The construction of indonesian adolescents’ identity through code-switching: a discourse analysis of TikTok content

Background: The increasing prominence of social media has reshaped how adolescents construct and display social identities through language practices in digital spaces. TikTok, as a highly performative and audience-oriented platform, provides a context in which linguistic choices are central to identity construction, particularly in multilingual societies such as Indonesia. Among these practices, code-switching has emerged as a salient feature of adolescent digital discourse. Aim: This study aims to examine how code-switching functions as a discursive strategy in the construction of Indonesian adolescents’ digital identities on TikTok, with particular attention to its performative, audience-oriented, and identity-related meanings. Method: Employing a qualitative approach, this study adopts sociolinguistic discourse analysis to analyze publicly available TikTok content produced by Indonesian adolescents. The data consist of spoken utterances in videos, written captions, and selected audience comments that contain instances of code-switching. Data were collected through non-participant observation, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed iteratively to identify patterns and discursive functions of code-switching in relation to identity construction. Result: The findings demonstrate that code-switching in TikTok discourse is not random or merely a result of language contact, but a deliberate and strategic practice. Adolescents use code-switching to perform identities associated with modernity, global orientation, peer solidarity, and emotional expressiveness, while simultaneously maintaining local affiliation through the use of Indonesian. The analysis also reveals that digital identity construction through code-switching is dialogic, as audience responses actively contribute to the validation and negotiation of the identities performed by content creators. Conclusion: This study concludes that code-switching serves as a key discursive resource in the performative construction of Indonesian adolescents’ digital identities on TikTok. By highlighting the strategic and audience-oriented nature of code-switching, the study contributes to sociolinguistic and digital discourse research, particularly by expanding understanding of identity construction in multilingual, non-Western digital contexts.