The Use of World Englishes in Web Forums: Virtual Ethnography in the Digital Third Space
Research Question: How do users of World Englishes navigate websites as they bring their cultural and linguistic capital into play and create a digital Identity?
Kachru, Braj. (1976). Models of English for the Third World:
White Man’s Linguistic Burden or Language Pragmatics? TESOL Quarterly, 10(2), 221-339.
This purpose behind Kachru writing this article was to show how the views towards so-called ‘Third World Englishes’ were overly critical at the time this was written. He gives concrete examples of how there is a conflict in linguistics between those who saw those Englishes as being deficient, and the users of the language whom had adapted it for their own use. Furthermore, and I feel most important in the article, he offers seven ‘attitudinal sins’ against one of these linguistic experts, Prator, that used his writing to malign English spoken in India. By doing so Kachru turned the tables on those who had been trying to maintain the status quo. The first sin, ethnocentrism, shows that English is not something that is stable or even the same in the ‘first world’ countries. This could be used to show that English in other countries should not be seen as ‘lower’, but as a legitimate form of English. Second, wrong perceptions of British and America English, shows that there is no evidence for how American’s and Englishman view each other’s use of English. Third, not recognizing ‘Third World’ Englishes as culturally-bound, shows how Prator completely ignored how English was used culturally in the third world. Fourth, ignoring the systems of ‘Third World’ Englishes shows how Prator once again ignores all of the different variet...
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...ll be a major part of my literature review as I try to imagine what a model (if one could exists) would look like when I take into consideration how the digital world has influenced agents as they interact in web communities that have no national borders. Of course there is and will be a ‘hivemind’ of these same communities but where do they exist and what form do they take? Bruthiaux says that such a model would be prone to a non-critical view but if it did exists but does a model have to be? Looking at World Englishes from this critical perspective and how it is exchanged in the linguistic market of the digital third space would. As well, English as a lingua franca in these web communities would not look like the English used in academic circles but would be examples of authentic English used for a specific purpose as Discourse communities are formed or broken.
A discourse community has an agreed set of common public goals. It is a group of individuals that have a specific way of interacting and communicating with one another. It is also used as a means to maintain and extend a group’s knowledge, as well as initiate new members into the group. Specific kinds of languages are used as a form of social behavior. Such discourse communities vary in size, purpose and importance.
In the essay “Into the Electronic Millennium” (1994) Sven Birkerts argues that the “electronic order” (2) is the source of three detrimental effects on the future of society: “language erosion” (19), “flattening of historical perspectives” (21), and “waning of the private self” (23).
“Your Ability to Can Even: A Defense of Internet Linguistics” by Tia Baheri, is a great read. The article focuses on the new language that has been created among Internet users and how some critics think it is a negative impact on the English language and how others, such as Baheri herself, think that there is nothing wrong with the change what so ever. After reading the article, I agree with Tia Baheri, I also think that language is as she states, “Supposed to flex and shape itself to convey what we mean to say as directly and efficiently as possible”. Yes, some who do not spend a lot of time on the Internet may not understand some of the newly used phrases but for others it is the best way to express themselves.
Not Only English: Affirming America's Multilingual Heritage. 1990. The. ERIC. Web. The Web.
In "Cyberspace and Identity: The E-Mail Revolution", Sherry Turkle focuses on the virtual world, how she perceives it takes place in today's society. Turkle also focuses on the psychological impact that living in the virtual world has on our current reality.
The term “cyberculture” is derived from the word “cyberspace”. William Gibson’s science novel “ Neuromancer” predicted a world that man and machine merge to become a cyborg (Tribble and Trubek: 521). This prediction became reality during the end of study of the 1990s when cyberculture began to flourish. This culture exists within several cultures here on earth. Some may ask, what is cyberculture? Cyberculture studies cover the examination of the subject and the forming communities within the realms of those networked spaces that are being created through technological devices and amplifications (Silver). In this essay I will examine how technological advancements affect our fundamental habits of writing and reading.
As case and point, “the impact of the Internet is far greater than any other communicative tool in the history of mass communications” (Elliot, 2008, para. 1). With an expansive, yet extremely convenient means to electronically join people through business, relationships, education and more, Sociology assumes the ...
Advances in technology on the internet are making it a continually more ‘real’ experience for its users. To what extent are the places, relationships, communities and identities represented on the internet real.
Sharma, B., 2008. “World Englishes, English as a Lingua Franca, and English Pedagogy”, Journal of NELTA 13 (2), pp. 121-130. Available from
Multiple identities have been increased by the creation of cyberspace communications according to "Cyberspace and Identity" by Sherry Turkle. Turkle uses four main points to establish this argument. Her first point is that online identity is a textual construction. Secondly she states that online identity is a consequence-free moratorium. Turkle's third point is online identity expands real identity. Finally, her last point states that online identity illustrates a cultural concept of multiplicity. I disagree with many aspects of her argument and I have found flaws in her argument. Technology is an area that does not stand still and consequently outpaced Turkle's argument.
—. Language: Readings in Language and Culture. 6th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1998. Print.
Holeton, Richard. Composing Cyberspace: Identity, community, and knowledge in the electronic age. New York, San Francisco, St. Louis: Stanford University, 1998 (Wolves of the plateau. 132-142)
113-117. 151-195. The. English: A Linguistic Tool Kit, (2012), (U214, Worlds of English, DVD ROM), Milton Keynes, The Open University. English in the World, (2012), (U214, Worlds of English, DVD ROM), Milton Keynes, The Open University.
The measured dialogue between Reader and Editor serves as the framework through which Gandhi seeks to discredit accepted terms of civilization and denounce the English. These principle characters amply assist in the development o...
With the birth of the Internet roughly twenty-five years ago, came a new medium for language use; and, thus, a new public for sharing and exchanging information. In a society that is largely information and technology driven, new communication and screen-based technologies have become the culturally diverse ways of acquiring knowledge and developing cognitive styles through literacy around the world. Meta-communicative technologies, like popular social media sites and other virtual communication platforms, are the contemporary institutions of the public sphere where people navigate social relations, exchange information and construct competences by participating in different forms of literacies.