ABSTRACT
This chapter will compare online communication in which “native speaker” (NS) is a contested (or perhaps irrelevant) category, and those spaces in which existing national, cultural, and linguistic boundaries are mapped onto the online environment and, in some cases, emphasized. As Stroińska and Cecchetto (this volume) demonstrate, despite computer-mediated communication (CMC) being considered by some as a “level playing field” for all interlocutors, cultural differences may result in negative stereotypes of “nonnative speakers” (NNS). In the present chapter, the relative importance of being a “native speaker” or “digital native” in online environments, and the extent to which such labels may be considered discrete categories, will be considered. Drawing on the analysis of over two thousand instances of intercultural communication online, including blogs, e-mails, social networking site (SNS) profiles, videos, chat comments, phone messages, videogames, and websites, this chapter will demonstrate the influence of typing speed, computer knowledge, understanding of “netspeak,” in-game prestige and character building, and language management on perceptions of one’s communicative abilities online. Finally, the chapter will draw on interviews with bi- and multilingual CMC users, who explain what makes a person “good at” CMC, irrespective of their native language and other language competencies.
