LINGUIST List 20.4243
Thu Dec 10 2009
Diss: Socioling: Szymanski: ''Jezyk czatu internetowego: Studium...'
Editor for this issue: Di Wdzenczny
<dilinguistlist.org>
1. Leszek
Szymanski,
'Jezyk czatu internetowego: Studium Empiryczne' / 'The Language of Internet Chat Room: An Empirical Study'
Message 1: 'Jezyk czatu internetowego: Studium Empiryczne' / 'The Language of Internet Chat Room: An Empirical Study'
Date: 09-Dec-2009
From: Leszek Szymanski <l_szpoczta.fm>
Subject: 'Jezyk czatu internetowego: Studium Empiryczne' / 'The Language of Internet Chat Room: An Empirical Study'
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Institution: Opole University
Program: doctoral studies
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2009
Author: Leszek Emil Szymanski
Dissertation Title: "Jezyk czatu internetowego: Studium Empiryczne" / "The Language of Internet Chat Room: An Empirical Study"
Linguistic Field(s):
Sociolinguistics
Subject Language(s): Polish (pol)
Dissertation Director:
Tadeusz Piotrowski
Dissertation Abstract:
The dissertation deals with corpus-based research on Internet chatcommunication. In the first chapter the author explains what the Internetis, and he also acquaints the reader with the history of Internetcommunication. In Chapter Two the reader is presented with forms ofInternet communication. These have been divided into: asynchronous andsynchronous, according to the time shift between the moment of messagesending and the moment of message reception. Chapter Three discusses thecorpus of Internet chat communication. This part begins with a descriptionof the chat room, from which language samples were obtained. The authoralso characterizes the users of this chat room. Then the reader is takenthrough the process of corpus making. The writer specifies the dataprocessing methods. This chapter finishes with some statistical analyzes ofthe corpus. In Chapter Four the reader is familiarized with nonstandardspelling in Internet chat room communication. The following issues aredepicted: capitalization, punctuation, phonetic spelling and diacriticmarks. Next, Chapter Five presents detailed analyses of lexical elementsutilized in speech acts in Internet-based chat rooms. The research includeswords used in: greetings, farewells, thanks and apologies, as well asvulgarisms. Moreover, foreign words and short forms are analyzed.Furthermore, the nicknames of the users are studied. In Chapter Six, thereader learns about the analysis of the potential hybrid of spoken andwritten communication. First, the main characteristics of speech andwriting are enumerated. Further, the author attempts to characterize thegenre of Internet chat with reference to the characteristics of speech andwriting. The dissertation finishes with the author's conclusions. It wasobserved that nonstandard writing is a purposeful action. Some of theutilized conventions are aimed at helping the users to depict spokencommunication by means of writing. There are also word forms in which theusers' hurry is visible (spelling without diacritic marks, misspellings),since for the users it is more important to communicate fast andexpressively than to pay attention to proper spelling. The spellingunconventionality is also a way of expressing one's group membership.Furthermore, strong informality attempts may be observed in Internet chatcommunication. These are manifested in, for example, shortening word forms,language plays or interlarding with foreign words. Despite considerableinformality, relative politeness with little use of vulgarity may be foundin this type of communication. In addition to that, it was revealed thatthe chatters include certain information about themselves in their nicks.The information may include: the person's age, origin or the type ofInternet connection. It was also established that there is no hybrid ofspeech and writing in chat room communication. The writer states thatInternet chat is a written communication channel, which attempts to signalits informality. The author also points out that the research presented inthis dissertation is the first empirical study of Polish Internet chats.
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