Digital English as a Lingua Franca: Shaping New Models through Question-and-Answer Websites

Today, the Internet has become a prime venue for social interaction through online services where people share aspects of their daily lives, talk about their interests with other like-minded people, and express their opinions without formality or constraint. Against this background, this book investigates the aesthetics of informal text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC), such as question-and-answer websites conceived of as a distinctive medium of communication based on cosmopolitan brand communities that share the same field of expertise and a common interest in a particular topic. By adopting sentiment analysis in order to recognize the positive or negative semantic orientation of texts and their emotional style, the book demonstrates that the aesthetics of such informal texts written using Digital English as a Lingua Franca (DELF) is influenced by how we associate emotions and opinions with certain linguistic aspects, such as specific words or syntactic patterns, and how we can classify linguistic expressions according to the type of opinion that they convey.


Annarita Taronna is Associate Professor of English and Translation at the Department of Education, Psychology, and Communication at the University of Bari, Italy. Her main research areas include gender in/and translation studies, cultural and post-colonial studies, the use of English as a Lingua France (ELF) in migratory settings, language mediation in intercultural contexts, and the teaching of English as a second language (ESL). Her publications include the book Black Englishes. Pratiche linguistiche transfrontaliere Italia-Usa (2016) and articles such as “Lost and Regained in Translation: Cross-border and Intersectional Practices between the Black US and Black Italy” (2022) and “The Role of Non-professional Translators and Interpreters in Emergency Migratory Settings: A Southern Translocal Perspective” (2019), among others.

"Taronna’s monograph is a very welcome original study of the ways in which different people express themselves and interact in synchronous computer-mediated communicative settings, with a particular emphasis on the languaging processes employed in establishing identity and fostering community ties. The many examples discussed, especially from the domain of question-and-answer websites, are illuminated from a comprehensive theoretical standpoint and help the reader appreciate the intricate genre-specific structures and moves involved. These data-driven accounts are convincingly tied together to describe what the author calls “Digital English as a Lingua Franca”."

Nicos Sifakis Full Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

"In our increasingly digital world, where communication is more and more mediated by computers and there is a strong need for developing emotional competence, the study of emotions in the sharing of knowledge through social media plays a key role in pedagogy as well as in our professional lives. Firmly grounded in theory and methodologically rigorous, the interdisciplinary research work presented in this book enhances our understanding of the challenges posed by computer-mediated communication and, in the long run, it helps us become judicious and responsible meaning makers."

Sara Laviosa, PhD Founder and Editor of Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts

"The book features a comprehensive theoretical overview of issues of genre, linguistic and discursive features, as well as pragmatic strategies related to computer-mediated communication (CMC), and delves into the role of Digital English as a Lingua Franca (DELF) and its language politics. It then moves on to the case study, Q&A websites in general and Stack Exchange in particular. A mixed methodology based on sentiment analysis investigates the emotional styles of these websites, with the aim of understanding what determines a successful communication."

Dr Dora Renna Research Fellow, University of Ferrara

"Digital English as a Lingua Franca is a cutting-edge study that stems from an ambitious research project exploring emotions underlying Question and Answer websites. Itsmain objective is to identify and establish new models for sentiment analysis to be applied in the realm of online communication. [...] This book consists of four chapters examining the different facets of digital communication from a theoretical and practical perspective. The contents are thoroughly analysed and clearly exposed, which makes the text a useful resource for both expert and non-expert audiences."

Giovanni Tucci, Cross-Media Languages. Applied Research, Digital Tools and Methodologies

"This volume represents a thorough analysis of DELF in two digital communities of Q&A websites, presenting in detail how linguistic and pragmalinguistic features are employed and their connections to emotion. As Taronna states, this book tries to expand research on DELF, supporting the need to further analyse the models and new genres that are typical of digital communication via English."

Monica Antonello, PhD Research Fellow, University of Verona, Italy

Buy This Book

ISBN: 1-5275-8800-9

ISBN13: 978-1-5275-8800-4

Release Date: 13th January 2023

Pages: 273

Price: £70.99

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ISBN: 1-0364-0108-1

ISBN13: 978-1-0364-0108-5

Release Date: 20th February 2024

Pages: 273

Price: £35.99

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