OK Boomer: Structuring and Perceiving Millennials and Boomers as Online Communities

master's thesis

• Author: Tena Filetin
• Mentor: Marina Grubišić (mentor)
• Committee member: Ivana Bašić (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Anđel Starčević (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2020-05-26, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract

The omnipresence of the Internet in present times has inevitably led to the construction of different communities, which can be observed in the same fashion as all real-life communities. The flexibility of time and space on the Internet allows the already-existing sociolinguistic theories to be applied to Internet communities just as successfully. This paper incorporates Anderson’s theory of imagined communities, as well as theories of speech communities and communities of practice in order to show how two generations of people shaped by completely different experiences in regard to digital competence are constructed as online communities. Furthermore, it will be shown that these two communities operate almost exclusively in a relational fashion – their group identity depends on the existence of the other group’s identity. Because of this, it is important to analyse how the respective groups perceive each other and structure each other’s identities. In order to do this, different excerpts from online conversations, as well as memes and general Internet correspondence will be used.

• Keywords: sociolinguistics; online; the Internet; community; speech community; imagined community; community of practice; boomers; millennials; memes
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:103483
• Study programme: Title: English Language and Literature (double major); specializations in: Linguistics, Literature and Culture, Translation, TEFL; Course: Linguistics; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra engleskog jezika i književnosti (magistar/magistra engleskog jezika i književnosti)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2020-05-26 13:22:22