Internet discourse

[Lise Fontaine]

Hello,

I have been lurking on the list for some time now but when Marco Massara
posted
his introduction saying he was interested in Internet discourse, I was
motivated to respond. I answered him off-list privately, and now I would like
to see if others have been working on this topic as well.

Marco sent me an article entitled 'An Electric Language, an Introduction to
the
Socio-Linguistics of the Internet', which shows that IRC communication is much
more like spoken language than written.  IRC or chatting is one area that has
begun to be researched, not only for discourse but in terms of its sociology
and psychology and so on.  However, I have found very little litterature on
Internet discourse to date (maybe I'm looking in all the wrong places?)  Most
of what is out there is focussing on 'real time' communication, synchronous
electronic conversation.  Personally, I am more interested in asynchronous
communication, personal email and email discussion lists.  I know that there
are certainly interesting things happening in chat sessions, but I think that
the time delay in asynchronous communication creates some interesting
adaptations to the communication process.

What I have found in my very limited work is that personal email messages tend
to be very informal and very much like spoken discourse with two major
differences. One is that the type of dialogue is completely different from any
other (please correct me when I go astray!).  Here we find an embedded
dialogue
where each speaker embeds his or her 'speech' into the others.  Turn taking
changes completely so that you have each participant taking several turns in
sequence, uninterrupted, and then the next speaker, choosing where he or she
would like to respond, or add new information.  What we end up with is a
naturally recursive text. If I'm not mistaken, this is a first.

I would like to know if anyone has references on research on asynchronous
email
texts. I would also like to know if others are interested in this type of
dialogue.

I have just completed a text analysis for my Masters coursework, where I have
chosen an email text.  I am including a link to it here if it is of
interest to
anyone.  http://www.teaser.fr/~lfontaine/discussion.pdf  the appendix is
separate at:  http://www.teaser.fr/~lfontaine/appendix.pdf

I have included the Conclusion of my assignment here below in case it
interests
anyone, if not, delete now!

best wishes,

Lise

Conclusion
The analysis of the text, Tylenol 3 is my Friend, has shown that even a simple
email message to a friend can be full of interesting linguistic information.
The speakers are engaged in an informal, personal conversation and the
linguistic choices they made reflect their needs very well.  An emphasis on
the
personal is maintained through the use of first person pronouns.  All
important
and new information is placed in the Rheme, weighting it with multiple
functions.  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. The use of embedded dialogue and the
resulting recursive text provide rich grounds for further study.

When Halliday answers the question Why is speech important? he says that the
reason lies in the fact "that the potential of the system is more richly
developed, and more fully revealed, in speech." (p. xxiii)  If when we speak,
we perfom without thinking, as Halliday says, then in emailing, we also
perform
without thinking.  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.

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