DIGITAL CODE-SWITCHING AND IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION: A CORPUS-BASED ANALYSIS OF URDU–ENGLISH HYBRID LANGUAGE USE ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

This study examined Urdu–English code-switching on social media in Pakistan through a corpus-based analytical framework to explore its linguistic patterns and role in identity construction. In multilingual digital environments, code-switching has emerged as a dominant communicative practice, particularly among youth, where Urdu and English are frequently integrated within single discourse units. A structured corpus of social media texts was developed and analyzed using quantitative and descriptive linguistic techniques to identify patterns of hybrid language use, functional motivations, and identity-related expressions. The findings revealed that code-mixed language use is the most prevalent form of digital communication, with intra-sentential switching being the dominant structural pattern. Results further indicated that code-switching serves multiple functions, primarily identity expression, emotional articulation, and social alignment. The study also highlighted that users strategically employ Urdu for cultural and emotional depth, while English is used to signal modernity and global identity. These patterns confirm that digital code-switching is not random but a systematic and socially meaningful linguistic behavior. The study concludes that Urdu–English hybrid language use plays a significant role in identity construction in Pakistan’s social media discourse. It also underscores the need for advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) models capable of effectively processing code-mixed and low-resource language data