Language and NCT

Termed “computer-mediated discourse” (CMD), or language and new communications technology (Crystal, 2011) CMD cannot be identified with either spoken language or written language, even though it shares some features with both because the electronic medium constraints and facilitates communication in unprecedented ways; examples of constraints include limited message size, message lag and lack of simultaneous feedback (though now this is already changing due to the rise of instant messaging), and examples of opportunities include hypertext links, emoticons and simultaneous multiple conversations or multi-authored texts Features of social media: - Social media handles: construction and representation of user identity - “Verified” markers: mark of legitimacy and power - Synchronous communication: instant messaging, “online” status resulted in shorter messages, sentence fragments for simultaneous input that reduced the importance of consistent adherence to standard language rules - Circulation of memes, etc.: intertextuality, usually meaning is exclusive to the speech community - “Reply” function: no linear conversation / clear topic, because there is no turn-taking signals - Features such as underlining, bold, italicization to represent quotes, emphasis, etc. - Word / character limit: unique to platforms such as Twitter (now “X”) leading to a rise in shortenings - Collaborative discourse vs passive viewing of content - “Bluetick” or “Read” caused a paradigm shift in expected time of reply Domains of internet linguistics: 1) World wide web (passive viewing of content) 2) Electronic mail (Email) 3) Asynchronous chat groups (bulletin boards, newsgroups, short message service SMS) 4) Synchronous chat groups (instant messaging IM) 5) Language of virtual worlds (particularly gaming) - Apps and platforms that serves different functions generate new linguistic innovations based on purpose Facebook marketplace: NWT (New with tag), PPU (Pending pick-up), EUC (Excellent used condition), VGUC (Very good used condition) 6) Blogs - Used to express opinion, clear personal voice

- Many sub-categories: lifestyle, travel, beauty, food, parenting… 7) Social media Features of CMD: - Omission of letters (msg, smth) - Phonetic spelling (what as wot)

Changes in language due to NCT: 1) Rise of ludic language: where language is used such that its primary function is to be part of play and amusement rather than primarily for effective communication, may have initially started as misspelling but now used deliberately Lolcats and Doge Speak: viral and humorous pictures of cats and dogs accompanied by ludic text, but what’s interesting is that the text style can be identified separately from its visual aspect - Doge Speak characteristics: - More standard spelling than LOLcats - Shortest forms of words are used, most commonly “amaze” and “excite” instead of amazing or exciting - Two-word phrases modified by an intensifier, limited to a list of “much, many, very, so and such” - Follows its own selectorial restriction such that phrases cannot sound “too coherent” or in accordance to standard English rules “much delicious” and “many delicious” is typical of Doge Speak but “so delicious” is not - Influenced by aspects of real-life, namely pet-directed speech that is similar to baby talk Leetspeak: a type of early internet slang where numbers and other special characters substituted similar-looking letters - Incorporated common typos such as “teh” for “the” and “pwn” for “own” - Leetspeak combined with multiple exclamation marks were markers of computer proficiency and excitement in the past, but they became ironic through continued use “OMG, D@T is teh Rox0rz!!!” (Omg, that rocks!) 2) Rapid informalisation of discourse: process by which language forms traditionally used for close personal relationships are now used in much wider social contexts (Fairclough, 1994) “Professional encounters are increasingly likely to contain informal forms of English; they are now becoming conversationalised” - Could have arised from new forms of communication that blurred the dichotomous distinction between writing and speech giving rise to new conventions Donald Trump, on Twitter now known as “X”. Unlike the social media accounts of other political figures that are usually highly formal and curated, former USA president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump’s tweets are highly informal. As a political figure with

high instrumental and influential power, it is expected that he uses the formal register to address the American people and build brand competence. However, he defies expectations consistently using exclamations and sentence fragments. During his presidential term, national updates were released in the forms of tweets such as this in response to the Covid-19 pandemic: “STOCK MARKET UP BIG, VACCINE COMING SOON. REPORT 90% EFFECTIVE. SUCH GREAT NEWS!” (Nov 2020) 3) Paralinguistic restitution: compensatory strategy to replace social cues normally conveyed by other channels in face-to-face interactions - Multimodality of NCT had allowed for the rise of emojis, GIFs, stickers - Meant to improve virtual communication but can lead to unintelligibility instead due to difference in interpretation or under-lying meanings that are ever-changing; there is a difference in meaning of emojis between generations “ ❤ The heart emoji” is used by millennials the way it was intended to be used to show affection towards others. By Gen Z, it is often used sarcastically such as when answering a question but wanting to soften the blow of a reaction, “No ❤ ”. “ 💀 The skull emoji” at face-value stands for death or skull. While millennials use it to express “feeling dead” such as feeling so exhausted after work to the point of feeling lifeless, Gen Z often use it to mean that something is so funny or cringe that they die laughing. - Smileys and variations of laughter such as “lol” and “HAHAH” can serve as social lubricants rather than their purely humorous function 4) Linguistic innovation: leads to the creation of “another register”, a reinterpretation of existing conventions which arise to accommodate international function Disappearance of punctuation: in CMD, messages are now usually sent in sentence fragments that appear separately as new messages or with a line break. This allows the reader to start thinking of a reply sooner, and also contributes to the informal register often used in IM. However, in the past when bills were charged per message and space to writ