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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 488

Part of Session 134: Multilingual written internet data in language contact studies (Other abstracts in this session)

The construction and expression of ethnic identities in youtube comments

Authors: Nortier, Jacomine
Submitted by: Nortier, Jacomine (Utrecht University, Netherlands, The)

The main question in this colloquium on written Internet data is whether Internet data are useful in language contact studies (cf. also Dorleijn & Nortier, 2009). If this is the case, it will save researchers a lot of work (data collection, transcription, etc.). In my paper I will argue that Internet data can be valuable and very useful, although they are not the same as ‘real’ data in terms of spontaneity, and sociolinguistic background information is difficult to obtain.

            In ‘normal’ face-to-face communication interlocutors convey a large part of their message through non-linguistic cues, for example by the use of gestures, but also by drawing conclusions on the basis of what they see and hear (Koole, 2002). They don’t need to tell the other explicitly that they are male or female, young or old, black or white, poorly or better educated, native speakers, etc.

            In chat boxes, MSN, discussion groups, etc. on the Internet, however, the extralinguistic information has to be made explicit in other ways. The only thing available to the interlocutors is their keyboard. In that sense, users have to be more creative to express their identity as far as they consider it relevant to the discussion in which they are participating. When they know the right means, they can even construct a desired identity which is not necessarily true in real-life situations.

            In my presentation I will analyse the way identities are expressed linguistically in reactions to a youtube video by a group of young rappers from Utrecht, the Netherlands. This group, ‘Relschoppers’ (meaning trouble makers, rioters) consists of plm. 14 year old boys with Moroccan and Turkish backgrounds. Thousands of reactions have been given since the video was released which provide an extremely rich source of data.

            Attention will be paid to the way identities are constructed and expressed, both explicitly and implicitly. The focus will be on ethnic identities and the role multilingual urban youth vernaculars play in this construction. I will show that small cues are meaningful to the  interlocutors.

References:

M. Dorleijn and J. Nortier: Code Switching and the Internet. In: (B.E. Bullock & A.J. Toribio (eds.): The Cambridge Handbook of Code Switching.Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 127-141

T. Koole: ‘Communicatieve principes: betekenis geven als activiteit’, in: Th. Janssen: Een Inleiding in de Taalwetenschap, Den Haag: SDU, 2002, pp. 131-142. [Communicative principles: the construction of meaning as an activity]