Periphery in the age of reimagining: Vernaculars and vitality in urban and online communities

Abstract

The digital age and the urban age together afford challenges and opportunities for communities and vernaculars once on the periphery. I identify 3 trends that I argue need to be appreciated for their significance in the language contact dynamics of this era. First, I discuss computer-mediated communication (CMC) as a platform on which language practices beyond that considered ‘standard’ and documented or those used in the original, local context are widespread, even favoured. For instance, in the CMC of multilingual communities, significantly more code mixing with and calqueing into English are found compared to spoken discourse, and diasporic web-based communities of practice use their creole variety more than in traditional writing of spoken face-to-face interaction. Such a platform and its practices support the evolution and positioning of contact languages such as New Englishes and creoles. Second, I highlight the multicultural city, in the context of the growing phenomenon of urban linguistic diversity, as an important site for documenting and analysing minority and endangered languages. Using the online resource LinguisticMinorities.HK as a case in point, I discuss the significance of such a collective for research, education and advocacy. Finally, I consider how, in late capitalism, multicultural, peripheral communities such as the Peranakans – even with a shift from their ancestral vernacular – not only are able to maintain postvernacular vitality, but can also be positioned as a source of multilingualism and authenticity, with much to offer the Centre. What were traditionally communities and language practices on the margins are in a time of reimagining – and consequently may be increasingly valued for their diversity and authenticity, to become significant agents in contact, evolution and mobility.