Code-switching in South Asian English CMC.

Shakir, Muhammad Deuber, Dagmar

Abstract

This paper analyses the use of indigenous language elements including code-switching in two contrasting genres, i.e. group chats and Twitter memes along with tweets, in the English communication of South Asian (Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani, and Sri Lankan) internet users. The results from group chats show that one of the most common lexical indigenous elements are tags, for example, address forms like yaar, machan, and da which all can be translated to English as ‘dude’ or ‘buddy’. The analysis of Twitter memes along with tweets shows that despite the tweet text being in English, the South Asian users tend to employ memes with indigenous text more often as compared to English memes for political satire. Overall, the study finds that code-switching and indigenous resources are used to create a sense of localness in English communication, whether it is group chats or Twitter memes and tweets.