Investigating Sentence Structure in Skype English Chat | ||
| Alustath | ||
| Article 1, Volume 0, Issue 202, November 2012, Pages 81-101 | ||
| Author | ||
| Tahani Awad Jasim | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The prevalence of text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) has enormous impact on the growing amount of research into the distinctive features of the text-based CMC. Recently, an urgent need arises to examine the linguistic features of this mode of communication. The present paper investigates sentence structure, viz, sentence length and sentence complexity, of 20 authentic Skype English chats. These sentential features have been examined and quantified to determine the structural characteristics of Skype chat. It has been found that short and simple sentences are the most frequent sentence types in this electronic register. The higher frequency of short and simple sentences in the present corpus can be attributed to chatters' tendency to save time and keystrokes, and thus speed up the communication process. That is, considerations of linguistic economy may help to explain the structural simplicity of this register. The linguistic economy of synchronous chats can result from the temporal constraints of the medium, and this, in turn, can lend support to the speech-like features of synchronous chat. Besides, Skype English chat is similar to other chat systems, viz, Y! and IRC with reference to sentence structure. On the basis of these findings, a number of pedagogical implications and future projects are suggested. | ||
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