{"id":638,"date":"2010-07-13T10:00:26","date_gmt":"2010-07-13T08:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elanguage.net\/blogs\/booknotices\/?p=638"},"modified":"2010-05-10T14:50:12","modified_gmt":"2010-05-10T12:50:12","slug":"codeswitching-on-the-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/?p=638","title":{"rendered":"Codeswitching on the Web"},"content":{"rendered":"
Codeswitching on the Web:<\/strong> English and Jamaican Creole in e-mail communication. By Lars Hinrichs<\/strong>. (Pragmatics & beyond new series<\/a> 147.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2006. Pp. 302. ISBN 9789027253903<\/a>. $172 (Hb).<\/div>\n

Reviewed by Anastassia Zabrodskaja<\/strong><\/a>, Tallinn University<\/em><\/p>\n

An investigation of the discourse functions of Jamaican Creole, this volume compares new text types of computer-mediated communication (CMC) with oral communication. This book is comprised of seven chapters and a substantial appendix that contains the primary corpus data.<\/p>\n

In an introductory Ch. 1 (1\u201332), Lars Hinrichs reviews theoretical concepts in Jamaican sociolinguistics and clearly describes the compilation and structure of the corpus. The data include e-mails and postings on internet discussion forums and message boards.<\/p>\n

Ch. 2, \u2018The creole continuum and CMC\u2019 (33\u201342), explores the written data. H discusses whether the written data and the speech data reflect the Jamaican creole continuum to the same extent. Additionally, here H explains the new variety of Jamaican English (i.e. Patois) that has emerged through the medium of CMC.<\/p>\n

In Ch. 3, \u2018How the situation determines code choice: A \u201csimple, almost one-to-one relationship\u201d\u2019 (43\u201360), the notion of situational codeswitching (CS) is analyzed. Following the work of John Gumperz (Discourse strategies<\/em>, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), H highlights the more reliable and predictable connections between code choice and aspects of the situation. Supporting his hypothesis, H finds a clear correlation between personal style and the relative position of the addressee to the writer.<\/p>\n

Ch. 4, \u2018Giving contextualization cues: How writers provide context information through code choice\u2019 (61\u201384), deals with metaphorical CS. H continues the discussion of Gumperz\u2019s (1982) work as well as of Gumperz\u2019s followers and critics. Moreover, H analyzes CSs in his data, arguing that the baseline code in the e-mails is clearly some form of English. However, Patois is used in CS strategies, which contrasts with English in some very standard contextualization cue functions.<\/p>\n

In Ch. 5, \u2018CS and identity: How writers describe themselves through code choice\u2019 (85\u2013132), H provides an excellent overview of Acts of identity:<\/em> Creole-based approaches to language and ethnicity<\/em> <\/em>(Robert B. LePage & Andr\u00e9e Tabouret-Keller, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985) <\/em>as well as the Labovian view of variation and the responses it has generated. H explains that identity construction involves the use of Patois in CS to create socially recognized personae. In this chapter, H also examines the correspondence between the social meanings and local discourse functions of Patois.<\/p>\n

Ch. 6 (133\u201338) provides a summary of the analysis and discussion. H points out that Jamaican Creole and English are in a clear functional distribution of unmarked and marked code. He notes that the problems of we<\/em>– and they<\/em>-code designation are pervasive in the data. Ch. 7 (139\u201356) presents general conclusions, compares language use in the Jamaican diaspora and in CMC, and proposes a new direction for the study of English as a world language. Finally, H makes explicit how other researchers might be able to draw on his methods and reasoning in their own CMC research projects.<\/p>\n

The primary corpus is included in its entirety in the appendix (169\u2013278). This study is a comprehensive and reader-friendly contribution to CMC and CS studies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Codeswitching on the Web: English and Jamaican Creole in e-mail communication. By Lars Hinrichs. (Pragmatics & beyond new series 147.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2006. Pp. 302. ISBN 9789027253903. $172 (Hb). Reviewed by Anastassia Zabrodskaja, Tallinn University An investigation of the discourse functions of Jamaican Creole, this volume compares new text types of computer-mediated communication (CMC) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":639,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638\/revisions\/639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}