Module 4: Online Language and Social Interaction

Summary and Main Points

This chapter discusses the impact of digital media on the way people use language. The
linguistic features of language used on the internet and mobile phones are described, and
the reasons for these features are discussed in reference to the effects of different kinds of
media and the characteristics of different populations of users. The main point of the
chapter is that the changes in the way people use language in digitally mediated
interactions has to do with the new kinds of interactions that digital tools make available and
the new things people are able to do with their language.

‘Netspeak’
 The language people use when communicating with digital media often contains certain
‘non-standard’ features. These include:
o Frequent use of acronyms (e.g., ‘btw’, ‘lol’)
o Shortened forms (e.g., ‘k’ for ‘okay’)
o Less attention to standard spelling, capitalization and punctuation
o Letter homophones (e.g., ‘u’ for ‘you’, ‘oic’ for ‘oh, I see’)
o Creative use of punctuation (e.g., multiple punctuation such as ‘!!!!’ or ellipsis
 marks ‘. . . . . .’)
o Spelling based on sound, sometimes to mark a regional accent or special style of
speech (e.g., ‘kewl’ or ‘cooooool’)
o Lexicalization of vocal sounds (like ‘umm’, ‘uh huh’, ‘haha’)
o Emoticons and other keyboard generated graphics (e.g., ‘=.=’)
o Creative use of typographical space and layout
o Formulaic openings and closings (e.g., ‘sup’; ‘bb’)
 Some linguists believe that digital media has given rise to new linguistic varieties, which
they call ‘netspeak’.
 Some people think that this language threatens people’s ability to communicate clearly
and to master standard language forms, but there is no evidence of this. In fact, many
studies show that people who spend a great deal of time ‘texting’ and ‘instant messaging’
are also skilful at using standard forms of language in more formal situations.

Media effects and user effects

 Some people account for the features of ‘online language’ by focusing on how different
media constrain users, making it more difficult to produce ‘normal’ language.
o Time constraints make it necessary for users of instant messaging programs to type their
‘utterances’ quickly, and delays in the transmission of messages can interfere with turn
taking structures.
o Space constraints in mobile texting and micro-blogging require users to be as economical
as possible in their language use.
o The lack of cues like facial expression, tone of voice and gestures make it necessary for
users to compensate by using typography and emoticons to express their attitudes and
emotions.
 Other people explain the features of online language by focusing on the language habits of
particular kinds of users.
o People from different groups use features like non-standard spelling and emoticons
differently.
o Variations in the way people use language are often due to who they are (their
backgrounds and social identities), whom they are communicating with and what they are
communicating about.
o Different styles of online language can be regarded as ‘social languages’, used to signal
users’ membership in particular social groups.

What are we doing when we interact online?

 A better way to understand online language use is to start with the questions:

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o What are people doing with text-based digital communication that they cannot do with
other forms of communication?
o How do they use the kinds of linguistic features discussed above as resources to perform
these actions?
 Just because a medium is ‘richer’ does not mean it is more useful. ‘Impoverished’ modes
like plain text allow people to do things they cannot do with richer media.
o Text involves less effort (has lower ‘transaction costs’).
o Because of the low transaction costs of text-based communication, people can
communicate in circumstances and about topics which are not seen to merit the effort of a
‘full-blown’ conversation.
o Text-based communication facilitates ‘phatic communion’ (communication whose purpose
is to maintain connections and strengthen relationships). ‘Sharing’ thoughts and
experiences through text-based communication can help people feel closer to each other.
o Text-based communication also facilitates more instrumental communication like asking
people to perform minor tasks or confirming appointments.

Meaning and creativity

 Sometimes the constraints of text-based communication can encourage people to be more
creative in their use of language.
 One creative aspect of online language is that it is often multi-scriptural, allowing people to
mix together the typographic features of different languages (e.g. using the Roman alphabet
to spell out the sounds of Chinese words or adding Chinese ‘final particles’ to English
sentences).

Image credit: kerryvaughan (CC BY license)

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Textual selves
 Text-based communication also allows people to be more creative about fashioning their
identities in interactions.
 Although online ‘identity play’ can be abused, it has a number of positive aspects, allowing
people to ‘try on’ different identities and explore different parts of their personalities.
 Text-based identity play allows people to cultivate different kinds of writing styles and
invent things like screen names and message signatures that show something about their
personalities or the social groups they belong to.

Additional Resources
Texting and instant messaging language
Netlingo, List of chat acronyms and text shorthand
http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php

David Crystal, 2b or not 2b

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jul/05/saturdayreviewsfeatres.guardianreview

David Crystal, Internet language

http://www.davidcrystal.com/David_Crystal/internet.htm

Twitter and micro‐blogging

Twitterlanguage.com
http://twitterlanguage.com/

Chalene Johnson, Learning the language of Twitter

https://www.turbokick.com/wblog/?p=1195

Twitter Mashups
http://webtrends.about.com/od/webmashups/tp/7‐great‐twitter‐mashups.htm

Tweet Grader (How influential are you on Twitter?)

http://tweet.grader.com/

Textual selves
S, Siyahhan,
Youth and the ethics of identity play in virtual spaces
http://inkido.indiana.edu/research/onlinemanu/papers/identityplay.pdf

Judith Donath,
Identity and deception in the pnline community
http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

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Kurt Reymers, Internet and identity
http://sociology.morrisville.edu/infospace/identity.html

Emoticons
Text‐based emoticons
http://www.sharpened.net/emoticons/

John Walther,
The impacts of emoticons on message interpretation in computer‐mediated communication
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=5DBE3D1B9C97CE90986C39AEF700E%09586?doi
=10.1.1.89.7963&rep=rep1&type=pdf

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