Conversational Writing
A Multidimensional Study of Synchronous and Supersynchronous Computer-Mediated Communication
Summary
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Table of Contents
- Tables
- Figures
- Abbreviations
- Chapter 1. Introduction
- 1.1 Speech vs. writing vs. conversational writing
- 1.2 Aim and scope of the study
- 1.3 Synchronicity of communication
- 1.4 Notes on terminology
- 1.5 Outline of the study
- Chapter 2. Background
- 2.1 Introductory remarks
- 2.2 Survey of the literature on speech and writing
- 2.3 Biber’s (1988) dimensions of textual variation
- 2.4 Halliday’s and others’ essentially qualitative approaches
- 2.5 Survey of the literature on CMC
- 2.6 Description of the media for conversational writing
- 2.7 Chapter summary
- Chapter 3. Material and method
- 3.1 Introductory remarks
- 3.2 Creating and annotating a corpus of Internet relay chat
- 3.3 Creating and annotating a corpus of split-window ICQ chat
- 3.4 The Santa Barbara Corpus subset
- 3.5 Standardization and dimension score computation
- 3.6 Average figures for writing and speech, respectively
- 3.7 Chapter summary
- Chapter 4. Salient features in conversational writing
- 4.1 Introductory remarks
- 4.2 Distribution of modal auxiliary verbs and personal pronouns
- 4.3 Word length, type/token ratio and lexical density
- 4.4 The most salient features
- 4.5 Paralinguistic features and extra-linguistic content
- 4.6 Inserts and emotives
- 4.7 Chapter summary
- Chapter 5. Conversational writing positioned on Biber’s (1988) dimensions
- 5.1 Introductory remarks
- 5.2 Dimension plots
- 5.2.1 Dimension 1: Informational versus Involved Production
- 5.2.2 Dimension 2: Narrative versus Non-Narrative Concerns
- 5.2.3 Dimension 3: Explicit/Elaborated versus Situation-Dependent Reference
- 5.2.4 Dimension 4: Overt Expression of Persuasion/Argumentation
- 5.2.5 Dimension 5: Abstract/Impersonal versus Non-Abstract/Non-Impersonal Information
- 5.2.6 Dimension 6: On-Line Informational Elaboration
- 5.3 Chapter summary
- Chapter 6. Discussion
- 6.1 Introductory remarks
- 6.2 Hypotheses revisited quantitatively
- 6.3 From genres to text types
- 6.4 Research questions revisited
- 6.5 Chapter summary
- Chapter 7. Conclusion
- 7.1 Summary of the study
- 7.2 Suggestions for further research
- Appendices
- Appendix I. Texts used in Biber’s (1988) study
- Appendix II. Descriptive statistics for genres studied
- Appendix III. Raw frequencies of linguistic features
- Appendix IV. Examples of excluded material
- Appendix V. Features with a |standard score| >2.0
- Appendix VI. Statistical tests of salient features
- Appendix VII. Word lists for the corpora studied
- Appendix VIII. Dimension score statistics for Biber’s (1988) genres
- Appendix IX. Computation of cluster affiliations
- Appendix X. Dimension scores for individual texts
- List of References
Table 1.1: Principal synchronicity and direction of communication in various genres
Table 2.1: Linguistic features studied in Biber (1988)
Table 2.2: Summary of co-occurring features on each dimension
Table 2.3: Halliday’s three metafunctions in language and related concepts
Table 3.1: Size of corpora compiled/sampled and annotated for the present study
Table 3.2: Tags used in the annotation of the first twelve turns in Internet relay chat text 4a (UCOW)
Table 4.1: Frequencies of possibility, necessity and prediction modals per 1,000 words
Table 4.2: Frequencies of first, second and third person pronouns per 1,000 words
Table 4.3: Type/token ratio, with standard deviation
Table 4.4: Unweighted lexical density for five corpora
Table 4.5: Unweighted lexical density per clause and related measures
Table 4.6: Frequencies per 1,000 words for the most salient linguistic features
Table 4.7: Frequencies of inserts
Table 4.8: Frequencies of emotives
Table 4.9: Examples of turns with inserts in the three annotated corpora
Table 4.10: Individuals’ emotives usage in the split-window ICQ corpus, by gender
Table 5.1: Descriptive dimension statistics for the UCOW genres and the SBC subset ← 13 | 14 →
Table 5.2: Results from ANOVA among the new genres and from Biber’s (1988: 127) tests among his genres
Table 5.3: Results from t-tests among the new genres
Table 5.4: Summary of co-occurring features on each dimension
Table 5.5: Corrected dimension scores for the “ELC other” corpus of BBS conferencing presented in Collot (1991)
Table 6.1: Distance of the three CMC genres to oral conversations measured as standard deviation units on each dimension
Table 6.2: Distance of the conversational writing genres to oral conversations indicated as t-values on each dimension
Table 6.3: Results from t-tests among the conversational writing genres and the conversational spoken genres
Table 6.4: Summary of English text types
Figure 1.1: Examples of asynchronous, synchronous and supersynchronous modes of written CMC
Figure 1.2: Working relationship between modalities, media and genres/modes in the present study
Figure 2.1: Metafunctions in relation to register and genre in semiotics
Figure 2.2: Approximate emergence of modes for written CMC
Figure 2.3: Screenshot of Internet relay chat window (SCMC)
Figure 2.4: Screenshot of split-window ICQ chat (SSCMC)
Figure 4.1: Distribution of possibility, necessity and prediction modals per 1,000 words
Figure 4.2: Distribution of first, second and third person pronouns per 1,000 words
Figure 4.3: Proportions for first, second and third person pronouns of total personal pronoun use
Figure 4.4: Average word length in the five media
Figure 4.5: Type/token ratio, with standard deviation
Figure 4.6: Direct WH-questions
Figure 4.7: Analytic negation
Figure 4.8: Demonstrative pronouns
Figure 4.9: Indefinite pronouns
Figure 4.10: Present tense verbs
Figure 4.11: Predicative adjectives
Figure 4.12: Contractions
Figure 4.13: Prepositional phrases ← 15 | 16 →
Figure 4.14: Standard score distribution of the linguistic features that, in SCMC or SSCMC, deviate by more than 2 s.d. from Biber’s (1988) mean
Figure 4.15: Inserts
Figure 4.16: Emotives
Figure 4.17: Distribution of emotives in the conversational writing corpora
Figure 5.1a: Mean scores on Dimension 1 for all genres
Figure 5.1b: Spread of scores along Dimension 1 for all genres
Figure 5.2a: Mean scores on Dimension 2 for all genres
Figure 5.2b: Spread of scores along Dimension 2 for all genres
Figure 5.3a: Mean scores on Dimension 3 for all genres
Figure 5.3b: Spread of scores along Dimension 3 for all genres
Figure 5.4a: Mean scores on Dimension 4 for all genres
Figure 5.4b: Spread of scores along Dimension 4 for all genres
Figure 5.5a: Mean scores on Dimension 5 for all genres
Figure 5.5b: Spread of scores along Dimension 5 for all genres
Figure 5.6a: Mean scores on Dimension 6 for all genres
Figure 5.6b: Spread of scores along Dimension 6 for all genres
Figure 6.1: Matrix combining the degree of shared context and the synchronicity of communication in the genres studied
Figure 6.2: Relationships found between modalities, media and the genres investigated
Details
- Pages
- 353
- Publication Year
- 2016
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783653065121
- ISBN (MOBI)
- 9783653951707
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9783653951714
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9783631671535
- DOI
- 10.3726/978-3-653-06512-1
- Open Access
- CC-BY-NC-ND
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2016 (April)
- Keywords
- computer chat IRC communication split-window ICQ social media
- Published
- Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien, 2015. 353 pp., 25 tables, 31 graphs
- Product Safety
- Peter Lang Group AG
