* This paper was presented at Chonbuk National University in South Korea during a conference of Language and Literature teachers on 5 June 2011.
Find this article in: (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352020719_Netspeak_Its_Implications_to_Language_Teaching)
Netspeak and Its Implications to Language Teaching
by Amy Luz U. Catalan, PhD
ABSTRACT
This research paper aims to discuss the linguistic features of computer-mediated communication and their implications to language teaching.
Profile of online daters with variables on sex, age, education, and occupation shows that a total of 100 heterosexual females and males participated in the study, majority of them between 18 to 24 years of age, with college or university education, and are gainfully employed in various fields such as teaching, sales and marketing, and secretarial work for females; males are employed in the military or law enforcement, engineering, and designing arts.
Their linguistic repertoire based on the features of CMC consists of the absence of capitalization, lack of punctuation, and speed writing. Significantly, female participants have a high occurrence of complete sentences in their utterances. Telegraphic language is prevalent among male participants.
Female and male online daters use linguistic features to present themselves. Females tend to be verbose in their conversations while adhering to the demands of online talk—speed, brevity, and efficiency in talk. Males, on the other hand, are more the objective and casual type of communication.
Implications of linguistic features of CMC to Language teaching are for language teachers to include pragmatics in their lessons and to use the linguistic features in developing appreciation among learners on the importance of standard English in formal settings. Communication and language researchers may include themes and motivation of online interlocutors as part of the objectives of future studies on CMC.
INTRODUCTION
Language choice is a potent instrument in analyzing the
identity of a person and it is one of the main components that reveals
linguistic behavior which shows the cognitive processes that may be influenced
by cultural and social factors. In this
study on computer mediated communication or CMC (Gonzales & Meyers, 1993),
linguistic choice is very much a part of the entire communication process.
Ellison, Gibbs, and Heino (2006) point out that scholars
have paid attention to this particular
form of mediated communication because this has a larger user base and more
sophisticated self-presentation options, which includes the use of a distinct
form of language that is present in an online context, than any of the
traditional forms of communication. In
addition, Crystal (2001) proposes the idea that CMC showcases a mixture of
spoken and written features that resulted from movements aimed at making
communication or interaction more “fluid and seemingly talk-like, thereby,
closing the gap and reducing social distance”. Furthermore, Thurlow (2001)
describes the internet language as netspeak which combines speed, efficiency,
informality, and creative topography such that these traditional rules of
grammar and style are weakened. In this sense, netspeak depends on the
expression characterized by speed and economy of computer key strokes. He also emphasizes that CMC has the following
language patterns: lexical compounds and blends, abbreviations and acronyms,
minimal to no use of capitalization, punctuation, and hyphenation, generally
less regard for accurate spelling and/or typing errors, and less or no use of
traditional openings and closings (2001). Interestingly, Georgakopoulou (2006)
states that in the midst of a globalized form of communication, sociolinguistics
may be taken as one of the most interesting fields of study— language features
and their position in the online community, as well as their implications on
social intercourse and communicative skills.
Such observation is relevant in the study of language and computer
mediated communication because of the presence of a sub-culture that emphasizes
a group of individuals who makes use of a distinct language found only in this context.
This research paper, therefore, has endeavored to investigate
the linguistic features found in computer mediated communication and how this
has changed the behaviors of individuals who interact in an expansive space
known as CMC, and in this case, online dating. Significantly, discourse
analysis is the main approach that the researcher has chosen to capture the
powerful and distinct language of the internet.
Objectives of the Study
This paper aims to discuss the linguistic features of
computer mediated communication, specifically on the following topics:
1.
profile of the online-daters
when grouped according to sex, age, education, and occupation;
2.
linguistic features in the
chat-conversations of the online-daters according to sex, age, education, and
occupation; and
3.
the implications of computer
mediated communication to Language teaching.
Theoretical Framework
This paper uses a theory on linguistic features
of computer mediated communication.
Crystal (2001) provides a list of these features that are evident in the
chat-conversations or netspeak:
1.
Orthography involves informal
spelling (phonetic based) such as da
for the; speed writing is a
combination of informal spelling with letter omission, (e.g. wat for what and u for you), and absence of capitalization
(with pronoun I written as i, the
beginning of sentences such as i am mark,
beginning of a sentence in what is ur name?, and proper names such as usa for United States of
America and mark for Mark).
2.
Another linguistic feature of
CMC is vocabulary which includes informal usage of terms such as uni for university and hols for holidays; use of interjections in the
form of Wow!!!!!; and use of
abbreviations such as lol for laughing out loud.
3.
Grammar is also a CMC
linguistic feature that uses telegraphic language. One example of telegraphic
language is: got many things to do, a telegram-like language that contains
the basic information in an utterance without the necessary grammatical parts.
Chaining, such an example below, is a continuous statement of different
thoughts and contexts with or without punctuation marks as in Don't assume. ‘don't ever’ or ‘all
girls/guys’ or ‘he/she will definitely...’ don't believe it. I mean it can be
pretty accurate, because of course there's the ever
present ‘don't lie to a girl’ and ‘be a gentleman.
4.
In addition, discourse and text
involve the use of interaction feature such as ok as a tag in a question like, I will call you tonight, ok?.
Stream of consciousness is another feature which is more of a reflective type
of writing, as in do I have to reply to
this guy’s message or do I need to keep quiet?. Hypertext (in the WWW)
which directs the online daters to other sites relevant to information
gathering during the dating process such as when an individual wants to give
another link or website: sonia.raj80@yahoo.com.
5.
Paralinguistics and graphics
like spaced letters, multiple letters, alternative markers for emphasis, capitalization
(that indicates shouting), little or excessive punctuation, and smilies
(emoticons), instead of words. Spaced letters signify slowness of the utterance
such as H I! On the other hand, alternative markers
are used to emphasize an utterance or an idea in an utterance such as the use
of asterisk *****I love you! ******.
Capitalization is also part of the grammar feature, such as MY NAME IS MARK. WHAT’S YOURS?. This feature signifies shouting in the CMC
context. Lack or excessive punctuations
are two separate features that deal with marks like what??????????? to indicate surprise with the showcase of excessive
punctuations. However, lack of
punctuation may be in the form of Im
going to call you tonight, which indicates the absence of punctuation in
grammatical units like the contraction of I
am. Moreover, smilies or emoticons
are graphical features that substitute the real emotions in CMC. An emoticon
such as a smiley J, which is formed by typing several keys, is used to indicate
happiness or a smile.
Conceptual Framework
The schematic diagram in the
succeeding page shows the link between CMC and the linguistic features proposed
by Crystal (2001).
Chat-conversations
|
|
Chat-conversations of
Participants |
|
Linguistic Features: Orthography,
Vocabulary, Grammar, Discourse and Text, Paralinguistics, and Graphics
|
|
Computer Mediated
Communication |
|
Profile (Age, Sex, Education, and Occupation)
|
Scope and Limitations of
the Study
One hundred heterosexual online daters have been chosen
from 10 online dating sites. Selection of 50 females and 50 males for this
study is based on the following criteria: 1.) registered users of any
online-dating website, 2.) 18 years old and above, 3.) with demographic page
containing sex, age, education, and occupation details; 4.) and willingness to
chat. Two coached chatters have been
tasked to chat with the online daters for a month, from May to June of 2009. The
age grouping was determined with the use of the Pew Internet & American
Life Project, which uses intervals of six from age 18 and up. Thus, the age
grouping used in this study is as follows: 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54,
etc. (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/as_facebook_ages_gen_y_turns_to_twitter.php).
This study includes the linguistic features of computer
mediated communication found in the chat conversations of the participants.
Several observed features have been added to provide an overview of the dynamic
nature of computer language or netspeak.
Independent variables such as age, sex, education, and occupation have
been used in grouping the participants and the features that they commonly use when
communicating online.
As for its
limitations, the study has included heterosexual participants only. The
authenticity of the participants’ language was checked through constant
chatting that lasted for a month. There is, moreover, the possibility of having
made use of inauthentic conversations due to the intervention of the coached chatters
as far as the initiation of conversations and topics is concerned.
Significance of the Study
This paper may be used by Language Teachers in the study of internet language since this is becoming a trend and is one of the
interesting fields in linguistics.
Through this paper, language teachers would have better insights on the
language of females and males, which, used as basis for language learning, may
be maximized in the teaching of pragmatics.
Moreover, conversations and speaking skills are the basic foundations
for language learning. As such, this study would increase awareness about
spoken language and its impact on the daily lives of the individuals. Teacher
and learners would find the materials enjoyable and challenging because
English, when used as a basis for cyber language, transforms into a distinct
language that could be utilized to improve the students’ appreciation of formal
English. In addition, language teaching in all parts of the world could be a
systematic transference or translation from CMC to formal English and vice
versa.
Communication and Language Researchers may also benefit from this research paper since the corpus from the
chat-conversations of online-daters is useful to a collection of English
language materials that may be used for a variety of purpose. Aside from newspapers (i.e. editorials,
opinion columns, letter to editors and newsleads), the chat-conversations would
serve as exciting addition to the growing compilations of global English. These culturally enriching materials show the
actual conversations of male and female online dating participants across age,
education, and occupation. Since these
are actual conversations, many of these could be used as bases for syntactic
and semantic analysis of the English language. These materials could also be
used to enrich the discussion on the styles and features of the English
language used in a computer mediated context as many English-language materials
do not provide natural conversation patterns for learners. Specifically, the linguistic features are
important in the study of language because computer mediated communication is
one of the emerging trends in interaction. These could be used as examples for cultural
discussions. In addition, language researchers could explore other areas to
study such as motivations for chatting and themes usually conveyed by the
conversations, sexual preference, and dating outcome desired that could provide
more insights into the growing trends in inter-cultural communication.
Research Methodology
Profile of participants and
the required data were collected from the demographic page and conversations.
The coached chatters were tasked to register in five dating websites and to gather
heterosexual males and females using the criteria set by the researcher. The gathering
of data happened for a month (May to June 2009) with the researcher identifying
the linguistic features of CMC based on the list provided by Crystal (2001). She
went through each participant’s stream of utterances and listed down the
features using a matrix. After which, she counted each feature per category.
The categories of linguistic features were then placed under the different
variables of sex, age, education, and occupation. The linguistic features of
CMC based on Crystal were added with new features observed to be present in the
chat-conversations of the participants. These are complete sentences, ellipses,
and incorrect spelling. Extracts taken from the actual conversations of the
participants were provided.
To establish validity and reliability of data, two
inter-raters from the Department of Languages of the University of St. La Salle
were tasked to code and evaluate 30% of the data.
The study made
use of descriptive statistics in simply describing what is or what the data
shows. It involved frequency counting, percentage distribution, and averaging
of the linguistic features. The units of analysis involved in analyzing the
linguistic features were individual words (except for streams of consciousness,
chaining, and complete sentences) in threads of utterances.
The discussion of the linguistic features of CMC found
in the conversations of male and female participants are found in the
succeeding paragraphs.
Results
This study discusses the linguistic features in the conversations of male and female participants.
Majority of the participants in this study are
young, educated, and middle class males and females who are in a university or gainfully
employed. They engage in this form of computer mediated communication due to
their adeptness on netspeak. Furthermore, when professionals engage in CMC,
they look at it as a venue for them to escape the traditional forms of
courtship because of the constraints of the latter on their time as they are
among the busiest and the most active people in the group (Githinji, 2008). While
both female and male participants adhere to the maxims of brevity and speed,
females seem to assert their verbosity and relational linguistic repertoire and
males tend to be objective and casual in their conversations (Jay, 2003).
Another
significant finding is the use of online-dating as venue where participants can
express their guilt, problems, and apprehensions about romance and life in
general.
Implications to Language
Teaching
Language teachers may include naturally-occurring talks
in the teaching of language to second language learners. However, due to the
uncensored language used by the online daters, teachers may choose
conversations that are wholesome and informative, not the erotic and
flame-filled utterances that most of the participants in this study have
engaged in.
Moreover, language teachers may use examples from the
linguistic features to re-introduce students to the usage of formal English.
Such exercise may create awareness on the distinctiveness of online communication
from formal communication usually required in language classrooms.
It is important
that researchers consider a larger
sample size to formulate generalizations of the linguistic and behavioral
differences in the conversations of female and male participants because this
may aid in determining the authenticity of their identities. Likewise, the
naturally occurring characteristic of computer mediated communication may also
be investigated to discuss the styles and features of language, which is essentially
English, but a distinct variety that may enable participants to engage in CMC
that may have a great impact in the evolution of English as a mediated medium
and the implications to the acceptance of its online version, albeit
informally, in the mainstream. They may also explore other areas to study such
as motivations for chatting and themes usually conveyed in the conversations.
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