NCU Reveals the Linguistic Creativity
From socialite Lee Ching-ching, whose English-mixed speech became an online sensation, to former Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu, whose phrase, "Student by day, security guard by night," (白天是student、晚上是security guard) sparked widespread discussion and imitation, Chinese-English code-mixing has long attracted attention in Taiwan's online communities. A new study by National Central University (NCU) shows that such language practices extend far beyond simple code-mixing. Instead, they demonstrate how Taiwan's online communities creatively combine multiple languages and communicative resources to engage in social interaction and commentary, reflecting the dynamic interplay between multilingualism and online discourse. The findings were published in the Applied Linguistics Review, offering new insights into Taiwan's multilingual digital culture.
The study was conducted by Professor Liang Mei-Ya of the Virtual Language Learning Lab, National Central University, together with student researchers Wang Chih-Cheng and Lee Shu-Ning. The researchers analyzed 15 discussion threads and 1,145 comments posted between 2019 and 2022 on six major PTT discussion boards—Gossiping, WomenTalk, Tech_Job, Soft_Job, Crosstalk, and NTU—to examine how internet users employ translanguaging strategies in online interaction and commentary.
The researchers noted that examining translanguaging from historical, critical, and socio-political perspectives provides valuable insights into language norms, workplace hierarchies, and gender bias. The study also offers a new perspective for understanding Taiwan's multilingual online society and the relationship between language practices and digital communication.
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