Enregistering translanguaging as a named language: Kongish in <i>Kongish Daily</i>

Abstract Kongish, the practice of mixing romanized Cantonese and English (including standard and non-standard forms) on Kongish Daily , an online platform, has attracted much academic interest, with existing studies adopting a translanguaging lens to examine the creativity, ludicity, and criticality of Kongish. Taking a different perspective, this paper argues that translanguaging per se may not adequately capture the meaning-making processes of Kongish and the virality of signs in such an online register. Instead of translanguaging, we focus on the enregisterment of Kongish on Kongish Daily , in particular, how it projects ludicity and recalcitrance through the means of entextualization, stance-making, taboo-breaking, and ideologically constructing itself as a named language for Hong Kong people. Combining discourse-centered online ethnography (DCOE) with multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) and participatory linguistics , this paper analyzed 6 posts and related interactions in the comment-section, examining how Kongish is produced, circulated, and increasingly languagized on Kongish Daily through translanguaging practices. In this perspective, the primary function of translanguaging in Kongish is – rather than efficient communication – to obfuscate for the purpose of excluding “outsiders” and fostering shared identity among “insiders”.