المستخلص: |
This research paper suggests a sociolinguistic approach to computer mediated communication (CMC) drawing on a case study on Facebook instant messaging. It examines the linguistic characteristics of Tunisians’ Facebook conversations and the variation of stylistic choices according to the variable of age. Based on a corpus of Facebook IM interactions, the data analysis provides ample evidence that Facebook IM does not differ in its linguistic characteristics from other synchronous CMC. It is fragmented, full of mix-pidgin forms, icons, and with relaxed typographical, and morphological rules. The study also comes to construct a correlation between stylistic choices on Facebook IM and age variation. It shows that the linguistic and stylistic variations of CMC are socially conditioned.
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