Where East Meets West – Dual Hybridity in the E-Discourse of Hong Kong Bilinguals
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v2i1.29Keywords:
Computer-mediated Communication, Cross-cultural, Cross-linguistic, Dual Hybridity, E-discourse, Hong Kong Bilinguals, Internet Language, MSNAbstract
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is a growing topic in linguistic research. Based on an 80,000-word corpus of MSN messaging data of twenty English-Cantonese bilingual interlocutors, this paper investigates cross-linguistic and cross-cultural features of e-discourse in relation to spoken and written language. Where East meets West, the new register demonstrates a dual form of hybridity: a hybridity of an amalgam of spoken and written language with a largely oral orientation and a hybridity of transcreative language, as a construct of modality, technology, linguistic and cultural diversity.1 Four central forms of language, namely, compressed language, personalised language, transcreative language and visual language are identified for expressing interpersonal solidarity and cultural identity. Against this background sounds, letters, words, typography, spellings and graphics are manipulated and played with under parameters such as modality as well as temporality, synchronicity and spatiality in computer-mediated communication.2 It is speculated that some generic forms of text features and interactional strategies are common in non-English Internet users but this emerging form of online writing is challenging and reshaping the conventional literacy practices that formal education promotes.
References
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Paolillo, J. C. (1999) The virtual speech community: social network and language variation on IRC. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication 4(4). Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol4/issue4/paolillo.html
Schiffrin, D. (1987) Discourse Markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shortis, T. (2001) The Language of ICT: information and communication technology. London and New York: Routledge.
Stockwell, E. S. and Stockwell, G. (2003) Using email for enhanced cultural awareness. Australian Language Matters 11(1): 3–4.
Su, H-Y. (2003) The multilingual and multi-orthographic Taiwan-based Internet: creative uses of writing systems on college-affiliated BBSs. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication 9(1). Retrieved on 27 September 2005 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/ vol9/issue1/su.html
Swales, J. M. (1990) Genre Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Takase, K. (2001) Digital Technologies and Literacy in Japanese. Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://www.ioe.ac.uk/ccs/dowling/studentswork/takase/takase_lit.htm
Warschauer, M. (1999) Electronic Literacies: language, culture and power in online education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Warschauer, M., El Said, G. and Zohry, A. (2002) Language choice online: globalisation and identity in Egypt. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication 7(4). Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol7/issue4/warschauer.html
Werry, C. C. (1996) Linguistic and interactional features of Internet Relay Chat. In S. C. Herring (ed.) Computer-mediated Communication: linguistic, social and cross-cultural perspectives 47–64. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Wilkins, H. (1991) Computer talk: long distance conversations by computer. Written Communication 8(1): 56–78.
Yates, S. J. (1996) English in cyberspace. In S. Goodman and D. Graddol (eds) Redesigning English: new texts, new identities 106–140. London: Routledge.
Baron, N. (2000) Alphabet to Email: how written English evolved and where its heading. London: Routledge.
Baron, N. (2003) Language of the Internet. Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://www. american.edu/lfs/tesol/2003 Paper–Lg of the Internet.pdf
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad S. and Finegan, E. (1999) Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. China: Longman.
Cashman, H. R. (2005) Identities at play: language preference and group membership in bilingual talk in interaction. Journal of Pragmatics 37(3): 301–315.
Climent, S., Moré, J., Oliver, A., Salvatierra, M., Sànchez, I., Taulé, M. and Vallmanya, L. (2003) Bilingual newsgroups in Catalonia: a challenge for machine translation. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication 9(1). Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http:// jcmc.indiana.edu/vol9/issue1/climent.html
Collot, M. and Belmore, M. (1996) Electronic language: a new variety of English. In S. C. Herring (ed.) Computer-mediated Communication: linguistic, social and cross-cultural perspectives 13–26. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Crystal D. (2001) Language and the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Danet, B. and Herring, S. C. (2003) Introduction: the multilingual Internet. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication 9(1). Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://jcmc. indiana.edu/vol9/issue1/intro.html
Davies, B. H. and Brewer, J. P. (1997) Electronic Discourse: linguistic individuals in virtual space. Albany: State University of New York.
Durham, M. (2003) Language choice on a Swiss mailing list. Journal of Computermediated Communication 9(1). Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://jcmc.indiana. edu/vol9/issue1/durham.html
Fais, L. and Ogura, K. (2001) Discourse issues in the translation of Japanese e-mail. Conference of the Pacific Association for Computational Linguistics, PACLING 2001, Kitakyushu, Japan: Proceedings. Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://afnlp.org/ pacling2001/pdf/fais.pdf
Ferrara, K., Brunner, H. and Whittemore, G. (1991) Interactive written discourse as an emergent register. Written Communication 8(1): 8–34.
Fraser, B. (1999) What are discourse markers? Journal of Pragmatics 31(7): 931–952.
Fung, L. and Carter, R. A. (2007) Cantonese e-discourse: a new hybrid variety of English. Multilingua 26(1):35–66.
Kachru, B. B. (1995) Transcreating creativity in world Englishes and literary canons. In G. Cook and B. Seidlhofer (eds) Principle and Practice in Applied Linguistics 271–288. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gains, J. (1999) Electronic mail: a new style of communication or just a new medium? An investigation into the text features of e-mail. English for Specific Purposes 18(1): 81–101.
Gao, L. (2001) Digital age, digital English. English Today 17(3): 17–23.
Gimenez, J. C. (2000) Business e-mail communication: some emerging tendencies in registers. English for Specific Purposes 19(3): 237–251.
Global Reach (2004) Global Internet statistics. Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http:// global-reach.biz/globstats/index.php3
Hård af Segerstad, Y. (1998) Emoticons – A New Mode for the Written Language. Unpublished paper, Göteborg University.
Hård af Sergerstad, Y. (2000) A study of a Swedish chatroom. Journal of Media and Culture 3(4). Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0008/ swedish.php
Hård af Segerstad, Y. (2003) Use and Adaptation of Written Language to the Conditions of Computer-mediated Communication. Doctoral dissertation, Göteborgs University.
Herring, S. C. (ed.) (1996) Computer-mediated Communication: linguistic, social and crosscultural perspectives. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Herring, S. C. (2001) Computer-mediated discourse. In D. Tannen, D. Schiffrin and H. Hamilton (eds) Handbook of Discourse Analysis 612–634. Oxford: Blackwell.
James, G. (2001) Cantonese particles in Hong Kong students’ English e-mails. English Today 17(3): 9–16.
Kiesler, S., Siegel, J. and McGuire, T. W. (1984) Social psychological aspects of computermediated communication. American Psychologist 39(10): 1123–1134.
Lankshear, C. and Knobel, M. (1997) Critical literacy and active citizenship. In S. Muspratt, A. Luke and P. Freebody (eds) Constructing Critical Literacies: teaching and learning textual practice 95–124. NSW: Allen and Unwin.
Lee, C. K. M. (2002) Literacy practices in computer-mediated communication in Hong Kong. The Reading Matrix 2(2). Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/lee/article.pdf
Li, L. (2000) Email: a challenge to Standard English? English Today 16(4): 23–29.
Luke, C. (1997) Technological Literacy. Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://www.gseis. ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/Luke/TECHLIT.html
Maynor, N. (1994) The language of electronic mail: written speech? In G. D. Little and M. Montgomery (eds) Centennial Usage Studies 48–54. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama.
Murray, D. E. (1985) Composition as conversation: the computer terminal as medium of communication. In L. Odell and D. Goswami (eds) Writing in Nonacademic Settings 203–227. New York: Guilford.
Nishimura, Y. (2003) Linguistic innovations and interactional features of casual online communication in Japanese. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication 9(1). Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol9/issue1/nishimura.html
Palfreyman, D. and Al-Khalil, M. (2003) A funky language for teenzz to use: representing Gulf Arabic in instant messaging. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication 9(1). Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol9/issue1/palfreyman.html
Panyametheekul, S. and Herring, S. (2003) Gender and turn allocation in a Thai chatroom. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication 9(1). Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol9/issue1/panya_herring.html
Paolillo, J. C. (1996) Language choice on soc.culture.punjab. Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~paolillo/research/paolillo.publish.txt
Paolillo, J. C. (1999) The virtual speech community: social network and language variation on IRC. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication 4(4). Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol4/issue4/paolillo.html
Schiffrin, D. (1987) Discourse Markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shortis, T. (2001) The Language of ICT: information and communication technology. London and New York: Routledge.
Stockwell, E. S. and Stockwell, G. (2003) Using email for enhanced cultural awareness. Australian Language Matters 11(1): 3–4.
Su, H-Y. (2003) The multilingual and multi-orthographic Taiwan-based Internet: creative uses of writing systems on college-affiliated BBSs. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication 9(1). Retrieved on 27 September 2005 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/ vol9/issue1/su.html
Swales, J. M. (1990) Genre Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Takase, K. (2001) Digital Technologies and Literacy in Japanese. Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://www.ioe.ac.uk/ccs/dowling/studentswork/takase/takase_lit.htm
Warschauer, M. (1999) Electronic Literacies: language, culture and power in online education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Warschauer, M., El Said, G. and Zohry, A. (2002) Language choice online: globalisation and identity in Egypt. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication 7(4). Retrieved on 31 May 2006 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol7/issue4/warschauer.html
Werry, C. C. (1996) Linguistic and interactional features of Internet Relay Chat. In S. C. Herring (ed.) Computer-mediated Communication: linguistic, social and cross-cultural perspectives 47–64. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Wilkins, H. (1991) Computer talk: long distance conversations by computer. Written Communication 8(1): 56–78.
Yates, S. J. (1996) English in cyberspace. In S. Goodman and D. Graddol (eds) Redesigning English: new texts, new identities 106–140. London: Routledge.
Published
2008-01-09
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Carter, R., & Fung, L. (2008). Where East Meets West – Dual Hybridity in the E-Discourse of Hong Kong Bilinguals. Linguistics and the Human Sciences, 2(1), 29-57. https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v2i1.29
