaking and writing, which is indeed what internet users intuitively feel to be the case. Hence the term ‘written speech’ that is often used to refer to CMC. Moreover, CMC fulfills many of the same social functions as spoken conversation (cf. Herring, 2010 for discussion and references)

We want to investigate to what extent multilingual internet data ) can be useful in the study of phenomena that are normally studied in naturalistic (spoken) data such as (structural aspects of) code switching, any kind of contact-induced structural change etc.

As to 2: Intenet data imply more deliberation than speech (as it is still writing), providing thus a solid basis for a study of conventionalization/innovation/awareness in language contact phenomena.

We want to discuss whether the inherent characteristics of internet data as opposed to spoken data may serve to offer insight into several issues that are central in the language contact debate such as:

-processes of propagation and conventionalisation (Croft 2000, Johanson 2002) (where potentially huge amounts of data that have a supra-network - potentially even global - spread, has the potential to shed a light on mechanisms that would have remained in the dark otherwise)

-related to this: the role of deliberate manipulation and awareness of language users (or lack there off) in the processes mentioned above . (e.g: does usage of different orthographies reflect linguistic awareness? For instance: a code-switched stem in Latin characters and inflectional morphology in Cyrillic characters etc.)

-The contributors will be requested to present a paper on a specific language pair that they have investigated on the basis of CMC data. In each individual contribution at least one of the aspects mentioned above will be addressed, as well as the specific advantages and disadvantages of CMC data. The varieties discussed are mostly used in urban multicultural settings.

References

CROFT, W. (2000). Explaining language change: an evolutionary approach. Harlow, Essex: Longman

DANET, B., and HERRING, S. C., Eds. (2003). The Multilingual Internet: Language, Culture, and Communication in Instant Messaging, Email and Chat. Special issue of the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 9 (1). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol9/issue1/

DANET, Brenda & Susan C. HERRING (2007): The Multilingual Internet: Language, Culture and communication online. Oxford, etc.: Oxford University Press

Herring, S. C., Ed. (2010). Computer-mediated conversation, Part I. Special issue of Language@Internet, 7. http://www.languageatinternet.de/articles/2010/index_html/

Herring, S. C. (2010).Computer-mediated conversation: Introduction and overview. Language@Internet, 7, article 2. http://www.languageatinternet.de/articles/2010/2801/index_html/

JOHANSON (2002). Structural Factors in Turkic Language Contacts [With an introduction by Bernard Comrie].London: Curzon.

Sociolinguistics Symposium 19

Programme: accepted abstracts

Using multilingual written internet data in language contact studies