Abstract
Based on a comparative study of informal speech and writing practices within comparable samples of American college students in 2003 and 2006, this article charts a dramatic expansion in the use of quotative like, and of reported speech and thought more generally, in Instant Messaging (IM). The spread of be + like from speech, where it was already pervasive, into IM correspondence gives a quotative format once thought exclusively oral new purchase in written language and heralds new strategies of voice representation within a typewritten medium ostensibly limited in its expressive potential. We present this development as evidence of a speech community that recognizes specific quotative forms and functions as constitutive of a preferential conversational style we term 'polyphonic', which foregrounds morally and affectively charged voicings.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 77-113 |
Number of pages | 37 |
Journal | Language and Communication |
Volume | 29 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2009 |
Keywords
- Computer mediated communication (CMC)
- Quotative like
- Reported speech
- Reported thought
- Style
- Youth language
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Language and Linguistics
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Communication
- Linguistics and Language