Adolescent chat language in Flanders: the language geography of Flemish (sub)standardization processes againts the background of the international chat scene.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:-To what extent do Flemish teenagers integrate morpho-syntactic and phonological features of theBrabantic regiolect in their chat language: what are the relative frequency scores of the Brabantic regiolectvariants, the non-Brabantic regiolect variants and the Standard Dutch variants for several variables?-What is the impact of the independent variable 'hometown'? Is there a correlation between the relativerepresentation of Brabantic regiolect features and the region where the chatters come from? To what extent doteenagers from the provinces of West-Flanders, East-Flanders and Limburg integrate morpho-syntactic andphonological features from the Brabantic regiolect in their chat language? In other words: to what extent do thedata reveal an expansion of Brabantic features?-What is the impact of local versus supraregional communication? Do teenagers who do not live in theBrabantic dialect area use more morpho-syntactic and phonological Brabantic features in 'interregional' than in'intraregional' or local chat communication?Do the answers to the previous questions confirm the hypothesis that the linguistic situation inFlanders is marked by an autonomous informal standardisation process which is marked by ageneralization/increasing use of the Brabantic 'tussentaal' (regiolect, intermediate language)?What are the implications of this study with respect to the relevance/applicability of chat data for thestudy of language variation and language change in progress?-What is the pragmatic function of several varieties? What is the position and function of English in the linguistic repertoire of Flemish teenagers? How does the chat language of Flemish teenagers connect with the international chat culture? What kind of appropriation (localization processes) can be discriminated?

Keywords:CHAT LANGUAGE, LINGUISTICS, DIALECTOLOGY

Disciplines:Linguistics