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Part of
The Social Dynamics of Pronominal Systems: A comparative approach
Edited by Paul Bouissac
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 304] 2019
► pp. 235–252

Chapter 10
Me, myself, and ako

Locating the self in Taglish tweets

| Ryerson University

This analysis explores the complex existential relationship that multilingual speakers in the Philippines forge between sign (language) and object (ego) when referring to themselves in Taglish using both the first-person pronouns, I (English) and ako (Tagalog) in single tweets. Bringing together complementary analytical approaches on pronouns, codeswitching/mixing, and voice, this analysis explores the ways in which the self can be dynamically constituted in the dialogic interplay of first-person pronouns in English and Tagalog on the social media platform of Twitter. Data explored in this chapter help to investigate the philosophical question of whether I and ako operate in a one-to-one existential relationship with the ego and to examine the complex ways that languages dynamically interact with one another to construct complex, kaleidoscopic selves.

Keywords: Philippines, Taglish, codeswitching, Twitter, pronouns, voice, semiotics, shifters, dialogicity
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Introducing the data
    • Locating the I and the ako in Taglish tweets
      • 1.Codeswitching as social and structural
      • 2.The dialogical emergence and signification of I and ako
    • Concluding thoughts
  • References
Published online: 23 July 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.304.10osb
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