Translingual Englishes, participatory hip‐hop and social media in Nepal

This article discusses some key functions and features of English in participatory popular culture and social media in Nepal. Analytical attention is paid to how English use in rap battles is entangled with other local languages and semiotic modes to create translingual practices and how online meta...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inWorld Englishes Vol. 44; no. 3; pp. 474 - 491
Main Author Sharma, Bal Krishna
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2025
Subjects
Ideology
Language ideologies
Mass media effects
Popular culture
Pragmatics
Rap music
Semiotics
Social change
Social identity
Social life & customs
Social media
World Englishes
Young adults
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Summary:This article discusses some key functions and features of English in participatory popular culture and social media in Nepal. Analytical attention is paid to how English use in rap battles is entangled with other local languages and semiotic modes to create translingual practices and how online metapragmatic comments about the rap battles give rise to diverse language ideologies. The study shows that by creating their social life offline and online, Nepali young adults project themselves as individuals who have access to niche Englishes via popular culture. English use by Nepali youth functions not only as an instrument to understand Western popular culture but also as a symbolic resource to index a range of such social identities as ‘educated’, ‘civilized’ and ‘competent’. The article concludes by arguing that Nepali young adults create new subjectivities that are often suggestive of social transformation.
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ISSN:0883-2919
1467-971X
DOI:10.1111/weng.12636