The Gag City Grammar Police: Language and Algorithmic Community on Stan Twitter
While there is a wealth of sociolinguistic research on subculture and a rapidly growing field of digital ethnography, little research has been conducted on subcultural language use online. Superfan groups, or stans, form speech communities on Twitter/X and present as a closed group despite remaining...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Dalhousie University Libraries
2025-08-01
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| Series: | The Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography |
| Online Access: | https://ojs.library.dal.ca/JUE/article/view/12513 |
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| author | Evan Lorant |
| author_facet | Evan Lorant |
| author_sort | Evan Lorant |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While there is a wealth of sociolinguistic research on subculture and a rapidly growing field of digital ethnography, little research has been conducted on subcultural language use online. Superfan groups, or stans, form speech communities on Twitter/X and present as a closed group despite remaining public. Through digital ethnographic observation of nonstandard English use on Twitter, I argue that Barbz--Nicki Minaj stans––discourage their posts from spreading to the general public. Working with the algorithm’s composition of social media feeds, Barbz use language to conceal themselves while remaining discoverable. Individuals use language variation and encoding to interact directly with the algorithm, strategically hiding their conversations from the public. By way of sociolinguistic theories including variance and enregisterment, I situate this study in relation to fandom studies, cultural capital, and structural theories of internet. This netnography takes a multimodal approach to social media, showing that Barbz strategically open their community at specific times and in specific ways that are advantageous to them. On Twitter, Barbz employ language to manipulate the borders of both their community and their audience. In order to understand group maintenance, formation, and relationality online it is vital to account for the role of the algorithm as companion rather than structural affordance. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fcdc9ed7aa2b4477bdf35aa8d33b44ab |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2369-8721 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Dalhousie University Libraries |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography |
| spelling | doaj-art-fcdc9ed7aa2b4477bdf35aa8d33b44ab2025-08-20T21:06:59ZengDalhousie University LibrariesThe Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography2369-87212025-08-0115211910254The Gag City Grammar Police: Language and Algorithmic Community on Stan TwitterEvan Lorant0Dalhousie UniversityWhile there is a wealth of sociolinguistic research on subculture and a rapidly growing field of digital ethnography, little research has been conducted on subcultural language use online. Superfan groups, or stans, form speech communities on Twitter/X and present as a closed group despite remaining public. Through digital ethnographic observation of nonstandard English use on Twitter, I argue that Barbz--Nicki Minaj stans––discourage their posts from spreading to the general public. Working with the algorithm’s composition of social media feeds, Barbz use language to conceal themselves while remaining discoverable. Individuals use language variation and encoding to interact directly with the algorithm, strategically hiding their conversations from the public. By way of sociolinguistic theories including variance and enregisterment, I situate this study in relation to fandom studies, cultural capital, and structural theories of internet. This netnography takes a multimodal approach to social media, showing that Barbz strategically open their community at specific times and in specific ways that are advantageous to them. On Twitter, Barbz employ language to manipulate the borders of both their community and their audience. In order to understand group maintenance, formation, and relationality online it is vital to account for the role of the algorithm as companion rather than structural affordance.https://ojs.library.dal.ca/JUE/article/view/12513 |
| spellingShingle | Evan Lorant The Gag City Grammar Police: Language and Algorithmic Community on Stan Twitter The Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography |
| title | The Gag City Grammar Police: Language and Algorithmic Community on Stan Twitter |
| title_full | The Gag City Grammar Police: Language and Algorithmic Community on Stan Twitter |
| title_fullStr | The Gag City Grammar Police: Language and Algorithmic Community on Stan Twitter |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Gag City Grammar Police: Language and Algorithmic Community on Stan Twitter |
| title_short | The Gag City Grammar Police: Language and Algorithmic Community on Stan Twitter |
| title_sort | gag city grammar police language and algorithmic community on stan twitter |
| url | https://ojs.library.dal.ca/JUE/article/view/12513 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT evanlorant thegagcitygrammarpolicelanguageandalgorithmiccommunityonstantwitter AT evanlorant gagcitygrammarpolicelanguageandalgorithmiccommunityonstantwitter |