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Web-based discourse has become a key area for linguistic research. Not only are registers, from special-purpose languages to slang, documented online and thus easily accessible for researchers, but it is also evident that language changes massively under the influence of new communication and interaction methods. Texting prompts brevity, the use of abbreviations and symbols. Cross-platform messaging apps such as WhatsApp allow the integration of spoken-language features, multi-participant conversations and multimodal elements as part of written discourse. Social networks like Facebook prompt lexical innovation, the creation and use of memes and the disappearance of spatial and temporal adjacency. Microblogs like Twitter or image and video sharing websites like Pinterest or Flickr organize information in radically different ways, employing new semantic, pragmatic and multimodal structuring methods. Standards in spelling and word formation are changing, and global web communication facilitates the integration of code-switching, the use of lexis from around the world and even the creation of new varieties. In this seminar we will investigate and illustrate just how English is changing in computer-mediated environments. We will also try to describe these and other new language features and types of innovation by collecting and analyzing examples in the existing research context. As part of the seminar, students will also perform hands-on research on one web-based variety by recording and analyzing conversations with one of our partner universities in the context of the Corpus of Academic Spoken English (CASE) project.
A list of topics for presentations and research will be available in the first seminar session. The accompanying voluntary tutorial offers students individual advice on the topics discussed in the seminar. Near the end of the semester, a paper conference will be held to make sure students are headed in the right direction with their term papers. For detailed course requirements please also consult the respective module descriptions.
Please note that there will be an optional research methods tutorial in week two of the semester (prospective date: Friday, 30 October, 13-16). Attendance is strongly recommended! |
