World Englishes and Social Media: Platforms, Variation, and Meta-Discourse: Bloomsbury Advances in World Englishes Sofia Rüdiger Bloomsbury Academic

World Englishes and Social Media

Platforms, Variation, and Meta-Discourse

World Englishes and Social Media

Platforms, Variation, and Meta-Discourse

Description

As social media keeps changing, so does the representation of World Englishes across the wide range of platforms available. This edited volume explores the different varieties of English on various social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, and YouTube.

Social media platforms showcase an ever-increasing diversity in languages and varieties of languages used on them. Divided into three parts, the book focuses in turn on language variation in digital contexts, identities and social meaning making, and metalinguistic commentary, and ends with a discussion chapter providing an overview of World Englishes and social media. Investigating these areas in detail, the book covers a wealth of topics, including ethical questions and research methodology, linguistic features and creativity, and meta-discourse. By offering up-to-date coverage of English use across different platforms, it provides an in-depth insight into the dynamic space of language variation online.

List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
1. Englishes Online and Online Englishes, Sven Leuckert (TU Dresden, Germany), Sofia Rüdiger (FU Berlin, Germany), Jakob R. E. Leimgruber (University of Regensburg, Germany)
Part I: Language Variation in Digital Contexts
2. Functional Expansion and Syntactic Change in Colloquial Singapore English Is It, Mie Hiramoto (National University of Singapore, Singapore), Wilkinson Daniel Wong Gonzales (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), Jakob R. E. Leimgruber (University of Regensburg, Germany), Jun Jie Lim (University of California San Diego, US), Mohamed Hafiz (National University of Singapore, Singapore)
3. A Dynamic Perspective on Diasporic Social Media Communication, Axel Bohmann (University of Cologne, Germany), Fatlum Sadiku (University of Freiburg, Germany), Panagiota Papavasileiou (University of Freiburg, Germany)
Part II: Identities and Social Meaning Making
4. Global Englishes in Skateboarding: A Case Study of Margielyn Didal's Multilingual Instagram Persona, Michael Westphal (Kiel University, Germany)
5. Don't Jack*** the Thing: Language Use and Political Discontent by Trinidadian TikTokers, Guyanne Wilson (University College London, UK)
6. International Tourism in Cuba and Croatia: Investigating English Language Use on Social Media, Manuela Vida-Mannl (TU Dortmund, Germany)
7. Embrace (Y)our Dialect Cuz T'Iz We Own Ting: A Blended (Meta)analysis of Linguistic Identity Construction in a Caribbean Instagram Dictionary, Wiebke H. Ahlers (TU Dortmund, Germany)
Part III: Metalinguistic Commentary
8. “Asian Accent is Awesome”: Valuing Englishes on YouTube, Sofia Rüdiger (FU Berlin, Germany) and Sven Leuckert (TU Dresden, Germany)
9. Disputing Language Policing: Normalizing “Poor” English in Defensive Metalinguistic Commentaries, Vincent Wai Sum Tse (Monash University, Australia), and Andre Joseph Theng (University of Edinburgh, UK)
Part IV: Discussion
10. 1. Rethinking World Englishes in the Age of Social Media, Andrew Moody (University of Macau, China)
References
Index

Product details

Published	21 Aug 2025
Format	Ebook (PDF)
Edition	1st
Extent	256
ISBN	9781350421424
Imprint	Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations	19 bw illus
Series	Bloomsbury Advances in World Englishes
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

This volume deals with a topic that is long overdue: the manifestations of Englishes online. What makes this collection remarkable is how it foregrounds a number of methodological and conceptual issues that have ramifications also for the study of World Englishes offline.

Lionel Wee, Provost's Chair Professor, National University of Singapore, Singapore
This valuable collection of writings will become an elucidating and helpful part of a growing body of work, whose discoveries are much needed in the digital era we live in.

Patricia Friedrich, PhD, Vice Provost and Professor, Arizona State University, USA
This book offers an exciting and important exploration of English on social media. Examining diverse platforms and contexts, it provides fresh insights into linguistic features, linguistic identity, metapragmatics and meaning-making beyond national boundaries. A groundbreaking contribution to understanding language in a globally connected digital world.

Britta Schneider, European University Viadrina, Germany