Interactive Written Discourse as an Emergent Register

Abstract

Text transmitted electronically through computer-mediated communication networks is an increasingly available yet little documented form of written communication. This article examines the syntactic and stylistic features of an emergent phenomenon called Interactive Written Discourse (IWD) and finds that the concept of “register,” a language variety according to use, helps account for the syntactic reductions and omissions that characterize this historical juxtaposition of text format with real-time and interactive pressures. Similarities with another written register showing surface brevity, the note taking register, are explored. The study is an empirical examination of written communication from a single discourse community, on a single topic, with a single recipient, involving 23 experienced computer users making travel plans with the same travel advisor by exchanging messages through linked computers. The study shows rates of omissions of subject pronouns, copulas, and articles and suggests that IWD is a hybrid, showing features of both spoken and written language. In tracing variable use of conventions such as sentence initial lower case and parentheses, the study shows that norms are gradually emerging. This form of written communication demands study because, as capabilities expand, norms associated with this medium of communication may come to influence or even replace those of more traditional writing styles.

The use of the language made by students taking English language as a subject at the UOC

“…Molts més estudis coincideixen en la idea de considerar el llenguatge del missatge electrònic com un híbrid entre el llenguatge oral i l'escrit (Ferrara, Brunner i Whittemore, 1991), i fins i tot el classifiquen com un gènere derivat d'aquests dos, però completament nou (Zuboff, 1988;Murray, 1988;Black et al, 1983;Ferrara et al 1991). Però la majoria estan d'acord que encara no s'ha investigat prou per a definir el llenguatge del missatge electrònic, a causa de la seva actualitat.…”

Online humour as a community-building cushioning glue

“…Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) in informal social environments is characterised by loose turn-taking, disrupted turn-adjacency, and a general lack of structure and preparation (Ferrara et al 1991;Baym 1995;Garcia & Jacobs 1998;Herring 1999). These factors influence how humour is conveyed and perceived in online social spaces that are not primarily humour-oriented (Shifman 2007), such as the community investigated in this study, making it closer to everyday conversational humour, rather than canned jokes or literary forms of witticism, irony, and satire (Baym 1995).…”

“…emoticons, abbreviations, graphics) that transform the online space into a dynamic stage for creative communication and language play (Ferrara et al 1991;Danet 2001;Thurlow et al 2004;Herring 2013). This seems to encourage an extensive use of humour in online social spaces.…”

Untitled

“…As the technological, worldwide, and collaborative medium keeps developing, various labels have been used to refer to the language used in this medium or to lay emphasis on the particular language aspect of the technology being investigated. It is now stylish in the literature to apply words or phrases, such as "Electronic-discourse (e-discourse)" (Davis & Brewer, 1997;Muniandy, 2003), "e-sentence" (Tabe, 2013b, p. 39), "Netspeak" (Crystal, 2006, p. 26), "Netlinguistics" (Posteguillo, 2002), "textual conversation" (Baldwin, 1996), "interactive written discourse" (Ferrara, Brunner, & Whittemore, 1991), "Language online" (Barton & Lee, 2013), and "Computer Mediated Communication-CMC" (Herring, 1993;1994;. Hence, the appellation electronic morphology (e-morphology) refers to the methods of word formation on these platforms.…”