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

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

2. What are the main situational features of CMC?

3. 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, Mailinglists, Distributionlists and BulletinBoardSystems (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).

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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 • luvfrom SD • dunno how easy it’ll be • — speed-writing (esp. with mobile phones): combination of informal spelling with letter • omission • thx 4 yrtxt • — absence of capitalization (even with pronoun I and proper names) • got your email. i’ll be over later on in the day.

7. 2. Vocabulary — informal If you give it to me to look at in the summer hols I’ll 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?

8. 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)

9. 4. Discourse and Text — use of interaction features (e.g. questions) i’ll 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, i’ll decide that when i have to. — message-comment structures in e-mail, etc.: > Have just had your payslip and returned tax card. Oh goody. —hypertext (in the WWW)

10. 5. Paralinguistics and Graphics — spaced letters in case you’re 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 Sue’s hedgehog followed Tim round the building :—) Anyone wanna buy some CPROS lottery tickets? :—)

11. 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.

12. 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:

13. Acronyms • AE In AnyEvent • BTW By the way • FM Fine Magic • FC FingersCrossed • FWIW Forwhatit's worth • FYI ForYour Information • FUA FrequentlyUsedAcronyms • IITYWTMWYBMAD If I TellYouWhatThisMeans Will You Buy Me A Drink? • IAE In anyevent • IANAL I Am Not A Lawyer, also IANA... suchas CPA • IMO In my opinion • IMHO In myhumble opinion • IMCO In myconsidered opinion • IOW In otherwords • NRN No ReplyNecessary • OTOH On the otherhand • PITA Pain in the butt • ROFL Rolling on floorlaughing. • RSN RealSoonNow [whichmaybe a long timecoming] • RTFM Read the F(?) manual • SNAFU Situation Normal: All [bleeped] Up • SITD Still in the dark • TANSTAAFL ThereAin't No SuchThing As A Free Lunch • TIA Thanks In Advance (alsoAtDhVaAnNkCsE) • TIC Tongue in cheek • TLA Three LetterAcronym (suchasthis) • YMMV YourMileage May Vary

14. Smileys / emoticons

15. 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).

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

17. EMAIL • Email (n) (v) • Originally spelled ‘e-mail’ (electronic mail)

18. greeting formats • No greeting at all • First name • Dear + first name • Hi • Hi + first name • Nickname • Hello • Hello + first name

19. 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 you’re writing to someone who has more power than you. Over-formality can appear sycophantic (servile), overfamiliarity rude.

20. 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

21. Dear Alan • Im humming and haaingabt 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. • Hopeyou’re ok • Liz

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

23. CHAT • Oneof the peculiaritiesof IRC is the organizationof “conversationalsequences” and “exchangestructures” • 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“indipendentspeechacts”transcribedchronologically. The kindofsequenceisdifferentbothfromoralconversation and from a written text: • <Keels> booooooooo • <Ariadnne> K e e l s !!! You in and out today? • <bubi> keels, don’t scare me!!!! • <Shaquille> ariadnne - what the hell is your problem? • <Keels> who are you bubi • <Alvin> bubi: what does your friend want to do in Australia….work • <Alvin> Shaquile you r the problem, • <Ariadnne> shaq: i have no problem … you were the “asshole” • <Bubi> al. He wants to live and work, i guess… • <Alvin> bubi depends what sort of qualifications, experience, intentions, area • <Shaquille> Alvin – spell your name right!!!!!!!!!! • <Alvin> GRRRRR

24. Concicenessto emulate oralconversation: • short gaps between conversational turns • an average message size of 6 words convey the requisite of expressivity and meaning • competitionforattention Alcune strategie adottate regolarmente nelle chat: • Reducedsyntax, • useofsymbols ed acronyms • parole troncate,velocizzano e stringano la comunicazione. Ad esempio: <Frank> Y r excused <Keels>Goobygonna, try and do somthing smart for once • Personal pronounsoftenobmitted

25. 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 igotta 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 “helloagain” o “rehi” per “hiagain” • espressioni utilizzate per ri-salutare qualcuno uscito e rientrato in un channel

26. Paralinguistic and prosodicelements • strategia ortografica complessa, finalizzata a compensare l’ assenza di intonazione e di elementi paralinguistici nell’ interazione scritta. Si è fatto ricorso all’invenzione 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 l’effetto della lingua parlata. Punti sospensivi e trattini sono impiegati per creare l’effetto pausa. Inoltre, alcune forme ortografiche hanno un valore espressivo completamente diverso da quello svolto nell’ortografia 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 <Agagax> utilizza la maiuscola per far comprendere lo spelling del suo nome ( • <Genevieve> re agagaz • <Agagax> no, not agagaZ, - agagaX • Oppure, come in questo caso, per enfatizzare l’esclamazione • <Lilus> I cant less than go WOOOOW • In linea con la tendenza a produrre forme discorsive molto vicine a quelle orali, il linguaggio utilizzato nelle IRC è molto colloquiale, molte battute sono tipicamente dense di informalità discorsive come “nope” (no), “nup” (no),“Yup” (si),“hiha”(ciao).

27. Colloquial verbalizations and nom-standard spellings appear to be self-conscious selected in preference to “standard” linguistic expressions. • I chattersfrequentemente 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) • ·        mmmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMpocpoc (rumore del motore della macchina da corsa)

28. 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 communitiesuse a set ofcodes and conventionswhichrepresentgesturestypicalof “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 dell’azione • <ariadnne> A N N E M A R I E !!!!!*hugs* • <alvin> G’ day Keels *shakes hand*

29. 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 dynamicwebpages, 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?term=blogspeak).

30. Between privacy and publicity • Between oral conversation and writing (‘written speech’ ‘talky writing’ ) • Between formality and informality

31. 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? I’m never moving back there, boy. Now you're definitely not sleeping on my couch. • Luckily, I’m 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’: I’m 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, it’s 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.

32. 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 one’s blog to beg for assistance • blego used in reference to self promotion on, or as part of, blogs • blerdsomeone who spends too much time on his blog and, as a result, is bereft of social skills • blogin/out log in/out of a blog • blogalrelated 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 Google’s blogging service • bloggleta very tiny blog, by someone who is pressed for time, or is very sparing with their words • Blogorrheaan unusually high volume output of articles on a blog • blogosphere the world of blogs • blogotry blog bigotry • blogrolla collection or list of links to other blogs and websites commonly featured on blogs • blogvertisingthe advertisements appearing in blogs • blogware commonly used in reference to the tools used to write blogs • blook a book published serially on a blog • blurker a silent lurker, observer of blogs • klogknowledge blogs • linguablog a specialist blog dealing with regular postings about language-related subjects • moblog a blog maintained via mobile hardware or a form of photoblog that consists of the photographs taken on users mobile phones • sblog/splog spam blogs, blogs used by the authors with the aim to promote other websites. • ‘