Multilinguals’ Choice of Language with Families, Friends and Acquaintances during Online and Offline Interaction

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to investigate and compare the choice of language used in an online platform (Facebook) and during offline communication with reference to a family member, a friend and an acquaintance in the same multilingual speech community. As part of this study, a structured sociolinguistics questionnaire was administered to 38 multilingual postgraduate students. This is followed by interviewing selected focus group to elicit more information on various factors that influence their language behavior. The major finding of this study is that apart from family circle, a majority of multilingual users in India prefer to use English for Facebook private communications only among friends and acquaintances while Mother tongue is the dominant language use for offline communications.