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Article published In:
Spanish in Context
Vol. 19:2 (2022) ► pp.289–313

Mixing Catalan, English and Spanish on WhatsApp

A case study on language choice and code-switching

| Universitat Politècnica de València

The purpose of this study is to examine language choice, language alternation and code-switching practices in Instant Messaging (IM). Specifically, this article presents the results from an analysis of the written conversations of a specific community formed by Valencian adults fluent in English. Taking a computer-mediated, discourse-centred ethnographic approach to online discourse, the study has shown that, in this specific trilingual online community of language teachers, language choice and the choice of a specific written variety is intimately related to audience. The group members mix Catalan, English and Spanish regularly, their language choice and code-switching strategies serving to establish in-group solidarity, familiarity and lessen face-threatening acts. Switches to English, sometimes followed by a switch to Catalan, are usually employed for humorous word play. Interestingly, the case study exemplifies how the use of a certain language may be highly correlated to ideological and political considerations.

Keywords: sociolinguistics, Computer-mediated Communication, Instant Messaging, language choice, language-mixing phenomena, linguistic creativity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background: Revisiting some concepts
    • 2.1Catalan and Spanish in Valencia
  • 3.The case study
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Corpus
    • 3.3Methodology
  • 4.Results and their interpretation
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 25 January 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.19033.per
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