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309 Language Use in Online and Mobile Communication Naomi S. Baron The term electronically mediated communication (EMC) refers to linguisn tic messages conveyed via online and mobile media such as computers, mobile phones, and other mobile devices. Originally, the term computer-mediated communication (CMC) was used to denote written messages sent on such platforms as Listservs, e-mail, instant messaging (IM), or blogs (see blogs). Over time, written messaging has increasingly been done on mobile phones (i.e., text messaging or SMS). Some researchers include CMC under the broader EMC umbrella, while others encompass text messaging as part of CMC. Both online and mobile devices have voice capabilities (e.g., voice over Internet protocols such as Skype on computers; voice calls on mobiles phones). However, discussion of EMC generally focuses on written communication. EMC began in 1971, with a simple e-mail exchange between two computers in the same room. Other major technological developments included the following: 1971 early computer conferencing 1980 newsgroups 1980s, early 1990s early IM (e.g., UNIX talk, ytalk, ntalk) 1982 creation of the smiley 1986 Listservs 1988 Internet relay chat (IRC) 1993 text messaging on mobile phones 1996 ICQ (“I Seek You”) (modern IM system) 1997 AIM (America Online Instant Messenger) 1997 blogs (weblogs) 2003 Second Life 2003 MySpace 2004 Facebook 2006 Twitter What are the linguistic characteristics of EMC? The media have commonly depicted such communication as fitting a single mold: badly spelled and punctuated, and rife fi L 310 Language Use in Online and Mobile Communication with grammatical errors (Thurlow 2006). However, EMC corpora offer a diff ff ff erent, and ff ff more varied, perspective on the linguistic characteristics of EMC messages. Some sources of variation in EMC are intuitively obvious. For example, full computer keyboards make for easier input than do traditional mobile phone keypads (using the multitap method to input alphabetic characters) or mobile phones with full but tiny QWERTY keypads. Similarly, synchronous messages (e.g., IM) encourage faster transmission of text once it has been composed than asynchronous messages (e.g., e-mail, text messages), which comfortably afford users the opportunity to edit messages before sending ff ff them. Third, some platforms allow for messages of any length (e.g., e-mail, blogs), while others restrict the number of characters (e.g., Twitter’s 140-character limit). Fourth, individual user personality and style may affect how e-mail messages are written (e.g., whether ff ff to proofread before sending; whether to use abbreviations, acronyms, or emoticons). And finally, such variables as gender, age, and culture sometimes shape EMC style. fi Empirical studies offer a reality check on assumptions about EMC. We look, in turn, ff ff at findings regarding (a) the linguistic character of IM, (b) the use of punctuation in text fi messaging, and (c) the role of gender in EMC. We then consider (d) whether EMC is a form of speech or of writing, and (e) the future of EMC as a linguistic genre. The Linguistic Character of IM Corpora studies indicate that IM texts written by teenagers and young adults—at least during the early 2000s—contained fewer distinctive linguistic characteristics than the popular press (and popular perception) suggested (Baron 2004; Tagliamonte and Denis 2008). For example, Baron’s IM corpus of nearly twelve thousand words contained only thirty-one EMC abbreviations (e.g., “k” for “OK” or “bc” for “because ”; common written abbreviations such as “hrs” for “hours” were excluded). There were only ninety acronyms, of which “LOL” (“laughing out loud”) accounted for seventysix . Emoticons were also sparse (a total of forty-six, of which thirty-one were a smiley). Moreover, only 171 words were misspelled or lacked necessary apostrophes. In considering empirical EMC data, it is critical to be mindful of when the data were collected, since usage patterns evolve. In recent years, for example, much of the communication involving teenagers and young adults which earlier took place on IM now occurs through text messaging on mobile phones or through Facebook (see social network sites [SNSs], Twitter, Tumblr, and microblogging). (Users of Twitter tend to be somewhat older.) There is evidence (e.g., Ling and Baron 2007) that text messages contain more abbreviations than IMS sent by young adults. The motivating force may be difficulty of input on mobile devices rather than restrictions on message length ffi (i.e., compared with IM written on computers). While text messages have historically been limited to 160 characters, most users came nowhere near this maximum. Depending on gender, age, and culture, the average is closer...

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