Language of Internet Chat: Discourse Anylysis

Mgr. Pavel Dašek

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

The diploma thesis “Language of Internet Chat: Discourse Analysis” deals with the differences of the language used in three English-speaking countries using the internet chatting rooms. It compares Australian chat, United Kingdom chat and American chat taken directly from the ICQ server (ICQ: icq-chatrooms). The downloaded texts are without any modification and extracts taken from the transcript are used in the practical part to support the results in the research. The method used for this study is ‘discourse analysis’ that examine many features of the language. The theoretical part explains the key words needed for this study and some of them are explained by citation of established linguists. The graphical layout of the web page, where the ICQ chat proceeds, is described and considers the positive as well as the negative points. Special attention is paid to the abbreviations and emoticons. These are special signs for expressing ideas and feelings in an informal, funny and fast way. They are frequently used in all the three chatting rooms, which supports the importance of getting known some of them. There is a brief summary of the main aspects of the three compared chats that were found out during the analysis. This work, among others, supports the truthfulness of the fact that the language is still in progress and one has to manage to cope with it to understand other generations, no matter in which country it is.

Keywords

Internet chat, discourse analysis, informality, abbreviations, comparison of the language

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 23. 5. 2007

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 19. 6. 2007
• Supervisor: doc. Mgr. Martin Adam, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Education

Bachelor programme / field:
Specialization in Education / Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in Foreign Languages - English