Language Ideologies in Social Media: The Case of Pastagate

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
Language Ideologies in Social Media: The Case of Pastagate
Abstract
When inspectors from the Office québécois de la langue francçaise (OQLF) objected to the use of the word “pasta” in an Italian Montreal restaurant in February 2013, a backlash in news and social media erupted internationally. Ensuing pressure led to the resignation of the OQLF head and a revision of OQLF language complaint procedures; the Pastagate story also contributed to mounting negativity towards the province and its language. The author points out that social media have been credited with playing a role in the proliferation of the story and its impact. Drawing on a corpus of Tweets containing PASTAGATE, the author uses corpus-assisted discourse studies to explore language ideologies in English and French Tweets. Findings reveal divergent language ideologies and representations of the Pastagate affair. The author concludes by suggesting that language ideological debates in a superdiverse online world may have implications for minority languages in the offline world of nation-states.
Publication
Journal of Language and Politics
Volume
Vol. 15
Issue
no. 1
Pages
1-24
Date
2016
Language
en
URL
Citation
Vessey, Rachelle. “Language Ideologies in Social Media: The Case of Pastagate.” Journal of Language and Politics Vol. 15, no. 1 (2016): 1–24. https://eprints.ncl.ac.uk/file_store/production/207248/5FFEAF17-0238-4BFF-BFD1-AF348EBAEB95.pdf.
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