Despite notable evidence that online social media platforms offer opportunities for linguistic creativity and innovation, they have not always fostered more recognition and acceptance towards language variation and its speakers. There is a considerable amount work in sociolinguistics about language shaming and mocking, but the examination of such linguistic practices in the context of social media is a relatively new arena of research. This colloquium aims to investigate the phenomenon of language shaming on social media. We use language shaming, drawing on Piller (2017), to describe an instance of social media communication used to “deride, disparage or demean particular ways of using language”. Shamers can target speakers for not using a particular language or a variety. They tend to use pejorative remarks, often in a humorous way, toward a particular instance of language use, but the repercussions go beyond the speaker to the community that speaks the language. Language shamers adopt a range of linguistic and semiotic tactics including mocking, harassing, parodying and ridiculing to put themselves in a privileged position and the Other in a subordinate position. The contributors to the colloquium examine language shaming in varied social contexts on different social media platforms, such as Douyin, YouTube, Instagram, to explore one or more dimensions of the “anatomy of language shaming”: what language (variety) is shamed, who is shamed, who are the shamers, what are the social and linguistic implications, and how is the shaming phenomenon resisted?

 1. From shame to fame: Indexical inversion and the enregisterment of an idiolect on Douyin

Shuang Gao and Paul Cooper, University of Liverpool

This paper examines how as a Douyin (TikTok) user’s English language gets ridiculed, he utilizes such unexpectedly gained attention as opportunities to perform and commodify his language and identity, attracting over 3 million followers in a short time. Under the English username TeacherLiu, a tour guide in Yangshuo, China started to post short videos in English on Douyin when tourism came to a stop during Covid-19. In June 2022, he caused internet sensation due to his English, notably his pronunciation of ‘thank you’, and singing of ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’. While online comments to his videos were initially dominated by language shaming, with people laughing at his allegedly unintelligible English, such overwhelming negativity also helped him gain attention – the key to fame and money making online. So, instead of challenging negative comments or refraining from more postings, TeacherLiu valorizes the overwhelming negativity as attention, and capitalizes on this by making more videos of himself singing in English. By considering metapragmatic commentary on TeacherLiu’s videos, this paper examines the processes through which the indexical meanings of his English get inverted to simultaneously index qualities of being light-hearted and friendly, as well as uneducated and crude. We illustrate the emergence of ideologically opposing sets of indexical values over time, and draw upon the concepts of indexical inversion (Inoue 2004), indexical order (Silverstein 2003) and enregisterment (Agha 2003) to show how shame is turned into fame via language play and performance under the attention economy.

2. ‘Stop learning incorrect English’: Stances towards and delegitimization of a micro-celebrity English teacher on YouTube

Erhan Aslan, University of Reading, and Dennis Chau, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

YouTube has become a prominent platform where English language teachers create short chunks of linguistic content in an interactive video format and attain a ‘micro-celebrity’ status. Despite a growing interest from sociolinguists studying discourses on YouTube, the principles, ideologies, and practices that shape these teachers’ content curation and pedagogical practices remain unexplored. Considering the widespread dichotomy pertaining to native and non-native English-speaking teachers in English Language Teaching (ELT), the present study examines the stance-taking patterns towards the teaching content of a Russian-born non-native YouTuber (Linguamarina) who was subject to online shaming by other YouTubers due to the English mistakes in her videos.

Using Piller’s (2017) conceptualization of language shaming, the study explores how Linguamarina, the shamee, was publicly denounced and delegitimized as a teacher following the scrutiny of her teaching content by a native and a non-native YouTuber teacher, the shamers, on their channel. Linking Van Leeuwen’s (2007) discourses of legitimization with stancetaking (Jaworski & Thurlow, 2009), the analysis of the multimodal elements in the videos of the shamers and a sample of user comments reveal a range of epistemic and evaluative stances about the shamee. These stances build on the delegitimization tactics of moral evaluation and authorisation which highlight the work ethics and linguistic competence of teachers. The study contributes to the extant research on the native vs non-native dichotomy with important insights from the emergence of microcelebrification and online shaming in the ELT industry.

3. Circles of shaming: The derision of English signs in Japan through social media

Gavin Furukawa, Sophia University

From the very beginning of research on World Englishes there has been concern over the exertion of power and its relationship to the direction of the spread of English. Much research and advocacy has been done with a focus on the linguistic discrimination that comes with the gaze of the inner circle towards the outer and expanding circles. Indeed, it is not difficult to find examples of inner circle English speakers mocking or denigrating the English of East Asian countries often in racially charged incidents through social media. What is not often examined is how residents of the expanding circle feel about expanding circle English. Furthermore, this study attempts to examine this utilizing a critical discourse approach. Much previous research in CDA has tried to examine the power that large networks and other media organizations have over the individual. In contrast, this presentation will examine how these language ideologies play out in the arena of social media. While social media is often run by large corporations and therefore shares many top-down features with large television networks or government agencies, at the same time there is a powerful bottom-up element which allows for increased participation from audience. This study examines and compares two different Instagram pages both built around shaming textual examples of Japanese-English, one targeted to English speakers and the other targeted to a Japanese language audience. By comparing these two sources, this presentation will show how the posters and commenters draw upon different indexical strategies for highlighting superiority and incongruity to deride and demean the original producers of the Japanese-English examples. It will also show how both original posters and commenters draw upon complex positioning tactics to establish a relationship between themselves and the original producers of the Japanese-English to reference both authority and authenticity within their discussions.

4. Kyopo-mal unveiled: Language shaming dynamics on social media among overseas Koreans

Hakyoon Lee, Georgia State University

This presentation delves into the usage and reception of "Kyopo-mal" (교포말, Korean American language), a term denoting a distinctive linguistic phenomenon characterized by the fusion of Korean and English languages, particularly among Korean Americans, within the realm of social media. While research has explored Korean American speech styles in family contexts (Song, 2019) and educational settings (Park, 2022), the dimension of social media remains relatively uncharted territory. Rooted in the concepts of heteroglossic ideology (Bakhtin, 1981) and translanguaging (Lee & Garcia, 2021), this study seeks to shed light on which facets of language variety are susceptible to shaming, who bears the brunt of this criticism, the identities of the critics, the ramifications of this phenomenon, and strategies employed to resist language shaming.

Methodologically, I employed qualitative approaches (Bogdan & Biklen, 2003) and discourse analysis (Gee, 2012) to scrutinize not only social media interactions but also the subtitles used in related shows. This research scrutinizes twelve instances from five distinct YouTube shows hosted by Korean Americans, with a primary focus on their linguistic characteristics, the emergence of "language shaming" (Piller, 2017) within these shows, and the transformation of this practice into a source of humor. The results indicate that Kyopo-mal reflects the bilingual or bicultural identity of Korean Americans and represents a form of language adaptation that amalgamates elements of both languages. Furthermore, this linguistic practice exhibits variation in terms of its extent and complexity but generally serves as a mode of communication, fostering a sense of belonging. This study delves into how Kyopo-mal, as a unique linguistic hybrid, is both a target and a source of language shaming across various social media platforms. It holds the potential to offer valuable insights into the broader discourse surrounding language shaming in the digital era. 

5. ‘What’s your lame? So lame, you’re so lame’: Positioning and digitally-mediated language shaming in the context of protests

Dennis Chau, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

In 2019, a large number of Hong Kong citizens took to the streets to protest against the government’s proposal to amend an ordinance, which they believed would encroach on the rights and freedom they had feared to lose since the city’s rapid integration with mainland China. Despite the withdrawal of the bill, a series of protests ensued. Violent clashes broke out between protesters and the police, the latter of whom were subject to different forms of online aggression. Previous research from a sociolinguistic and discourse-analytic perspective has, for instance, looked at how online users engaged in doxxing of police officers and legitimized the act (Lee, 2022), as well as how users ‘othered’ officers perceived to be speaking Putonghua, a variety widely used in mainland China, instead of Cantonese, the mother tongue of most local citizens, during operations (Jones & Chau, 2022). This paper examines how a YouTuber language-shamed the police speaking ‘bad English’. Two videos and their comments were collected and analyzed. Drawing on positioning theory (Davies & Harré, 1990), the analysis reveals how the YouTuber engages in language shaming with his followers by strategically invoking storylines using various intertextual and interdiscursive resources. It also illustrates how shaming can, in this case, create solidarity among in-group members during times of political conflict. This paper contributes to our understanding of digitally-mediated language shaming in the context of protests, which is under-researched, as well as the complex sociolinguistic situation in Hong Kong.

References

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Bogdan, R., & Biklen, S. K. (2003). Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theories and methods. New York, NY: Allyn and Bacon.  

Davies, B., & Harré, R. (1990). Positioning: The discursive production of selves. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 20(1), 43-63.

Gee, J. P. (2012). How to do discourse analysis: A toolkit, New York, NY: Routledge.

Jaworski, A., Thurlow, C., (2009). Taking an elitist stance: Ideology and the discursive production of distinction. In: Jaffe, A. (Ed.), Stance: Sociolinguistic perspectives. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 195–226.

Jones, R. H., & Chau, D. (2022). Metalinguistic tactics in the Hong Kong protest movement. Journal of Language and Politics, 21(1), 143-172.

Lee, C. (2022). Doxxing as discursive action in a social movement. Critical Discourse Studies, 19(3), 326-344.

Lee, J. S., & Garcia, O. (2021). Understanding Korean-American first-graders’ written a bilingual child in a Korean transnational family, Language and Intercultural Communication, 23:4, 385-398, DOI: 10.1080/14708477.2022.2125001

Park, M. (2023). Heritage language communities as sites of struggle and identity negotiation: case of Korean–American university students, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22:2, 91-106, DOI: 10.1080/13670050.2016.1231165

Piller, I. (2017, September 28). Explorations in language shaming. Language on the Move. https://www.languageonthemove.com/explorations-in- language-shaming/ 

Song, J. (2019). Language socialization and code-switching: a case study of a Korean–English translanguaging practices, Linguistics and Education, 66.

Van Leeuwen, T., (2007). Legitimation in discourse and communication. Discourse & Communication 1 (1), 91–112. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481307071986.