Cyber Transglossia: Unequal Resources

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the transglossic practices of young adults and their involvement with various cyber-culture-associated resources, including the Internet and other new forms of network communication, such as online communities, social media, texting, chatting and emailing. Cyber speaking is not restricted only to online contexts but can also be stretched to offline contexts, as young people’s Facebooked, Twittered and hashtagged lives cross easily between different modes. This chapter includes a discussion of the notions of flows and locality, dealing in particular with the different conditions that afford or preclude forms of online engagement. Cyber-centric transglossia presents us with data which show inconsistency, disparity and uneven distribution of resources amongst young speakers. Not all speakers have control over or access to certain resources, since the uneven localizing processes of certain linguistic resources are tied to the uneven distribution of other resources.