266 Copyright © 2012, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 18 INTRODUCTION The rapid diffusion of the Internet has prompted developments in the variety and creativity of lan- guage use. Internet users often create new words or appropriate the meanings of existing words in order to express themselves and to communicate with each other. The resultant “Internet language” has unique lexical and discourse features. Existing research on communication in cyberspace, how- ever, typically investigates such language use by analyzing the linguistic characteristics of online texts (e.g. Gao, 2006; Lin 2002; Wu 2003; Yao 2005; C. Yang, 2007). Such research, moreover, often situates language change in narrow techno- logical contexts. In contrast, the discourse analysis of language presented here aims to understand online discourse patterns within the contextualized parameters of online communities. In so doing, the chapter also touches on the broad sociopolitical environment associated with the wide diffusion of the Internet in China. Elaine J. Yuan University of Illinois at Chicago, USA Language as Social Practice on the Chinese Internet ABSTRACT This chapter presents a discourse analysis of two bulletin board systems (BBS). The analysis was done to identify online linguistic practices within the contextualized parameters of online communities and ongoing sociopolitical development in China. Chinese Internet users employ various discourse strategies to establish community identities, organize online interactions, and defy censorship. These practices demarcate an emergent, public, non-offcial discourse universe apart from but responsive to the offcial discourse universe of Chinese political communication. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-833-0.ch018