Linguistic Power in Virtual Communities: the Ebonics Debate on the Internet

Abstract

The recent controversy over the issue of Ebonics has been well documented in both the print media and in the electronic media, in particular, on the internet. The impact of electronic discourse has been the focus of a number of researchers (Birkerts, 1998;Lakoff, 1998;Vitanza, 1999). However, the locus of research of most theorists has been on the metalanguage of this discourse genre, and on its role in the creation of unique discourse communities (Foertsch, 1995;Hawisher and Moran, 1993). Few studies have examined the extent to which this medium functions to create and sustain group ideologies. This study presents a content analysis of the electronic debate on Ebonics that spanned over eighteen months, drawing scholars from all over the world, and culminating in over seventy individual postings on an electronic bulletin board. What this study demonstrates is that in contesting issues, using the national social debate on Ebonics, linguists seek to assert their power as a group by excluding and marginalizing those parties that do not belong. The data analysis illustrates the linguistic devices through which such othering is constructed and maintained. The resultant electronic debate while overtly framed about Ebonics, covertly functions to assert the status of linguists as a group.

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“…This study is based on the premise that with the rise of online communication, discourses found on websites and in other electronic media are playing an increasing role in knowledge construction across society (Pandey, ). Consequently, for the last few decades, linguists such as Fairclough (), Gee (), Gruber (), and Kress and Van Leeuwen () have turned their attention to the way electronic discourses play a role in shaping individuals' understanding of the world around them.…”

Digital communication, social media, and Englishes

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