Languaging when contexts collapse: Audience design in social networking

This paper examines strategies of language choice in social networking interactions among multilingual young people on Facebook. In media studies the term “context collapse” describes the process by which online social networks bring together people from various social contexts, thereby creating a diverse networked audience. In online social networks that involve participants from different countries and language communities, language choice becomes a pertinent issue. This paper draws on empirical data from social networks among young multilingual people on Facebook to examine strategies of language choice and negotiation. Drawing on the sociolinguistic framework of audience design, the sociolinguistics of multilingualism and computer-mediated discourse analysis, the analysis examines language choice in initiating and responding contributions, metapragmatic negotiations of language style and the role of English as a resource among networked writers.