I Fought the LOL and the LOL Won How Computer-Mediated Communication Destroyed Language (or Not) I Fought the LOL and the LOL Won How Computer-Mediated Communication Destroyed Language (or Not) Mom What’s your presentation called? …nobody will get that reference Doing it anyway! Mom thinks you’re special :-) …thanks momSEND

Computer-Mediated Communication Synchronicity: Synchronous vs Asynchronous Persistence: whether transcripts are recorded Covers a wide variety of technologies: message boards, , instant messaging, video conferencing, social networks, etc. Anonymity: how much personal identity is revealed by the medium? Unique aspects of CMC influence the user’s behavior and use of language SEND

Texting SEND Texting has become one of the most ubiquitous forms of CMC Sending a text is a synchronous communication Text messages are persistent Provides some aspects of anonymity The texting environment is substantially different from formal writing and from traditional speech

Texting vs Face-To-Face Systematic studies have found that the structural elements of a text conversation are very similar to face-to-face conversations. Both tend to be ‘telegraphic’, participants engage in turn-taking F2F communications include ‘prosodic cues’: tone, pauses, and body language Text communications have developed new linguistic and paralinguistic features to compensate. SEND

The Evolution of ‘lol’ Originated on the Usenet message board as an acronym for ‘laughing out loud’ One of the most frequently used acronyms used in CMC today Its use has expanded beyond a signifier for laughter SEND

Derpina SEND What r u doing today U poor thing lol going to cram at the library lol I know. thanks

‘lol’ takes on new meaning SEND ‘lol’ has become commonplace as a marker for empathy It is a particle: changes the social value of the sentence without changing overall meaning Analogues of ‘lol’ exist in spoken forms of most languages and dialects

Signs and Symbols SEND The emotional value of pure text is often easily misunderstood Nuances in meaning can be lost. Emoticons and Emoji have provided approximations of prosodic nuances of F2f communications Signs and symbols allow users to clarify the emotional valence of their message in the absence of facial expressions

:-) :-( ;-) Signs and Symbols She is so smart! She is so smart She is SO smart! SEND

Social Interaction SEND The paralingustic choices made through CMC are conscious CMC participants can optimize their self-presentation This leads to the emergent property of hyperpersonal communicaton CMC participants may engage in higher levels of self-disclosure and experience a heightened level of intimacy with their audience

SEND CMC and Formal Writing There is a large divide between manners of speaking and writing CMC has been pinned with blame for degrading formal writing skills Over centuries, academics have complained about students’ writing skills Students have never been good at formal writing Formal writing is an entirely different process from speaking

1956 English Professor tl;dr…SEND Many do not know the alphabet or multiplication table, cannot write grammatically, and seem to have been trained to hate mental exercise.. Often they cannot read intelligently and dislike any reading.

1917 Connecticut Schoolteacher SEND From every college in the country goes up the cry, ‘Our freshmen can’t spell, can’t punctuate.’ Every high school is in despair because its pupils are so ignorant of the merest rudiments.

Pedant writing in Latin, 63 A.D. …SEND Spoken Latin has picked up a passel of words considered too casual for written Latin, and the grammar people use when speaking has broken down. The masses barely use anything but the nominative and the accusative… it’s gotten to the point that the student of Latin is writing in what is to them an artificial language, and it is an effort for him to recite in it decently.

Bilingualism and Bidialectalism SEND Studies show that being able to master a second language or even a second dialect have beneficial impacts CMC has created an environment where new dialects and languages evolve Despite the ubiquity of CMC, especially texting, there is still room for formal writing skills development

References SEND McWhorter, J. (2013, February 1). John McWhorter: Txting is killing language. JK!!! Retrieved September 30, 2015, from Tagliamonte, S., & Denis, D. (2008). LINGUISTIC RUIN? LOL! INSTANT MESSAGING AND TEEN LANGUAGE. American Speech, 83(1), http://dx.doi.org/ / Computer Mediated Communication. (2015, September 8). Retrieved October 6, 2015, from