DIGITAL DISCOURSE

Situational context: the medium/ channelFeatures of language online:• In comparison to other registers• Unique features & functions• Grammatical features• Effect on the standard

INTERNET

No single set of situational characteristics, but:

ELECTRONIC GLOBAL INTERACTIVE

Technological constraintsConstantly changing & evolving Little standardization “permanent stage of

transition” Constant learning

Global village/ Virtual communityInteractivity (real or possible): Receivers & creators of content

REGISTERS & GENRES

Constantly changing: new registers and genres emerging:

• E-mail• Chatgroups/ forums• World Wide Web (websites)• Virtual worlds (games)• Personal homepages, blogging, microblogging,

vloging Instant messaging (Skype, MSN/ Yahoo messenger)

• Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) - Internet telephony

• Social media• Text messaging• Mobile Apps

ETC….

LANGUAGE ONLINE

Features of both spoken & written language

WRITTEN SPEECH: writing as one speaks

Netspeak Internet + speech (D. Crystal)CMC computer-mediated communicationEMC – electronically-mediated communication

Netlish, Weblish, cyberspeak, electronic/digital discourse, electronic/digital language,interactive written discourse, etc…

CONTINUUM

An independent electronic variety

Continuum:

Writing ------------------------------------------------- SpeechAsynchronous varieties:Synchronous varieties:e.g.:

e.g.:Web pagesSynchronous chatsWeb documentsInstant messagingE-mail

Virtual worlds

DIFFERENT FROM CONVERSATION

Lacks important characteristics of face-to face conversation

1. No simultaneous feedback

2. Slow rhythm (turn-taking)

3. Not so fast and spontaneous

4. No prosody/ paralanguage

5. No kinesic features

NO PARALANGUAGE & KINESIC FEATURES

Function: compensate for the lack of paralanguage & kinesic features

Change in meaning

INTERNET LANGUAGE

FEATURES OF CMC

Typography:

In CMC non-alphabetic symbols: < / @ #, etc…

• Emoticons: Western style :) & Asian style (n_n)

• Non-standard CaPiTaLizaTion:

ALL CAPS, no caps, MedialCapitals (Camel Case)

• Repeated punctuation

• Substitution of number/letters for words: 4 you, b4,

FEATURES OF EMC

Typography:

An extreme example: LEETSPEAK (LEET)e.g.: h4x0r  s|<1llz  d00d

Origin: hackers and gamers;Leet – shortening of “elite”

Language of gamers – most distant from standard

Online Gaming Slang (http://www.chatslang.com/terms/online_gaming)

FEATURES OF EMC

Orthography: Non-standardthe accepted way of spelling and writing words

• Abbreviations, acronyms, omitting letters, etc.Lol, omg, btw, brb, pls, msg, ppl, etc…

TYPICAL FEATURES: ABBREVIATIONS

Pragmatic particle no direct meaning shows empathy,

emotions, attitudes, etc.

Empathy:recognising & understanding emotions of

others

FEATURES OF EMC

Orthography: Non-standardthe accepted way of spelling and writing words

• Letter substitutions: z for s, x for ks, etc…• Imitating casual/ dialectal pronunciation: Wassup?• Eye dialect (imitating standard pronunciation)

• Representing prosody (intonation, sounds):Hiiiiiiiiiii! Soooooo nice to see you!

Main functions: to type faster, to express emotions, to joke (troll)

LOLCATSLOLSPEAK or CHANSPEAK (origin: www.4chan.org)

Fractured text + images

MEMES

Not only images with text:ALSO symbols, hyperlinks, websites, hashtags, etc.

Function expressing feelings & trolling

FEATURES OF EMC

Morphology (study of form of words & phrases)• source for coining new words: newbie• other techniques of modifying words:Nick = nicknameNetizen = network citizenGoogle to google, etc…

Syntax (grammatical arrangement of words in a sentence)Fragmented, telegraphicParts of speech omitted to save keystrokes, be brief

FEATURES OF EMC

SYNTAX 3rd person singular for 1st person singularEMOTEScommands to make a social action

PREDICATIONS Typed out by the user

EFFECT ON STANDARD LANGUAGE

• dictionaries include more digital language related terminology; e.g.:

Google to googledotcom as an adjective

• features borrowed to digital communication of other languages

EFFECT ON STANDARD LANGUAGE

Offline speakingLol, OMG and I <3 u (as “I heart you”), etc.

Offline writing knowing SMS abbreviations: (study by Pew 2009) better reading, vocabulary & phonology awareness being bilingual shows higher intellect

A THREAT?

THREAT TO STANDARD?

XV century printing: invention of

Satan

Telegraph, telephone & broadcasting technologies:

• Destroying families & promoting crime• Undermining & ruining society• Voice of propaganda

RESOURCES

Baron, N.S. (2008). Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Crystal, D. (2006). Language and the Internet. 2nd Ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Herring, S. C. (2012). “Grammar and electronic communication”. In C. Chapelle (Ed.), Encyclopedia of applied linguistics. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. Preprint: http://info.ils.indiana.edu/~herring/e-grammar.pdf

McWhorter, J. (2013). “Txtng is killing language. JK!!!”. Available at: http://www.ted.com/talks/john_mcwhorter_txtng_is_killing_language_jk/transcript?language=en. Accessed: 15.09.2014.

Shifman, L. (2014). Memes in Digital Culture. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

QUESTIONS:

1. What does CMC stand for? What are some of the synonyms for this term?

2. How is CMC affected by technologies?3. What are some of the genres/registers in CMC?4. Why is CMC called “written speech”?5. What is the continuum view on CMC?6. What are the 5 main features of face-to-face

conversation that CMC lacks? Explain and give examples of each.

7. What specific features of EMC do you know? Mention the levels of typography, orthography, morphology & syntax. Give examples.

8. What do the concepts “Leetspeek”, “Lolspeek” (“Chanspeek”), “Meme” “emotes” and “predications” refer to?