Spreading language ideologies through social media: Enregistering the ‘fake ABC’ variety in Hong Kong

Abstract

Abstract This paper explores how language ideologies are disseminated on social media through examining the enregisterment of a pseudo‐variety of language attributed to people in Hong Kong who are supposedly trying to act ‘Western’. Comments from Facebook discussions about ‘fake American‐born Chinese’ (fake ABC) are analyzed to identify the linguistic features people attribute to these speakers and how their attitudes towards these features reflect larger assumptions about language. The analysis shows how this pseudo‐variety is enregistered through collaborative stylization and metalinguistic commentary by online commenters and how this enregisterment reinforces a range of language ideologies dominant in contemporary Hong Kong, including ideologies of ‘standardness’, linguistic purity and authenticity. The analysis not only traces these beliefs to long‐standing conflicts within the society around such issues as race, gender, politics and national identity but also argues that language mocking practices on social media have become an important means through which ideologies are circulated and maintained.