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In the last three decades, the arrival of personal computers and the Internet has had a great impact on language and has lead to the emergence of a new field of linguistic research concerned with these changes. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) takes a variety of forms (e-mail, chat, SMS, blogs, etc.; both synchronous and asynchronous) whose linguistic properties vary depending on the medium and its social functions. In this seminar we will investigate language use in the different communicative modes “produced when human beings interact with one another by transmitting messages via networked computers” (Herring 2001). The course provides hands-on computer practice with real CMC data. It will equip students with tools for understanding and analysing different types of CMC and the way that CMC users employ semiotic and linguistic resources different from more traditional modes of communication. There will also be room for discussions about the ethics of CMC-based research, social interaction and the construction of virtual identities.
Recommended preparatory readings
- Deneke, Laura. 2007. Computer-mediated Communication: Potential and Actual Effects on the English Language. Saarbrücken: VDM Verl. Dr. Müller.
- Herring, Susan C. (ed.). 1996. Computer-mediated Communication: Linguistic, Social and Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
- Herring, Susan C.. 2007. “A Faceted Classification Scheme for Computer-mediated Discourse.” Language@Internet Volume 4, Number 1, article 1 (2007-01-08). [online http://www.languageatinternet.org/articles/2007/761]
- Yus, Francisco. 2011. Cyberpragmatics – Internet-mediated Communication in Context. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
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