Persian speakers' language identity and using it as L1 or L2 and applying its technical and rhetorical criteria in Telegram writings

This study investigated the relationship between Persian speakers' language identity and using it as L or L and applying its technical and rhetorical criteria in Telegram writings. The language identity of university students, randomly sampled, was measured using Rezaei, Khatib, and Baleghizadeh's ( ) questionnaire and they were divided into Persian L and L groups. Next, each group was subdivided into high and low language identity subgroups. Their Telegram chats were analyzed based on the technical criteria (comma, full stop, question mark) and rhetorical criteria (word order and use of appropriate expressions). The results showed that language identity predicted applying the technical criteria of spelling and comma in both L and L groups, but it was only predicted applying full stop criteria in the L group. It was not related to applying question mark criteria in either (L or L ) group. It predicted applying the criteria of appropriate expressions and accurate word order in both L and L groups. Language affiliation proved more effective than language identity in applying the criteria of comma, question mark, appropriate expressions, and word order, while it only caused a significant difference between high-identity L and L subgroups in applying comma criteria.