Presentación: Textual Variation in Instant Messaging: An Audience Design Approach

Computer-mediated communication (CMC), and particularly synchronous electronic registers such as instant messaging (IM), feature distinctive conversational strategies (hereafter IM strategies) that result from the emulation of face-to-face spoken conversation. While these strategies are common and pervasive in IM, it remains unclear whether their usage is determined by personal preferences (style variety) or the situational context (register variety).
In order to shed light on this issue, a series of interviews are conducted using the IM application WhatsApp. 6 informants (3 men and 3 women) participate in two consecutive interviews conducted by two assumed different interviewers (in fact, the researcher under two different false identities). While the first interviewer makes no use of IM strategies, the second one use them extensively. The situational characteristics are kept constant between interviews. This deliberate contrast aims to elicit a style shift in the informant. After the completion of the interviews and the subsequent disclosure of the interviewers' identity, a short informal conversation takes place. The contrast between the interview and the conversation situation enables to analyse textual variation from a register perspective.
Drawing on a literature review, a typology of IM communication strategies is established for the purposes of the analysis. The results are interpreted from an audience design approach. The findings suggest that the usage of IM strategies is largely dependent on situational factors, indicating a positive correlation between colloquiality and the usage of IM strategies. In contrast, there were no significant changes in style among the participants. Moreover, contextual factors such as personal relationship, conversation topic, and social/functional relationship among interlocutors apparently constrain the usage of certain IM strategies. Finally, in terms of gender, women showed a significantly higher degree of textual variation than men from both style and register perspective, which ultimately translates into greater accommodation towards their audience.

Información

Día: 27.05.2023
Inicio: 15:00
Duración: 00:30
Sala: SH 3.103
Área: Sociolinguistics

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