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In the last few decades the Internet has become a technological and a social phenomenon. It has become a fact of life, a way of being in the world, a producer of social subjects that, find it unremarkable, so unremarkable that it seems everybody uses it. (Lewis & Fabos. 2005:470) It has allowed new social access, an instant connection to friends through a whole host of digital literacys. These new literacy's have inevitably influenced the English Language.

History of the Internet The Internet, a global computer network, (Soanes & Hawker. 2006:531) makes it possible for computers and their operators to exchange messages and information with almost any individual in the world.

The Internet grew out of a US government funded research program in the late 1960s. As a result of this research, the US Department of Defence dispersed computer systems across universities, laboratories and other research centres, as they feared the data was vulnerable being housed in one geographical location. Data transfers between computers were developed to enable users to access the information, housed in many as forty different locations. With it came electronic mail (email), as a communicative method to share information between the operators in each location.

In the mid 1970s, the technology became publically available, which enabled numerous more networks to be established. In the late 1980s this technology was beginning to be used in other countries, eventually allowing computers in different parts of the world to communicate directly with one another. (Goodman & Graddol.1997:107) It was not until the mid 1990's when Local Area Networks (LANs) were introduced and connected to national networks, it became possible to establish a direct connection to another persons personal commuter on the other side of the world. (Goodman & Graddol.1997:107) 1

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This technology combines the accessibility that the international telephone system brought to the world, making it possible to talk to almost anyone in the world, with broadcasting, where a message from a single source can be read by millions of people. These new data connections could exchange a variety of information, including moving and still imagery, sound and text in any combination. It is because of this versatility in exchanging data, and being able to communicate a message to a single location or the whole world, that has made the Internet such a formidable invention; it has changed the ways in which we communicate.

An introduction to Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and its growing popularity. Instant messaging, also referred to as IM, is the exchange of typed messages between computer users in real time via the Internet. (Wikipedia, 2007)

Initial research on instant messaging suggested that it would not replace any of the traditional forms of communication, such as telephone conversation and face-to-face interaction. OSullivan, Hunt and Lippert (2004) state that early views of CMC [Computer-Mediated Communication] were that its impersonal nature made it effective only for information exchanges and ineffective and inappropriate for social and relational interactions. Many of the features of face-to-face conversation, such as body language, facial gestures and tone, are used to convey another level of meaning, this seemed almost impossible to achieve through using instant messaging. However, through adapting the language creatively, instant messaging has become a communication phenomenon. By 2003, 70% of online teen ages 12-17 used instant messaging, with one fourth of all online teens using IM as a main communication tool. (Zucco, 2003) Lewis and Fabos (2005) research discovered that in general, young people favoured IM over all other kinds of communication. It provided an excitement 2

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of staying on top of multiple conversations; it was convenient because most people were constantly online and available. It also assuaged social relationships; making all potential threatening exchanges, such as face-toface or via telephone, less problematic. Those interviewed in Lewis and Fabos' study still occasionally used electronic mail (email) for telling longer stories, yet still preferred instant messaging over chat rooms, since communicating with strangers was not nearly as engaging as communicating with one's peers (Lewis & Fabos. 2005:482)

Writing is socially mediated; in instant messaging, the social aspects are clearly apparent. Indeed, the maintenance of social relationships has been found to be a central function of online communication networks (Lewis & Fabos. 2005:475) for sustaining close friendships as well as establishing and maintaining casual ties. Compared to face-to-face conversation, in which one can passively participate by being present, Lewis and Fabos (2005) indicate that with online communication, through instant messaging, the participants must be active in order to receive social benefits. Being able to shift voices and identities, between many instant messaging conversations for many audiences, is needed in order to be a proficient user. Each conversation needs different tones, sympathetic for a close friend or a flirtatious friend to another. Although face-to-face talk can be a performance, the need to fluidly shift performances from audience to audience is unique to the dyadic yet nearly simultaneous nature of IM. (Lewis & Fabos. 2005:494)

In addition to instant messaging, social networking has grown and became an integral part of commuter-mediated communication. Since the launch of Myspace in 2003, Facebook in 2004 and Bebo in 2005, the Office for Communication (OFCOM) has found that almost half (48%) of children aged 8-17 who use the internet have set up their own profile on a social networking site. (OFCOM, 2008) Even though these sites restrict children aged thirteen or fourteen, OFCOM have found that 27% of 8-11 year olds who are aware of social networking sites say that they have a profile on a site. (OFCOM 2008) Social networking is now a mainstream form of communication, offering new ways for children to communicate and socialize. (Dowdall. 2009:91) They, 3

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offer children the ability to create an online presence. These pages link to the profile owners every day activities and face-to-face conversations, restricting the opportunities for the creation of entirely separate identities through text creation. (Dowdall. 2009:92) With the invention of social networking, this has brought new ways for users to have an online presence, and create a social identity on the Internet. Lewis and Fabos (2005:475) note it is not the computer or the Internet itself that is central to literacy but the way that these tools of technology shape social relationships and practices. Instant messaging enables and

encourages the user to create multiple identities, maintain social relationships, as well as encouraging creativity in language, giving a real-time response from another user anywhere in the world. Nevertheless, social networking is both a communicative tool as well as platform to project the users identity. Upon a visit to a local primary school, while researching reluctant writers, a child used the social network site Facebook, so that he could keep in contact with friends where I used to live, but I dont have any [friends on Facebook] in this school. [Appendix 3] He previously had used instant messaging, but moved to Facebook because his Mum thought he behaved well on it. Social networking accounts for nearly a quarter (23% in 2010) of all time spent on the Internet, compared to 9% in 2007 (OFCOM 2010). This has been driven by the rapid growth of Facebook which grew by 31 per cent (OFCOM 2010) over the same time period. With its introduction of mobile phones, Facebook combines a platform for the user to project their identity with a profile, with the ability to instant message friends for real time responses, or send messages for responses given later in time. Facebook offers the user to create an online presence, and social identify through its profile, while still maintaining the creative characteristics of language used in instant messaging. As technology progresses, it is shaping and being shaped by the social identities of its users. (Lewis & Fabos. 2005:475)

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Crystal (2001) created the term netspeak and defined it as a type of language displaying features that are unique to the internet, [] arising out of its character as a medium which is electronic, global and interactive. (Crystal. 2001: 18) Netspeak is divided into sub-varieties that are related to different communication modes on the Internet. These include, the language of emails which comprises functionally distinct elements that are central for the identification of e-mail as a linguistic variety, such as headers, signatures, greetings. (Crystal. 2001: 94, 122) In addition to the language of chat rooms with its highly colloquial constructions and non-standard usages, that characterize this mode of communication. (Crystal. 2001: 148, 165). However Androutsopoulos (2006) suggests that distinguishing there being a language of e-mail cannot be entirely accurate; the vast diversity of settings and purposes of e-mail use outweigh any common linguistic features. The diverse purposes of e-mail and instant messaging range from political talk, to pray sessions, to friendship talk; thus the linguistic patterns go beyond whatever can be easily classed as a typical linguistic style. Though it may be more accurate to study the linguistic variation in the different social interaction on the Internet.

Digital literacy is multimodal. There is a wide variety of new communication technology; mobile SMS messaging; social networking site, such as Facebook, and Bebo; email; discussion forums and chat-rooms. These new genres bring along a new set of literacy skills that are needed to be able to read and write across these different modes. Literacy has been always multimodal, relying on visual and aural cues at the very least, but now literacy rely on an increasingly more complex range of modalities. (Lewis & Fabos. 2005:475) These appear to be more complicated; there is writing alongside images, or writing itself displayed graphically as an image, requiring a set of semiotic skills that are not commonplace in the reading repertoire in todays schools. However, theses new modes have appeared to become linguistically less complex. There are fewer embedded clauses, while the visual elements are becoming more [complex], shifting the focus from linguistic features to elements of design. (Lewis & Fabos. 2005:475) Even linguistically, instant 5

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messaging is multimodal at its core in that it blurs the distinction between speech and writing.(Lewis & Fabos. 2005:475) With this comes new literacy practices; it requires the reader to read across modes as being a central skill, rather than it merely being a peripheral skill.

Abbreviations and acronyms

Abbreviations and acronyms are a central linguistic element to Instant Messaging. Randall (2002) identifies two key purposes for their use: they allow for greater speed, and they let users demonstrate their belonging to the communities. Acronyms, such as lol meaning laugh out loud are prominent in many Instant Messaging conversations. However, in some cases their original meaning may be altered:

Emily: nice pici lol Emily: gdgd Chloe: lol fanksssss [Appendix 1] Here, the use of lol is used to express a mutually cheerful tone, rather than expressing humour. This tone enhances a mutual social relationship between the participants, as they both adopt a shared language between themselves.

Another acronym that is very common between two participants that have not engaged in social interaction in the physical or Internet world is a/s/l meaning age, sex, location. For example:

Kt1_red: Spunky2000_uk: Juicyjess: Dr_rich3: Kt1_red:

a/s/l??? Gloucester, and u Scotland, 19 call me stoopit, but i dunno what a/s/l means stoopid 6

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24, bloke manchester :-s ?? cool thats ur a/s/l Ive learnt something. Whats youre a/s/l? [Appendix 2]

Acronyms and abbreviations are meant to speed up the reading process, however, only if both correspondents know the meaning of the abbreviation is it useful. (Randall. 2002: 27) In the example above Dr_rich 3 is stuck when he comes across an acronym he does not understand. But by asking the others in the conversation, he learns something new and consequently demonstrates a belonging to a social community. There is no dictionary of Internet languages therefore it is through these social interactions that participants pass on phrases that are continually used. Randall (2002) praises childrens use of acronyms and abbreviations, as it is a crucial way that teenagers express their own creativity with language. This creativity should be encouraged, not criticised, as the evidence demonstrates that adapting language in this way is not laziness or ignorance, but requires skill and a deep understanding of language. (Beacham. 2007:44)

However, in Lewis and Fabos' (2005) research, they discovered abbreviations and acronyms were almost non-existent among our older participants. They used acronyms, lol meaning laugh out loud, and brb meaning be right back, but the older participants felt it was more mature to use the correctly spelt words. The reasoning for this was, that they just felt smarter. (Lewis & Fabos. 2005:475) This also raises the issue of multiple social identities. For some users, it is essential not to use acronyms or abbreviations in certain contexts, such as using Standard English when e-mailing a teacher. This shows the writers maturity, by being able to use the correct version of English in the appropriate contexts. However, if children do not see these boundaries in the English language, it may lead children to using inappropriate abbreviations and acronyms in their exams and schoolwork.

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The hybrid nature of Instant Messaging

Instant Messaging has been regarded in research as a hybrid form of communication, including aspects of speech and the written language. (Voida, Newstetter, & Mynatt, 2002; Jacobs 2004; Fairclough 1995). Speech comprises of many elements that add extra clarity and meaning to a verbal conversation such as body language, facial gestures and tone. Users have overcome some of these issues with creativity of the language.

Instant messaging provides the participants to have real-time responses from another user, much like speech. Though turn taking in communicationmediated communication can be problematic because it is impossible to see an utterance in progress. (Jacobs. 2004:401) In both appendixes one and two, short entries are used to speed up participation and ensure a level of coherence throughout the conversation. In these instances, a verbal pause can be indicated by using enter to send the message to the other participant[s]:

Chloe : Chloe : Emily: Emily: Emily: Chloe:

i wouldnt b suprised if he still thought it was 19991 **1991 lol wot wot ur alive!?!?! u chudn't b born lol lol i shud 1990 m8!!! [Appendix 1] yea yet!!!!

Emily has three messages sent straight after one another. After the first lol yea, the enter acts as a pause before she questions her friends message about her age. These pauses replicate the pauses in verbal conversation, it allows the participants a break in conversation, whilst still maintaining coherency.

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However, turn taking can become problematic when more than one user is involved. Appendix 4 is from a chat room of multiple users, where a user refers back to a previous topic of conversation.

Colin Gabriel Hatcher: Commander Morg:

starting I believe in 10 mins sorry to interrupt, were you discussing something? [Appendix 4]

This fragmented conversation is echoed in instant messaging where the writer may receive other incoming messages between postings. These interruptions provide an analytical challenge, where the person receiving the messages [has to] choose to respond to the interruption (Jacobs. 2004:402) or carry on the topic of conversation. Face-to-face chat is more immediate, where responses in verbal conversations are instantaneous. Whereas with instant messaging there is a lag between when the user begins to write and when they send the message. However through the creativity of language, users have adopted the use of ellipsis to indicate verbal pauses [Appendix 4], as well being used to add tension when telling a story or used to avoid interruption.

Emotions are used as symbols to add to the drama of individual conversations. They are popular in indicating pleasure in the material shared, teasing, or listening patiently and enthusiastically. (Lewis & Fabos. 2005:475) These non-linguistically symbols provide a link to emotional feeling that would have been represented through body language, facial expression and tone in a verbal conversation. It is through such creative language that feelings can be represented in Instant Messaging.

Many of the words used in computer-mediated communication [CMC] are regarded as non-standard; they are altered to represent the way they are spoken. (Beacham. 2007:44) Some of these examples involve shortening words:

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sorry bout not stickin up 4 u [Appendix 1] Dropping the g on stickin is used to reflect the pronunciation. Other examples include elongating words: noooooooooooooooooooooo [Appendix 1] Lengthening the word no imitates her tone of voice in response to her not being angry with her friend. A simple no could have been interpreted differently. Instant messaging is limited in how it represents a user tone, often leading to misunderstanding. Thus, there is a demand on the users performance to coherently represent their style, tone and content through the written language. Participants need to "understand the conventions associated with writing and with speech in order to successfully use writing to perform speech. (Lewis & Fabos. 2005:484)

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Lewis and Fabos (2005) suggested that participants cared about using conventional spelling, especially to those whom they were trying to impress; though punctuation was deemed to be less important.

Where errors did occur in the participants spelling, an asterisk indicated them:

Chloe : Emily: Emily:

my stupid computer is not sending my msgs!!!!!!! lol i got tht 2 1* [Appendix 1]

This develops a skill for the participant to be able to self-monitor his or her own writing. In spite of this, Jacobs (2004) indicates that within instant messaging, only the asterisks are used by the users when a misspelled word 10

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could lead to a misreading of the message. However, Randall (2002) states over 75% regularly use conventional proper grammar in writing an email, and 50% check their spelling. Electronic mail, offers the user time to write and edit their message before sending it. As email does not offer any real time response, a miss spelled word or improper use of grammar or punctuation can easily lead to miss understanding of the message. Within school, editing work such as a story is often seen as a laborious task; though with computermediated technology, the statics imply users, including children, continually self monitor their writing, and enjoy doing so. Putting pen to paper appears to be a permanent decision where children are afraid to make a mistake and want to maintain a high standard of presentation, but with the modern word processors on computers, children can easily, delete words adjust and continually edit their work, making sure it looks presentable throughout the writing process.

Axtman (2002) indicates that with instant messaging in young people, "their grammar is becoming atrocious." Appendix 4 indicates poor use of grammar:

Colin Gabriel Hatcher:

my new puter just broke down. . . power supply. . . [Appendix 4]

The user is skilled enough to use their knowledge in grammatical structure to eliminate certain words to convey a message at speed. In written English "these messages would make little sense independently of each other," (Beacham. 2007:47) though in the context of the conversation, where short message are common, they allow the conversation to flow. It appears that the language of instant messaging has become simplified, yet the "complexity of thought required to adapt language for a specific purpose is often underestimated." (Beacham. 2007:47)

Randall (2002) argues that "simulated speech consists of non-conventional uses of spellings, sentences, punctuation, diction, and vocabulary in an attempt to make the message sound and feel as much like spoken discourse 11

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as possible." This includes users abandoning the normal features of punctuation, replacing them with dashes; provide numerous forms of emphasis (all-caps, exclamation mark, etc.) in an attempt to get the recipient to read the message as if it was spoken. There is very little use of capital letters, or commas in Appendix 1 and 4, as this appears to slow down the conversation. Punctuation appears to add another level of expression and emotion. For example the use of repeated exclamation marks:

Chloe : heheheheh i just called toby tobster!!!!!!!!! [Appendix 1]

The participant is showing a feeling of excitement over her mistake. Even with the apparent abandonment of punctuation, and informal use of grammar and spelling, these are attempts for the users to represent the spoken word. Internet lingo "combines these representations with writing to create a new language type." (Randall. 2002:5)

Implications for teaching

Randall (2002) claims "language never stands still, because society never stands still." As technology develops and new social interactions are possible, the language has inevitable been adapted and developed for certain social and contextual needs.

School teaches children the technicalities of writing, how to draw the shapes of letters and punctuation marks, and drills into children the conventions of spelling, word formation, sentence construction, story writing and the development of an argument. Though social interaction shows children different aspects of language, topics that friends want to talk about and also ways of expressions that make children feel part of the group. It is through different contexts, a new language is required, whether it is the language of the law for a judge, or the language of the Internet needed for online social interaction. It is when these different contexts become unclear, that problems

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occur where "net lingo is starting to show up on school assignments." (Axtman. 2002)

Schools must embrace the new technological conventions available to children, and must make children aware of the different linguistic and semiotic skills needed for conversation in both the classroom and formal writing, and that of computer-mediated communication technology of the internet.

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James Radburn References

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Androutsopoulos, J. (2006) Introduction: Socioloinguistics and computermediated communication in Journal of Sociolinguistics. Vol. 10 (4), pp419438

Axtman, K (2002) ' 'r u online?': The Evolving Lexicon of Wired Teens' in Christian Science Monitor. Available [Accessed: at: 12th

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1212/p01s01-ussc.html February 2011)

Beacham, C. (2007) An investigation into Language use in Instant Messaging Conversations. In The Journal of Reading, Writing & Literacy. Vol. 2 (1), pp37-50

Crystal, D. 2001. Language and the Internet. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Dowdall, C. (2009) Impressions, improvisations and compositions: reframing childrens text production in social networking sites in Literacy. Vol. 43 (2), pp 91-99

Fairclough, N. (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis: The critical study of Language. London: Longman.

Goodman, S., & Graddol, D. (1997). Redesigning English: new texts, new identities. [New York], Open University. Jacobs, G. (2004) Complicating contexts: Issues of methodology in researching the language and literacies of instant messaging in Reading Research Quarterly. Vol. 39 (4), pp. 394-406

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Lewis, C & Fabos, B (2005) 'Instant Messaging, Literacies and Social Identities' in Reading Research Quarterly. Vol. 40 (4), pp470-501 OFCOM (2008) Social Networking: A Quantitative and Qualitative research Report into Attitudes, Behaviour and Use. OFCOM. Available at

http://www.OFCOM.org.uk/advice/media_literacy/medlitpub/medlitpubrss/soci alnetworking/report/pdf [Accessed 11th February 2011] OFCOM (2010) Consumers spend almost half of their waking hours using media and communications. OFCOM. Available at:

http://media.OFCOM.org.uk/2010/08/19/consumers-spend-almost-half-oftheir-waking-hours-using-media-and-communications/ Randall, N (2002) Lingo online: A report on the language of the keyboard generation. MSN.CA at http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/~nrandall/LingoOnline-

finalreport.pdf [Accessed 10th February 2011]

Soanes, C., & Hawker, S. (2006). Compact Oxford English dictionary for university and college students. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Voida, A., Newstetter, W.C, & Mynatt, E.D. (2002) When connections collide: The tensions of instant messaging attributed. Paper presented at the Computer Human Interaction Conference, Minneapolis, MN. Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.12.8638 [Accessed 18th February 2011]

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_messaging Accessed: 10th February 2011.

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