This theme issue of Journal of Sociolinguistics comprises a number of empirical studies focusing on a range of ways in which people use language in computer-mediated communication (CMC). This introduction contextualizes the contributions to this issue by providing an outline of linguistically focused CMC studies. A critique of the research on the 'language of CMC' is given, and aspects of CMC research from a sociolinguistic viewpoint are presented: the move from the 'language of CMC' to socially situated computermediated discourse; its grounding in the notion of online community; and the application of sociolinguistic methodologies to its study. It is argued that CMC provides a new empirical arena for various research traditions in sociolinguistics; conversely, sociolinguistics can contribute to the interdisciplinary theorizing of CMC by demonstrating the role of language use and linguistic variability in the construction of interpersonal relationships and social identities on the Internet.

Integrating research on multilingualism and computer-mediated communication, this paper proposes the term 'networked multilingualism' and presents findings from a case study to explore its implications for the theorising of multilingualism. Networked multilingualism is a cover term for multilingual practices that are shaped by two interrelated processes: being networked, i.e. digitally connected to other individuals and groups, and being in the network, i.e. embedded in the global mediascape of the web. It encompasses everything language users do with the entire range of linguistic resources within three sets of constraints: mediation of written language by digital technologies, access to network resources, and orientation to networked audiences. The empirical part of the paper discusses the Facebook language practices of a small group of Greek-background secondary school students in a German city. Data collection follows an online ethnography approach, which combines systematic observation of online activities, collection and linguistic analysis of screen data, and data elicited through direct contact with users. Focusing on four weeks of discourse on profile walls, the analysis examines the participants' linguistic repertoires, their language choices for genres of self-presentation and dialogic exchange, and the performance of multilingual talk online. The findings suggest that the students' networked multilingual practices are individualised, genre-shaped, and based on wide and stratified repertoires.

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Based on an investigation of spellings in German punk fanzines (a blend of`fan' +`(maga)zine'), this paper sketches a framework for the analysis of nonstandard spellings in media texts. The analysis distinguishes between a number of spelling types, which include both representations of spoken language and purely graphemic modi®cations, and three patterns of spelling usage: spellings as a part of the text's regular features, spelling choices as contextualization cues, and as cues of subcultural positioning. By examining the relations between types and usages of non-standard spellings, the paper demonstrates how young writers creatively use the graphemic resources of their language in order to communicate sociocultural meanings, at the same time constructing an orthographic anti-standard in the restricted ®eld of music-related subcultural discourse.

The use of the Internet in diaspora has attracted considerable interest in media and cultural studies, but little attention has been paid to sociolinguistic issues. This paper is a study of linguistic diversity on websites maintained for and by members of diaspora groups in Germany. Based on online ethnography and an interpretive approach to code-switching, the paper explores the relationships between language choices and the complex architecture of these websites, which offer edited content as well as spaces for user interaction. Language choice in edited sections, patterns of code-switching in discussion forums, and language choice for user screen names and message signatures are examined. The findings demonstrate how code choices are tailored to the requirements of different modes within a website, and how various codes are creatively employed to display and negotiate identities that are related to the diaspora and its virtual discursive spaces.