Dialect features indexing hipster identity on social media: the case of the city of Malaga

Identity is a recurrent research interest in current sociolinguistics and it is also of primary interest in digital discourse studies. Identity construction is closely related to stance and style (Eckert 2008; Jaffe 2009), which are fundamental concepts for understanding the language use and its social meanings in the case of social media users from Malaga. As the specific social meanings of a set of dialect features constitute a style, this style and the social (and technological) context in which the variants are used determine the meanings that are actually associated with each variant. Hence, every variant has its own indexical field covering any number of potential meanings. The Spanish spoken in Malaga, as Andalusian Spanish in general, was in the past often times considered an incorrect, low prestige variety of Spanish which was strongly associated with the poor, rural, backward South of Spain. This southern Spanish variety is easily recognised because of its innovative phonetic features that diverge from the national standard. In this study several of these phonetic dialect features are looked at, which users from Malaga purposefully employ (in a textualised form) on social media for identity construction. This identity construction is analysed through interactional and ethnographic methods: A perception and an imitation task served as key data and were supplemented by answers to a series of open questions. Further data stems from visual, multimodal elements (e.g. images, photos, videos) posted by users from the city of Malaga. The program TAMS Analyzer was used for data codification and analysis. Results show that certain features that in spoken language are considered rural and old-fashioned, acquire new meaning on social media, namely of urbanity and fashion. Moreover, these features, if used online, are associated with hipsters. That is, the “cool” social media index the “coolness” of the dialect features in question and, thus, the mediatisation makes their indexical fields even more multi-layered and dynamic. Social media users from Malaga performatively employ these stylised dialect features to project a hipster identity and certain related stances.

Plano general de la ciudad de Murviedro [ [Material gráfico]= Plan géneral de la ville de Murviedro et de l'antique Sagonte = General plan of the city of Murviedro and of the antique Sagunro

Escala expresada en pies castellanos.

The social evil in Chicago: a study of existing conditions with recommendations by the Vice Commission of Chicago, a municipal body appointed by the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Chicago, and submitted as its report to the Mayor and City Council of Chicago

Preface -- Outline of study -- Resolution of appreciation -- Introduction and summary -- Proposed ordinance -- Recommendations -- Existing conditions in Chicago -- The social evil and the saloon -- The social evil and the police -- Sources of supply -- Child protection and education -- Rescue and reform -- The social evil and its medical aspects -- Appendices: Text of revised statutes of Illinois and ordinances of the City of Chicago ; Tables ; Exhibits.

Chinese plan of the city of Peking

T.B. Jervis; the chinese characters and explanations rendered into English were furnished by Mr. Samuel Birch, from a comparison of the above documents and the notes appended to the original by the students in the Missionary College at Naples.

The natural history of Aleppo: containing a description of the city, and the principal natural productions in its neighbourhood : together with an account of the climate, inhabitants, and diseases, particularly of the plague

by Alex. Russell.

Panoramic view of the city of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw Co. Michigan, 1880

Publication information: Madison, Wis. : J.J. Stoner [1880}

Panoramic view of the city of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw Co. Michigan, 1880

not drawn to scale; Oriented with north to the upper right.

Legends of the city of Mexico,

Mode of access: Internet.

The Puerto Rican study, 1953-1957; a report on the education and adjustment of Puerto Rican pupils in the public schools of the city of New York

Mode of access: Internet.

Charter of the city of Tracy, Minnesota.

Cover title.

Annual report of the Board of Education of the City and County of New York.

Description based on: 1849.

The laws and ordinances of the city of Cohoes : including the revised charter, acts of the legislature relating to the city of Cohoes, together with certain general statutes and parts of statutes of the state of New York, applicable to said city, besides other useful matter pertaining to its government /

Includes index.

A list of the books forming the gift of Louise Chandler Moulton to the Public library of the city of Boston.

Consists of 900 volumes, used "to strengthen the Artz collection, devoted to the acquisition of rare or early editions of American and English authors, and the Galatea collection, comprising works relating in any way to the history and progress of women. Some volumes ... have been placed in the general collection of the library."

The building laws of the City of New York : as enacted in the building code by the Municipal Assembly... also annotations and citations of judicial decisions /

Cover title: Morgan's building laws indluding the new building code annotated.