LINGUISTIC IDENTITY AND EMOTIONAL COMMUNICATION IN THE DIGITAL AGE: FOREIGN LANGUAGE USE AMONG ALBANIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
LINGUISTIC IDENTITY AND EMOTIONAL COMMUNICATION IN THE DIGITAL AGE: FOREIGN LANGUAGE USE AMONG ALBANIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Summary/Abstract: The digital age has transformed the ways in which individuals communicate, establish social relationships, and construct their identities in online environments. Social media platforms have evolved into spaces where language serves not only as a means of communication but also as a key marker of personal, cultural, and emotional identity. Within this context, the use of foreign languages among university students represents an important phenomenon for understanding the interplay between language, identity, and emotional communication. This study investigates how Albanian university students use foreign languages on social media and explores the relationship between language choice, digital identity construction, and emotional expression. The research adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining a questionnaire administered to 80 university students, a content analysis of 240 public social media posts, and semi-structured interviews with 10 participants. The findings reveal that English is the predominant foreign language used in digital communication, followed by Italian, French, and German. The use of foreign languages extends beyond practical communication purposes, serving functions related to professional self-presentation, a sense of international belonging, and emotional expression. The results further suggest that communicating in a foreign language can create a symbolic distance that enables individuals to regulate emotional exposure in public digital spaces. The study highlights that multilingual communication on social media contributes to the development of hybrid identities, where local experiences, global orientations, and emerging forms of self-presentation intersect

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