Re. Internet discourse

[zmaalej]

Welcome to the List Lise. I think you are bringing a topic that will shake
up the inertia that has been typical of the List for a few weeks: beginning
of term concentration, I suppose.
I cannot help you with data on asynchronous studies of emails; however, I
can think of the following references that have been kindly mentioned to me
on this List:
Mabrito, Mark (1991). "Electronic Mail as a Vehicle for Peer Response.
Conversations of High- and Low-Apprehensive Writers." Written Communication,
8: 4, 509-532.
Wilkins, Harriet (1991). "Computer Talk. Long-Distance Conversations by
Computer." Written Communication, 8: 1, 56-78.

There is also, if you are not already aware of that, a discussion List
devoted to online research; if you are interested in it, I can send you
details about it off-list.

I have two comments on the conclusion you kindly posted.

(i) > And finally, the conversational style is maintained despite the
>written or electronic medium.  This text is more like a transcription of a
>conversation than a written text.

I agree that electronic discourse includes, like many other types of
discourse if carefully investigated, many features associated with orality.
However, I think the conclusion you arrived at would apply to the kind of
data you investigated rather than to discourse in general. For instance, on
this List and many other respectable lists the style is not THAT
conversational, i.e. typically oral. There are certainly some features that
would be associated with a certain level of literacy.

(ii) > An analysis of embedded dialogue in email texts could yield
>some very interesting results because it is a snapshot of unconscious
language
>in everday use.

I am not sure I understand "embedded dialogue" the way you mean it. Is
"embedded dialogue" the thing I am doing now to reply to the particular
point I am selecting? Or, is it the fact that electronic discourse is
inherently dialogic? If this is what you mean, what is the link between
electronic discourse as dialogic and unconscious language? Is everyday
language always unconscious? Is it unconscious in the Freudian sense or in
the sense that it is beneath the level of cognitive awareness? If
discussions on this and other lists were so, then nobody would ever be taken
seriously in whatever they say.

Best
Dr Zouhair Maalej,
Assistant Professor,
Department of English, Chair,
Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences,
Tunis-Manouba, 2010, TUNISIA.

Office Phone: (+216) 1 600 700 (Ext. 174)
Office Fax: (+216) 1 520 910
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E-mail: zmaalej at gnet.tn
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