Language in Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) 6 December 2010

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Language in Computer-Mediated Communication
(CMC)6 December 2010
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What are the main situational features of CMC?
Oral/written One way/two ways Public/private Asynchronous/synchronous
email
www

chat
Mobile phone
blog

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• emails (one-to-one or one-to-many, asynchronous,
  written)
• Instant Messaging and Internet Relay Chat
  (one-to-one or one-to-many, synchronous, written
  and oral)
• Forums, Newsgroups, Listservs, Mailing lists,
  Distribution lists and Bulletin Board Systems
  (one-to-many, asynchronous, written)
• MUDs (Multi-User Dimensions) and MOOs
  (Object-Oriented MUDs) (multiple players,
  synchronous, written),
• we can now add
• weblogs (one-to-many, asynchronous, written)
• podcasting (one-to-many, asynchronous, oral)
• wikies (many-to-many, asynchronous, written).

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MUDS

• A MUD (originally Multi-User Dungeon, with later
  variants Multi-User Dimension and Multi-User
  Domain), is a multiplayer real-time virtual world
  . MUDs combine elements of role-playing games,
  player versus player, interactive fiction, and
  online chat. Players can read or view
  descriptions of rooms, objects, other players,
  non-player characters, and actions performed in
  the virtual world. Players typically interact
  with each other and the world by typing commands
  that resemble a natural language.
• Traditional MUDs implement a computer
  role-playing game set in a fantasy world
  populated by fictional races and monsters, with
  players being able to choose from a number of
  classes in order to gain specific skills or
  powers. The object of this sort of game is to
  slay monsters, explore a fantasy world, complete
  quests, go on adventures, create a story by
  roleplaying, and advance the created character.
  Many MUDs were fashioned around the dice-rolling
  rules of the Dungeons Dragons series of games.

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MOOs

• Mud Object Oriented is similar in structure to
  MUDs, but there is not the game component.
• MOOs aim to interaction, education and social
  evolution.

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What are the notable linguistic features of
CMC? Note that the proportion of these features
exhibited by a CMC text can vary enormously
according to criteria such as text-type and the
personal characteristics of the individual writer
(including age, identity, etc.).

• Orthography
• informal ("phonetic") spelling
• do wot I did
• luv from SD
• dunno how easy itll be
• speed-writing (esp. with mobile phones)
  combination of informal spelling with letter
• omission
• thx 4 yr txt
• absence of capitalization (even with pronoun I
  and proper names)
• got your email. ill be over later on in the day.

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2. Vocabulary informal If you give it to me to
look at in the summer hols Ill be able to have a
peek at it myself sometime. I thin the N lot
managed to dagger it quite effectively. Oh goody.
... Even goodier. use of interjections At
last phew! This was the last bid with N, oh,
ages ago. Not back till Saturday grooh. use
of "in"-terms and abbreviations (BTW, ROTFL,
PTB) BTW have you heard an update on the
continuing saga?
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3. Grammar "telegraphic" language Have
forwarded the N email. Will do, but am not back
in office until Tuesday. "chaining" (multiple
coordination/subordination in sequence)
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4. Discourse and Text use of interaction
features (e.g. questions) ill be over later on
in the day, ok? The main trip up seems to be that
what we were thinking of is not in this call, am
I right? "stream of consciousness"
writing just one more thing, do i want to go to
england to teach in a school??? do i? oh well,
ill decide that when i have to.
message-comment structures in e-mail, etc. gt
Have just had your payslip and returned tax
card. Oh goody. hypertext (in the WWW)
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5. Paralinguistics and Graphics spaced
letters in case youre wondering why things went
R E A L S L O W just now multiple
letters PLEEEEEASE alternative markers for
emphasis now _now_ capitalization
("shouting") little or "excessive"
punctuation do i want to go to england to teach
in a school??? "smilyes" (emoticons) Instead
of using it as a control key you have to do two
keypresses ( Why not join the most exciting
thing since Sues hedgehog followed Tim round the
building ) Anyone wanna buy some CPROS lottery
tickets? )
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What do these features tell us about CMC? 1.
CMC demonstrates a mix of features drawn from
prototypically spoken and prototypically written
media (including sub-types of these e.g.
telegraphic language) 2. Text-type has an
important role in determining the nature of the
language used in CMC. Overall, however, the trend
is towards a more informal, "spoken" style
of writing. This is especially obvious at the
paralinguistic/graphic level, where additional
means have been developed to represent effects
that are possible in face-to-face interaction but
not in writing. 3. The constraints of real-time
interaction seem to be responsible for many of
the features of CMC language. These seem then to
have diffused into asynchronous text types. 4.
Socially, there seems to be some trend towards
group solidarity amongst users of CMC. Several
linguistic choices appear aimed at reducing
social distance and emphasizing group membership.
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Abbreviations

• Succinctness and precision are highly valued and
  abbreviations can contribute greatly to a concise
  style, such as in text-messaging and chats. Here
  are some examples

afaiK As far as I know
bbl Be back later
cul8r See you later
icwum I see what you mean
imho In my humble opinion
jam Just a minute
otoh On the other hand
ttutt To tell you the truth
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Acronyms

• AE In Any
  Event
•  
• BTW By the way
•  
• FM Fine
  Magic
•  
• FC Fingers
  Crossed
•  
• FWIW For what it's
  worth
•  
• FYI For Your
  Information
•  
• FUA Frequently Used
  Acronyms
•  
• IITYWTMWYBMAD If I Tell You What This
  Means Will You Buy Me A Drink?
•  
• IAE In any
  event
•  
• IANAL I Am Not A
  Lawyer, also IANA... such as CPA

• RTFM Read the F(?)
  manual
•  
• SNAFU Situation
  Normal All bleeped Up
•  
• SITD Still in the
  dark
•  
• TANSTAAFL There Ain't No Such
  Thing As A Free Lunch
•  
• TIA Thanks In
  Advance (also AtDhVaAnNkCsE)
•  
• TIC Tongue in cheek
•  
• TLA Three Letter
  Acronym (such as this)
•  
• YMMV Your Mileage May
  Vary

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Smileys / emoticons
Smiley principale   Smiley secondari   Significato   Emoticon  
-) ) oppure )- oppure  oppure )-gt oppure  gt oppure gtgt_ oppure - oppure oppure (_) oppure . contentezza, sorriso, felice o tono scherzoso/amichevole
-( ( oppure (- oppure  oppure (ltlt Broncio, tristezza
-D D oppure D oppure DDX-D oppure XD oppure XDBD8D Riso / ridente,ho appena detto una stupidaggine
-P -p oppure P oppure pP oppure p linguaccia o "oops"
- oppure  normale, è anche usata come emoticon universale
8-) 8 ) oppure 8)B-) oppure B ) oppure B) "Figo"
'-( ' ( oppure '('- oppure ' oppure '' ( oppure '(' oppure ''-lt oppure ' lt oppure 'lt' lt oppure 'ltT_T oppure T.T oppure (T_T)Y_Y oppure Y.Y oppure (Y_Y)ç_ç oppure ç.ç oppure (ç_ç)- oppure _ oppure . piangere
-S S oppure SS confusione, imbarazzo o disagio infastidito
_at___at_ -? oppure  ? oppure ??_? oppure ?.? incuriosito
-) ) oppure )- oppure  oppure -gt oppure  gt oppure gt(_) oppure _ oppure _ ammiccante o occhiolino
-O O oppure O stupore ("a bocca aperta")
_ -_- oppure -.- con le varianti -.-" o -.- noia, sonno, ma anche bramosia o sarcasmo
-/ / oppure / oppure / -I oppure  I oppure I oppure -\ oppure \ infastidito o imbarazzante
(Z.Z) (-.-)Zzz annoiato
o_O O_oo.O oppure O.o- oppure oppure (-)_ oppure (_)oO oppure OoOO stupore, shock
o_0 0_oo.0 oppure 0.o0o oppure o0 confusione, diffidenza
gt_lt è.é oppure è_é fastidio, seccatura
U_U u_u oppure (U_U)U.U oppure u.u oppure (U.U)V_V oppure v_v oppure (V_V)V.V oppure v.v oppure (V.V) superiorità
ù_ù Sentire di aver ragione
lt_lt gt_gt sguardo stranito
_ (_) oppure ___ oppure (.) oppure . commozione o ammirazione
- -x oppure x oppure bacio
\o/ ballare
_ (_) stordimento
x_x X_X oppure (X_X)x.x oppure X.X oppure (X_X) nervosismo
OwO (OwO)w oppure (w) Grande sorpresa o meraviglia
-Q___ Q___ oppure QQ___ oppure Q oppure ç sbavare
3 -3 oppure 3x3 tenerezza
-_at_ _at_gt-_at_ oppure gt_at_ oppure gt( arrabbiato
_at_gt-- rosa (fiore)
_ (_)(X_X) oppure X_X oppure x_x(X.X) oppure X.X oppure x.x Morto
_at_-) _at_ ) oppure _at_)_at_)_at_- oppure _at_ oppure _at__at__at_-gt oppure _at_ gt oppure _at_gt_at_gt Pensiero Stupendo (Mente che pensa in modo diverso) o idea diversa dalle altre
lto) \(_)/ festeggiare
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Netspeak

• Netspeak, is a type of language displaying
  features that are unique to the Internet ()
  arising out of its character as a medium which is
  electronic, global, and interactive (Crystal,
  Language, 18).

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netiquette

• Netiquette (a portmanteau formed from "network
  etiquette") is a set of social conventions that
  facilitate interaction over networks

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EMAIL

• Email (n) (v)
• Originally spelled e-mail (electronic mail)

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greeting formats

• No greeting at all
• First name
• Dear first name
• Hi
• Hi first name
• Nickname
• Hello
• Hello first name

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• If you are sending a reply the contact has
  already been established and you are in one sense
  continuing a dialogue that has already started.
• It is very unusual to find the sort of formal
  greetings structures that characterise official
  letters.
• Indeed there are times when it is quite hard to
  know how to start an email, if youre writing to
  someone who has more power than you.
  Over-formality can appear sycophantic (servile),
  overfamiliarity rude.

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Exchange of emails between two colleagues. They
have arranged a meeting for October 18, where Liz
is going to present some documents to Alan.

• Consider
• Aspects of formality/informality
• Modes of address
• Openings and closures
• Use of idioms
• Purpose of each email

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• Dear Alan
• Im humming and haaing abt Friday 18. I think Ian
  will be coming to the meeting but I shd be able
  to meet you later IF done anything constructive
  which is a big if at the moment- Im certainly
  aiming to have a piece to submit but at present
  feels like Everest to climb havent even started
  redraft due to crazy psycho witch at work (I have
  my own stalker!!! calling me for an hour or more
  at home in the evenings!!) plus additional wall
  to wall crap. Not making preemptive excuse but
  forewarning. Hope this temporary glitch only I
  swear on my life that if I thought I couldnt
  deliver the thing at all wld tell you up front so
  you cld get someone else! So am hoping not to
  welsh on our deal but feel honourbound to tell
  you might HAVE to delay past 18th Oct. V
  embarrassed as I know I suggested this date.
  Mortified. Dont miss deadlines ever vv bad
  sign.
• Hope youre ok
• Liz

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• Hi Liz
• No need to panic not sure I can make it anyway.
  Would rather re-programme to Nov 4. Any good?
• A

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CHAT

• One of the peculiarities of IRC is the
  organization of conversational sequences and
  exchange structures
• On IRC overlaps and interruptions are impossible.
  Each utterance is simply displayed in the
  chronological order in which it is received by
  the Irc system. This means that disparate strands
  of conversation are juxtaposed, forming sequences
  that intertwine to form a multidimensional text.
•  
• By scrolling a chat you can notice indipendent
  speech actstranscribed chronologically. The kind
  of sequence is different both from oral
  conversation and from a written text
•  
• ltKeelsgt booooooooo
• ltAriadnnegt K e e l s !!! You in and out today?
• ltbubigt keels, dont scare me!!!!
• ltShaquillegt ariadnne - what the hell is your
  problem?
• ltKeelsgt who are you bubi
• ltAlvingt bubi what does your friend want to do in
  Australia.work
• ltAlvingt Shaquile you r the problem,
• ltAriadnnegt shaq i have no problem you were the
  asshole
• ltBubigt al. He wants to live and work, i guess
• ltAlvingt bubi depends what sort of qualifications,
  experience, intentions, area
• ltShaquillegt Alvin spell your name
  right!!!!!!!!!!
• ltAlvingt GRRRRR

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• Conciceness to emulate oral conversation
• short gaps between conversational turns
• an average message size of 6 words convey the
  requisite of expressivity and meaning
• competition for attention
•  
• Alcune strategie adottate regolarmente nelle
  chat
• Reduced syntax,
• use of symbols ed acronyms
• parole troncate,velocizzano e stringano la
  comunicazione. Ad esempio
•  
• ltFrankgt Y r excused
•  
• ltKeelsgtGooby gonna, try and do somthing smart
  for once
•  
• Personal pronouns often obmitted

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• Gli acronyms e i TLAs sono largamente utilizzate
  in chat per rispondere a questa esigenza di
  brevità. Talvolta anche i nicknames sono
  abbreviati, in particolare quando sussiste un
  rapporto di familiarità tra gli interlocutori e
  quando è difficile farne lo spelling.
•  
• Es. Sqhaquille in shaq Ariadnne in Ar
• Per amor di sintesi, le vocali delle parole sono
  le prime ad essere sacrificate
•  
• Es. bb ppls per bye bye peoples pls
  per please
•  
• Spesso le parole sono troncate quando il suono
  prodotto dalla lettera sarà lo stesso di quello
  pronunciato.
• Es. Where r u from? (are you)
• Well i gotta go c u (see you)
• Y r excused (you are)
•  
• In alcune IRC communities sono emerse alcune
  abbreviazioni, successivamente diventate di uso
  comune in tutte le chat. Come ad esempio
•  
• re abbreviazione di hello again o rehi
  per hi again
•  
• espressioni utilizzate per ri-salutare qualcuno
  uscito e rientrato in un channel

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• Paralinguistic and prosodic elements
•  
• strategia ortografica complessa, finalizzata a
  compensare l assenza di intonazione e di
  elementi paralinguistici nell interazione
  scritta. Si è fatto ricorso allinvenzione di
  espedienti linguistici estrosi ed innovativi per
  ricreare gli effetti della voce, della gestualità
  e della intonazione. Ciò è stato reso possibile
  dall uso creativo delle maiuscole, della
  punteggiatura e dello spelling.
• Nel caso che segue, la reiterazione delle
  lettere o ed a è utilizzata per esprimere il
  prolungamento del suono e per dare intonazione
  espressiva al discorso
•  
• Cooolll per cool
• Baaaaad per bad
•  
• Anche la punteggiatura è spesso utilizzata per
  ricreare leffetto della lingua parlata. Punti
  sospensivi e trattini sono impiegati per creare
  leffetto pausa. Inoltre, alcune forme
  ortografiche hanno un valore espressivo
  completamente diverso da quello svolto
  nellortografia ufficiale ad esempio le capital
  letters non sono quasi mai utilizzate come prima
  lettera dei nomi propri, bensì per esprimere
  enfasi.
•  
• In questo contesto infatti ltAgagaxgt utilizza la
  maiuscola per far comprendere lo spelling del suo
  nome (
•  
• ltGenevievegt re agagaz
• ltAgagaxgt no, not agagaZ, - agagaX
•  
• Oppure, come in questo caso, per enfatizzare
  lesclamazione
•  
• ltLilusgt I cant less than go WOOOOW
•  

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• Colloquial verbalizations and nom-standard
  spellings appear to be self-conscious selected in
  preference to standard linguistic expressions.
•  
• I chatters frequentemente costruiscono
  simulazioni grafiche di espressioni sonore come
  ridere esclamare , abbaiare, cantare, riproducono
  il rumore del motore delle macchine da corsa
  etc.
•  
•         hahahahahahaha (risata)
•         aaaaaaahhhh (esclamazione)
•         wouarffffff (cane che abbaia)
•         mmmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMM poc poc (rumore
  del motore della macchina da corsa)

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• Onomatopoeias are widely found in Net jargon, as
  it is often necessary to get across an action
  such as a sigh or moan, without having sound
  capabilities to send the sound itself.
•  
• IRC communities use a set of codes and
  conventions which represent gestures typical of
  face to face communication
• Hugs, kisses, offers of coffee, yawns, shaking
  hands, smile, sorry, rose, hit , the popping of
  champagne
•  are symbolically represented actions. The
  lexeme indicating an action is sono tutte azioni
  rappresentate simbolicamente. La convenzione
  utilizzata per far ciò è racchiudere tra
  asterischi il lessema rappresentativo dellazione
•  
• ltariadnnegt A N N E M A R I E !!!!!hugs
• ltalvingt G day Keels shakes hand
•  
•  

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BLOGS

• Weblogs (Portmanteau/blend of web and log)
  or blogs are a form of on-line personal
  publishing, an extension of a homepage. They are
  dynamic webpages, updated on a regular basis, and
  are half commentary and half journal, allowing
  individuals to express their views and stimulate
  critical thinking among their readers via
  diary-like entries and comments, and hosts of
  embedded links to various sources of information
• Traditional CMC has been denoted by the lexeme
  netspeak the merging of this term with other
  conventional forms of communication has created
  blogspeak, a lexeme which designates a new
  variety found in blogs, namely the blending of
  speech and writing.
• Blogspeak A language developed for and used in
  internet journals, or blogs, by their keepers, or
  bloggers
• (http//www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?termbl
  ogspeak).

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• Between privacy and publicity
• Between oral conversation and writing (written
  speech talky writing )
• Between formality and informality

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• POST 1
• Your logo made me laugh. There it is, on the
  left. See it, kids? I like it. A lot. And I do
  sometimes feel like Polly in a rabbit suit. What
  city is that? It looks like New York. I think
  Polly in a rabbit suit would be better off in New
  York. Wait, is that that blasted Montgomery
  building? Is that San Francisco? Im never moving
  back there, boy. Now you're definitely not
  sleeping on my couch.
• Luckily, Im not Polly in a rabbit suit. I'm a
  fucking real live rabbit, OK? Why is that so hard
  for you little monkeys to wrap your little monkey
  brains around?
• POST 2
• Heading making clever pun on blog Im a
  journalist. see my daring posture vis-a-vis
  blogs they are too influential to too small a
  group of people. popular bloggers are bad and the
  taste of the blogosphere is incorrect or
  corrupted.
• google is making things worse. it's giving me
  opinions when i expect primary sources. me not
  able to linkthrough!
• people link to each other. too many people link
  to the same people. it's not just unimaginative,
  its unfair to me just because i dismissed this
  for a while but now i want in and all the good
  blogroll spots are taken.
• i hate you bloggers. i refuse to even link to
  snooty snoot. i hope kottke sees this.

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Neo(b)logisms

• neologisms new coinages and new formations
  (combinations with suffixes/prefixes, blends,
  abbreviations, acronyms) which have arisen and
  are arising around the stem blog
•  
• blawg a weblog written by lawyers and/or
  concerned primarily with legal affairs
•  
• bleg to use ones blog to beg for assistance
• blego used in reference to self promotion on, or
  as part of, blogs
• blerd someone who spends too much time on his
  blog and, as a result, is bereft of social skills
•  
• blog in/out log in/out of a blog
•  
• blogal related to blog
•  
• blogchalk a short piece of information given to
  blogsurfers about name, gender, age, place,
  interests and languages spoken by the blogger. It
  is made up of a frame, a text and a code that
  can make blog indexing easier on search engines
•  
• blogger a person who maintains a weblog. Also
  the name of Googles blogging service
•  
• blogglet a very tiny blog, by someone who is
  pressed for time, or is very sparing with their
  words