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Module 4-Micro-Linguistic Structural Features of CMC
Module 4-Micro-Linguistic Structural Features of CMC
Module 4-Micro-Linguistic Structural Features of CMC
MODULE 4
Computer-Mediated Communication.
Micro-linguistic Structural
Features of CMC
Module 4
Micro-linguistic Structural Features of CMC
It is expected that at the end of this module, you will be able to:
a) Define micro-linguistic structural features of CMC.
b) Analyze the various micro-linguistic structural features of CMC
c) Demonstrate the significance of understanding the semantics and pragmatics of micro-linguistic
structural features of CMC.
This module discusses the characteristics and the pragmatics of use of four categories of common
micro-linguistic features that have been identified in the scholarly CMC literature, keeping in mind that the
occurrence of these phenomena varies according to the language and script used, the mode of CMC
employed, the context of the interaction, and other use- and user-related factors:
1) Emoticons
2) Non-standard spelling and creative use of writing systems
3) Abbreviation
4) Non-standard punctuation
The required reading for this module is organized as follows: Section 2 provides a review of recent
and seminal literature on micro-linguistic structural features of CMC. Section 3 addresses individual
features, including a discussion of the role of technological mediation for each feature. Section 4 concludes
the chapter with an outlook on future linguistic and pragmatic research concerning micro-linguistic
structural features of CMC.
After reading and studying this module, you will accomplish what will become your regular weekly
output, which is called the Reading Code Organizational Sheet. This task will require you to analyze the
article provided by looking for different parts or elements required by the Reading Code Organizational
Sheet. To facilitate the accomplishment of the task, a guide is provided to you.
Enjoy reading this module and good luck with your weekly task!!!
Micro-linguistic structural features of
computer-mediated communication
Markus Bieswanger
1. Introduction
1) Emoticons
2) Non-standard spelling and creative use of writing systems
3) Abbreviation
4) Non-standard punctuation
2. Relevant literature
kind of “Internet language”. A further distinction can be made between works fo-
cusing on CMC in one language and studies or edited volumes that deal with CMC
in more than one language.
3.1. Emoticons
The text-based nature of CMC and the resulting paucity of paralinguistic and non-
linguistic cues are generally considered to be the main reasons for the development
of so-called emoticons (Crystal 2001; Danet 2001; Danet et al. 1997; Döring 2003;
Murray 1988; Raymond 1994; Runkehl et al. 1998; Schmitz 2004; Siever 2006;
Witmer and Katzman 1997). As all textual modes of CMC share the lack of certain
channels of communication, it does not come as a surprise that emoticons are a fea-
ture that is “shared across modes” (Danet and Herring 2007b: 12; see also Hård af
Segerstad 2002: 261) and that “recur[s] in languages besides English” (Danet and
Herring 2007b: 27). Emoticons are thus among the micro-level phenomena which
are most “characteristic” of language use in CMC, although their actual shape and
frequency of use differ according to a number of factors. As smiley face icons pre-
date the Internet, and emoticons can now also be found in “snail-mail” letters and
postcards (Östman 2004; Runkehl et al. 1998), it seems more appropriate to clas-
sify them as “characteristic” than to call them “a unique feature of the electronic
language register” (Tseliga 2007: 121; see also Herring 1996) or an “exclusively
digital phenomenon” (Tseliga 2007: 126).
The term “emoticon” is most likely a blend of the nouns “emotion” and “icon”
(Oxford English Dictionary Online 2008), and it is defined as “[a] representation of
a facial expression formed by a short sequence of keyboard characters (usually to
be viewed sideways) […] to convey the sender’s feelings or intended tone” (Ox-
ford English Dictionary Online 2008). Emoticons are also known as “smileys”,
“smiley icons”, or “smiley faces” (Crystal 2001; Danet 2001; Danet and Herring
2007b; Haase et al. 1997; Runkehl et al. 1998; Wolf 2000). Godin (1993) and San-
derson (1993) present early collections of emoticons. Today, some of the clusters
of typographic symbols referred to as emoticons do not represent facial ex-
pressions (Dresner and Hering 2010); for example, many contemporary online dis-
cussion forums offer a selection of symbols, such as or (Bieswanger and
Intemann 2011). It should also be noted that much of the current CMC software
automatically transforms typed sequences such as :) ‘smile’ and :( ‘frown’ into
graphical icons, in this case into the icons K and M respectively, so that emoticons
no longer necessarily have to be read sideways.
In contrast to traditional “Western-style ‘smileys’” (Danet and Herring 2007b:
13), defined as in the quote from the Oxford English Dictionary Online above, “kao-
moji” or “Japanese-style emoticons” (Katsuno and Yano 2007; see also Nishimura
2007; Shirai 2006; Siever 2006), which are also called “Asian style” emoticons
(Lee 2007: 203) or “[v]ertical emoticons” (Lee 2007: 205), have never had to be
read sideways (Nishimura 2007; Shirai 2006). For example, (^_^), (^ ^), (^^), and
(^o^) are among the many different vertical emoticons representing a smile (Kat-
suno and Yano 2007; Schlobinski and Watanabe 2003). Lee (2007: 205) reports that
both Western-style and Asian-style emoticons occur in instant messaging and email
communication in Hong Kong, noting that “[v]ertical emoticons are more common
in Hong Kong CMC than are horizontal ones”. Palfreyman and Al Khalil (2007)
give an example of the use of vertical emoticons in instant messaging in Arabic.
From the point of view of pragmatics and speech act theory, it has recently
been argued that emoticons do not only convey emotions but in fact have multiple
functions, including to “indicate the illocutionary force of the text to which they
are attached” (Dresner and Herring 2010: 250). Dresner and Herring identify
“three ways in which emoticons function: 1) as emotion indicators, mapped di-
rectly onto facial expression; 2) as indicators of non-emotional meanings, mapped
conventionally onto facial expressions, and 3) as illocutionary force indicators that
do not map conventionally onto a facial expression” (250).
Micro-linguistic structural features of computer-mediated communication
Linguistic studies have repeatedly addressed the relationship between the use
of emoticons and sociolinguistic factors, particularly gender, as well as CMC
mode. Witmer and Katzman (1997) found in their study of language use in public
newsgroups and special interest groups that females used more graphic accents
than males. Additionally, they reported that the overall use of graphic accents in
their data was fairly low. Baron (2008: 67) investigated instant messaging com-
munication of American college students and found that “females were far more
likely to use emoticons than males”. In a study of gender-related differences in
emoticon use in online newsgroups, Wolf (2000) also found that females used more
emoticons overall and additionally discovered that males’ use of emoticons was
notably higher in mixed-gender newsgroups than in predominantly male news-
groups. This finding is consistent with the results of Bieswanger and Intemann
(2011), who found that the frequency of emoticons was considerably higher in a
predominantly female forum than in a predominantly male English-language dis-
cussion forum.
Regarding the connection between the use of emoticons and the CMC mode
and/or language employed, studies point to considerable mode-related and lan-
guage-related variation, but more research is necessary before any general con-
clusions can be drawn. There “is a pressing need for systematic cross-linguistic
studies that make use of similar methods in similar contexts involving different
languages” (Danet and Herring 2007b: 28). As regards mode, Lee (2007: 203)
reports that emoticons are “very popular” in Hong Kong CMC, but that in her data
emoticons are much more frequent in instant messaging than in email. In a study of
language use in instant messaging and texting among female American college
students, Baron (2008) found that emoticons were very infrequent in both modes,
making up less than 1 % of all words in each mode. Bieswanger and Intemann
(2011) report that for a corpus of over 82,000 words from three English-based on-
line discussion forums, on average approximately 2 % of the words were emoti-
cons. There are, however, considerable differences across individual discussion
forums in the Bieswanger and Intemann study, with an average of about 0.3 % of
all words being emoticons in one forum and 3.1 % of all words in another. Tseliga’s
(2007: 126) study of four Greek discussion lists and one newsgroup discovered
that “Greeklish users were somewhat more likely to use emoticons” than users of
Greek. Hård af Segerstad (2002: 261) investigated the use of “features character-
istic of CMC” in four different modes, namely email, chat, instant messaging, and
texting, and found that emoticons occurred in each of the modes.
Based on the above review of the available literature on the functions and use
of emoticons in CMC, it seems safe to conclude that emoticons are a characteristic
feature of language use in CMC. However, considerable variation exists related to
the language and script used, the CMC mode employed, the purpose of the inter-
action, and the sociolinguistic backgrounds of the users.
3.2. Non-standard spelling and creative use of writing systems
Other recent studies addressing the issue of non-standard spelling and the cre-
ative use of writing in CMC in different languages include Nastri et al. (2006),
Kessler (2008), Anis (2007), and Su (2007). Nastri et al. (2006) found in their
speech act analysis of “away” messages in English instant messaging that “CMC-
based orthography” is very frequently used, with “39 % of away messages contain-
ing some type of CMC orthography”. In her study of instant messaging in Swiss
German and Standard German, Kessler (2008) found that non-standard spelling
and writing were frequently used to imitate spoken language, including via ono-
matopoeic forms, reduplication of letters, and the representation of dialect features
(see also Siebenhaar 2006). The analysis of the data also showed that the com-
munication took place to a large extent in lower case letters only, and that capital
letters were mostly used for emphasis (Kessler 2008). Anis (2007: 97) studied
French texting and developed “a typology of neographic transformations observed
in the French SMS corpus”. In a comparison across modes, Anis (2007: 90) found
that neographic spellings were frequent in synchronous French chat, text messag-
ing, and instant messaging, whereas neography in asynchronous email, newsgroup
postings, and discussion list postings was marginal. Finally, Su (2007: 83–84) in-
vestigated “creative uses of writing” on Taiwanese Bulletin Board Systems (BBS)
and identified “processes of transforming spoken English, Taiwanese, and Taiwan-
ese-accented Mandarin into forms of online language play” that involved, among
other strategies, non-standard mixing of writing systems from different languages.
In short, research has found that various forms of non-standard orthography
and typography as well as creative uses of writing are common in CMC. As with
emoticons, however, there is considerable variation in the use of these forms ac-
cording to the mode of CMC – including (a)synchronicity – the language used, the
writing system(s) available, the purpose and formality of the interactions, the in-
tention of the writers, and the sociolinguistic backgrounds of the users.
3.3. Abbreviation
Abbreviated forms of language have been identified as characteristic of communi-
cation in many modes of CMC and as among the “distinctive CMC features
[which] recur in languages besides English” (Danet and Herring 2007b: 27; see
also Anis 2007; Crystal 2001; Danet 2001; Deumert and Masinyana 2008; Thur-
low and Brown 2003). “Abbreviation” and “shortening” are neutral terms here used
synonymously to refer to all strategies that result in “lexical forms that are made
up by fewer characters than the full form of a word or a combination of words”
(Bieswanger 2007: n.p.). Hård af Segerstad (2002: 71) calls these forms “lexical
Micro-linguistic structural features of computer-mediated communication
reductions”, and Herring and Zelenkauskaite (2008: 82–84) refer to them as “dele-
tions”. Many types of shortenings occur in CMC, for example, initialisms4 such as
lol for ‘laughing out loud’, vowel deletion as in ovr for English ‘over’ or tjrs for
French ‘toujours’ (‘always’), contractions as in don’t for English ‘do not’, and
letter/number homophones such as b for English ‘be’ or 2 for English ‘to’ or ‘too’,
also known as rebus writing (Anis 2007; Baron 2000; Bieswanger 2007; Crystal
2001; Hård af Segerstad 2002; Herring, in press; Kessler 2008; Schlobinski et al.
2001; Werry 1996).
Crystal (2001: 84) writes that “[t]he various types of abbreviation found in Net-
speak have been one of its most remarked features”; for texting, he claims that
“[t]he challenge of the small screen size and its limited character space (about 160
characters), as well as the small keypad, has motivated the evolution of an even
more abbreviated language than emerged in chatgroups and virtual worlds” (229).
Thurlow and Brown (2003, n.p.) expected such a result in their study of English
texting, as “[h]eavily abbreviated language is of course also a generic feature of in-
teractive CMC niches like IRC’s online chat and ICQ’s instant messaging”. They
were surprised, however, to find that shortenings made up less than 20 % of the
content of the messages in their data, casting some doubt on Crystal’s broad claim.
Deumert and Masinyana (2008: 125) give a similar figure of approximately 20 % in
their study of text messaging in South Africa in English and mixed English-isi-
Xhosa messages for “abbreviations, phonological approximations, and non-stan-
dard spellings”.
In a contrastive study of English and German private texting, Bieswanger
(2007) found that the overall number of shortenings used in the German data was
even lower than in the English corpus. His quantitative analysis found an average
of 5.57 shortenings per text message in the English data, as compared to only 0.86
shortenings per message in the German corpus. The frequency of shortenings in the
German data is so low that it calls into question whether shortenings are in fact a
“characteristic” feature of German texting. Kessler’s (2008) study of German in-
stant messaging yielded a similar result: Only 742 of the 45,729 words in her data
were abbreviated forms, i.e., less than 2 % (Kessler 2008). Herring and Zelenkaus-
kaite (2008) adopted the shortening types from Bieswanger (2007) in their study of
Italian iTV SMS – except for the type “contractions”, “because the Italian language
does not have contractions” (84) – and found that the overall frequency of short-
enings was 1.79 per message for female senders and 1.18 for male senders, i.e., the
average number for both genders is markedly lower than the average of 5.57 short-
enings per text message in the English data in Bieswanger (2007). Finally, Deu-
mert and Masinyana (2008: 140) note that “[t]he isiXhosa [text] messages in our
corpus differ markedly from the writers’ English-language messages in that they
contain almost no abbreviated material”. The above findings demonstrate that fea-
tures of language use characteristic of English-language CMC are not always char-
acteristic of CMC in general when viewed from a cross-linguistic perspective.
When we examine the breakdown of different types of shortenings in texting in
different languages, a similar picture emerges. For example, Crystal (2001: 84)
claims that “[a]cronyms are so common [in Netspeak] that they regularly receive
critical comment”. He provides a list of over 100 shortenings used in Netspeak
conversations, which consists almost exclusively of initialisms. However, quanti-
tative analyses such as thoseof Bieswanger (2007), Herring and Zelenkauskaite
(2008), and Baron (2008) show that initialisms are rare in the data from all the lan-
guages investigated. Surprisingly, they are particularly rare in Baron’s (2008) Eng-
lish data: She found only eight initialisms in 191 text messages written by under-
graduates at the University of Michigan, or 0.04 initialisms per message. Similarly,
the English corpus in Bieswanger (2007) contains only 0.03 initialisms per mess-
age (as compared to 0.13 initialisms per message in his German corpus, which is
closer to the rates reported for female and male users in Herring and Zelenkaus-
kaite’s [2008] Italian iTV SMS corpus: 0.10 and 0.11 initialisms per text message,
respectively). The frequency of the other types of shortenings investigated in these
studies – clippings, letter/number homophones, and phonetic spellings – also
varies considerably across the English, the German, and the Italian data. For
example, the English data show the highest and the German data the lowest number
of shortenings per message for each of the types.
In summary, studies have found considerable language-related variation con-
cerning the overall frequency of shortenings and the types of shortenings used in
CMC. English seems to be among the languages that invite the most extensive use
of shortenings in CMC, but even there, empirical studies find that shortenings are
less frequent than has often been suggested. It also must be kept in mind that many
of the abbreviations used are not unique to CMC and “were already in use before
the advent of computers” (Danet 2001: 18). Nonetheless, abbreviations are used
deliberately in CMC, for example, to “economize on typing effort” (Herring 2001:
617; see also Nastri et al. 2006); to speed up typing, particularly in synchronous
CMC (Nishimura 2007; Werry 1996); and to play with language, show creativity,
and “indicate familiarity and intimacy between users” (Lee 2007: 201). The use of
abbreviations in CMC thus reflects technological and social motivations, as well as
the Gricean (1975) maxims of manner – particularly the demand for brevity – and
of quantity.
4. Outlook
This chapter has discussed a number of micro-linguistic structural features that are
frequently considered characteristic of CMC, pointing out variation that occurs ac-
cording to the language and script used, the mode of CMC employed, and other
use- and user-related factors. So far, research on the use of micro-linguistic fea-
tures in CMC has mainly focused on issues such as which features are used, in
which language, in which modes, and by whom. Many of the studies mentioned in
this chapter, however, do not focus solely on the linguistic description of the lan-
guage used in CMC, but also implicitly or explicitly discuss pragmatic aspects
concerning “the process of producing language” (Mey 2001: 5), including address-
ing the various motivations for and functions of the use of the micro-linguistic fea-
tures investigated. Unfortunately, studies of micro-linguistic phenomena with a
specifically pragmatic focus – such as Dresner and Herring’s (2010) investigation
of the association between emoticons and illocutionary force – have so far been
rare. From the point of view of pragmatics, future studies of micro-linguistic fea-
tures of CMC should concentrate on the actual use of these features in different
contexts, including the reasons for their use and the pragmatic meanings their use
conveys.
Finally, although many studies have addressed micro-linguistic structural fea-
tures of CMC, these studies vary in focus and scope as well as in the methodology
used. Danet’s and Herring’s (2007b: 28) observation that “[t]here is a pressing
need for systematic cross-linguistic studies that make use of similar methods in
similar contexts involving different languages” certainly holds true for the lin-
guistic and pragmatic investigation of micro-level features of CMC. Moreover, it is
necessary to broaden the perspective of this exhortation and apply it to other fac-
tors influencing computer-mediated language use, such as mode, purpose, and the
sociolinguistic background of users, as systematic and comparable studies are also
lacking for these factors.
Acknowledgements