Written Communication Jan 1991

Interactive Written Discourse as an Emergent Register

KATHLEEN FERRARA ; HANS BRUNNER ; GREG WHITTEMORE

Abstract

Text transmitted electronically through computer-mediated communication networks is an increasingly available yet little documented form of written communication. This article examines the syntactic and stylistic features of an emergent phenomenon called Interactive Written Discourse (IWD) and finds that the concept of “register,” a language variety according to use, helps account for the syntactic reductions and omissions that characterize this historical juxtaposition of text format with real-time and interactive pressures. Similarities with another written register showing surface brevity, the note taking register, are explored. The study is an empirical examination of written communication from a single discourse community, on a single topic, with a single recipient, involving 23 experienced computer users making travel plans with the same travel advisor by exchanging messages through linked computers. The study shows rates of omissions of subject pronouns, copulas, and articles and suggests that IWD is a hybrid, showing features of both spoken and written language. In tracing variable use of conventions such as sentence initial lower case and parentheses, the study shows that norms are gradually emerging. This form of written communication demands study because, as capabilities expand, norms associated with this medium of communication may come to influence or even replace those of more traditional writing styles.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1991-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088391008001002
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
discourse analysis digital rhetoric
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (11)

  1. McNely (2019)
    Under Pressure: Exploring Agency–Structure Dynamics with a Rhetorical Approach …
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  2. Haas et al. (2011)
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  3. Herring et al. (2009)
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  4. Guo et al. (2008)
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  5. Pérez-Sabater et al. (2008)
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  1. Thomas et al. (2006)
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  2. GALEGHER et al. (1998)
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    Written Communication
  3. Johanyak (1997)
    Analyzing the amalgamated electronic text: Bringing cognitive, social, and cont…
    Computers and Composition
  4. Gurak (1995)
    Rhetorical dynamics of corporate communication in cyberspace: the protest over …
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  5. BERKENKOTTER et al. (1993)
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  6. Susser (1993)
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