Computer Mediated Communication Presented by Souhila SAHI Juin 2014

The Target Group This course is addressed to the first year master students of the option Language and Communication at the department of English at Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi Ouzou. Its aim is to introduce the students to the network society and its linguistic practices by making a kind of comparison between face to face interaction and CMC.

The Contents of the Course 1. The anthropology of Network Communities  Definition of Network Society  Identity and Social Ties in Network Community 2.Computer Mediated Communication and the Social Organization of On-line Communities  The definition of CMC and its Major Characteristics  The reflection of the Members Beliefs, Values and Identity in the Net-speak 3.The Influence of CMC on natural Language

Introduction The growth of global internet use facilitated the emergence of the virtual communities. The latter display many characteristics according to the members of their members, their purpose and beliefs. They are mainly characterized by their new style in language use and a new consideration of identity construction.

What is network community? Social network societies are defined as persistent, avatar-based social spaces. They enable the participants to interact in a long term with other participants. Forming a virtual social community, the participants transmit cultures and meanings using complex set of interactions by the means of computer mediated communication.

Identity and Social Ties in Network Community Thompson (1987) argues that Internet has transformed the spatial and temporal organization of social life. It has created new forms of interaction and gave a new dimension to the social relations between the members of network communities. This change has had great impact on the social identity of the virtual inhabitants. It is mainly seen in the expression and perception of their social identity.

2. Computer Mediated Communication and the Social Organization of On-Line Communities  Definition of Computer Mediated Communication David Crystal referred to Computer Mediated Communication as Net-speak. The net-speak has the characteristics of type written conversations.

2. Computer Mediated Communication and the Social Organization of On-Line Communities  The reflection of the Members Beliefs, Values and Identity in the Net-speak The members of the network community express their social identity and gender identity through the language they use: the acronyms and the smiley to express their emotions, cultural belonging and the shared values.

3. The Influence of CMC on natural Language The emergence of net-speak grammar has revolutionized the way people communicate. It has brought new communicative behavior. Nowadays, people when interaction in real context use some of the features of the net-speak. For instance they use lol, mdr, and so on. In the communing few years, Natural language may loose some its features because of the emergence of the Internet which is the invention of the century.

Conclusion Each era in history brings changes and transformation in all aspects of human society. The linguistic change is an important path toward a change in social attitudes and social organization. The emergence of Computer Mediated Communication has now revolutionized the linguistic practices of evey connected society. Linguistic reserach will open new perspectives in the study of sociolinguistics.The Hopefully, this course will help you to have other insights on the new social organization brought by the emergence of the Internet.

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