Computer-Mediated Communication

Ever since the extent of the Internet's popularity as a mass medium becameforeseeable, linguists have speculated about and investigated its effect on theEnglish language. Now that the majority of English speakers worldwide usesthe Web to communicate, its influence on linguistic practices has never beenmore obvious.This book investigates the extent and nature of the Internet's impact on languageuse. It begins with a brief overview of Computer-Mediated Communication(CMC) and its history, covering all of the most discussed and relevantaspects in respect to Internet and language. The following chapters analyse ingreat depth the Web's impact on vocabulary, and the process of lexicalinnovation. They cover new spelling and punctuation conventions that havedeveloped online, and discuss the varying levels of formality and informalityin language use. Finally, the book presents a detailed empiric study of thelinguistics of business email.This investigation is targeted at an audience of linguists and laymen interestedin how the daily use of email, chat and instant messenger alters the waywe write and talk.