Pop linguistics in social media: translanguaging and literacy edutainment

Abstract

In the age of platformization, literacy has become a nexus of performance but also an object of commodification. Social media platforms feature an abundance of curated content on language-related themes, the upshot of which is the rise of an online industry around literacy edutainment. This article argues that language literacy edutainment in social media refashions multilingualism into a unique selling point; such edutainment creates playful translanguaging spaces that engender a “pop linguistics”, that is, a non-technical, user-friendly mode for learning about as well as co-creating languages. Using three examples of content creators who carve out for themselves a niche at the conjunction of English, Cantonese, and Mandarin across multiple platforms, the article demonstrates that the capacity of translanguaging to go between and beyond semiotic boundaries, as well as to transform lived experience, affords it a creative-critical potential and renders it amenable as a business concept, a pedagogical strategy, and a medium for articulating urban dialects. By proactively engaging in translanguaging at the confluence of platformization and postmultilingualism, a new generation of content creators are opening up pop linguistics as a counterpoint to conventional language literacy practices in legacy institutions.