Read “Identities and Linguistic Features in Computer-mediated Communication”.

Yao Zhirui’s essay comes out of my Fall 2017 second-year humanities seminar, Perspectives on the Humanities. The theme for the course was “Language, Identity, and World Englishes,” and it provided students with a non-specialist’s introduction to linguistic theory before equipping them with the tools to critically interrogate how they use languages to construct and perform various identities and the effects of the global spread of English. Zhirui’s essay is in response to the second assignment prompt, which asked students to carry out an autoethnographic, linguistic analysis of how they use their various linguistic resources to perform different identities in online environments.

“Identities and Linguistic Features in Computer-mediated Communication” represents a smart analysis of Zhirui’s use of instant messaging platforms, such as WeChat, to perform different selves as context and audience demanded it. She uses the space of this essay to find ways to interface theories from the fields of sociolinguistics and applied linguistics with her own lived experiences. And, in the process, she shows the reader the myriad options that are presented to us by modern affordances when it comes to constructing different, often divergent, selves for our socially significant others.

—Joshua Paiz

Teaching Assistant Professor at George Washington University

Former Lecturer in the Writing Program