Conversation Analysis of Internet Relay Chat……………….……………… 56 4.1 Address Forms……………………………………………………………56 4.1.1 Theoretical Background……………………………………………
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Masarykova univerzita v Brně Filozofická fakulta Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky Studijní program: 7301 V Filologie Studijní obor: anglický jazyk Language of Internet Relay Chat disertační práce Školitelka: PhDr. Jitka Vlčková, Ph.D. Brno 2006 Mgr. Šárka Kašičková Prohlašuji, že jsem disertační práci vypracovala samostatně a v seznamu pramenů a literatury uvedla veškeré použité informační zdroje. 2 Acknowledgements I would like to express my thankfulness to my supervisor, Ph.Dr. Jitka Vlčková, Ph.D. , for her guidance, valuable feedback and support that she provided throughout this work. For advice and assistance with statistical methods, I would like to thank my colleague Ing. Vladimíra Valentová, Ph.D. For correction of grammar and spelling I express thanks to my colleague Gladice Hughes, M.Sc. Finally, I would like to thank my partner Jan and my family for their moral support. Without their patience and tolerance this thesis would have not been completed. 3 Summary This work makes an inquiry into the conversation practises on Internet Relay Chat (hereafter IRC) that are determined by specific conditions of an Internet chatroom. The specific conditions are anonymity, the lack of audio-visual cues and an exclusive text-based interaction. In this respect, it focuses on those conversational elements that are regarded pivotal for successful communication. These conversation techniques are address forms, opening sequences, closing sequences and turn-allocation strategies. This empirical study of IRC language sets the aim of investigating the impact of age on the given conversation strategies on IRC and to answer the following research question: To what extent are specified conversation techniques used on Internet Relay Chat affected by the variable of age? Two main hypotheses are verified throughout the analysis: H0 claims that conversational techniques used on IRC are independent of age, while H1 states that the form of communication on IRC depends on age. Furthermore, three representative age groups have been selected and particular attention has been paid to their performance in a chatroom. The age groups under investigation are as follows – Teens (13-19 years old), 30+ (30-59 years old) and 60+ (over 60 years old). A substantial corpus containing 2,382 IRC messages was collected in years 2004 and 2005 from various chat providers. Each age group contains an equal number of 794 messages. The conversation analysis presented in this work, then, draws on two sources: the research done in spoken conversation: address forms (Adler, 1978; Brown and Ford, 1964; Little and Gelles, 1975); opening sequences (Schegloff, 1968; Schiffrin, 1977); closing sequences (Schegloff and Sacks 1973; McLaughlin, 1974); turn- allocation strategies (Sacks et al., 1974; Zimmerman, Boden, 1991; Schegloff, 2000) and the research in Internet language (Herring, 1996; Werry, 1996; Rintel et al. 2001; Panyametheekul, Herring, 2003 and others). The statistical comparison of the age groups reveals quantitatively and qualitatively varied distribution of individual elements across the age groups and their different proportions. Thus, the data obtained via the analysis also points to distinct conversation techniques and „rituals‟ employed by the groups in their discourse. 4 The thorough analysis and the results can be found in the practical part of the thesis - chapters 4.1 Address Forms, 4.2 Opening Sequences, 4.3 Closing sequences and 4.4 Turn-allocation Strategies. The whole corpus is attached to the dissertation in a form of an Appendix. The main contribution of the thesis to the field of linguistics and conversation analysis is to be viewed as follows: 1. It introduces a rather novel and non-traditional view to the conversation techniques of synchronous Internet chatting related to the variable of age. 2. It demonstrates the variation of conversation methods of individual age groups. 3. Address forms – It has been found that they are closely linked to the level and quality of communication on IRC. In Teens chatting resembles individual „shout outs‟ without any specific coherence and a very limited number of attempts for real conversation, therefore we cannot expect a high number of address forms. On the contrary, 60+ IRC participants develop a more sophisticated type of conversation that resembles spoken exchanges where nearly every participant entering the chatroom is addressed and greeted. In this conduct, I observe a kind of ritual or a norm of behaviour that every participant entering the chatroom should follow to be successful in an interaction. 4. Opening sequences – It has been found that greetings and AJS summons hold the first positions from the point of view of frequency and efficiency. This means that the standard opening strategy consisting of a range: AJS → greeting → question → contact advertisement represents the „ritual of access‟ on IRC regardless the age. 5. Closing sequences – I observe the following sequence: ALS without any previous contribution → ALS with a previous contribution → continuity statements → pre- closing sentence+continuity statements+welfare concern. However, when age is taken into account, the results show that the group 60+ follows the rules resembling a spoken interaction more than the other two groups. This means that the closing sequence in 60+ is: continuity statements → pre-closing → welfare concern → saying goodbye. Closing sequences in 60+ represent 65 per cent of the total occurrence rate. The results of my analysis suggest that the older the chat participants, the more important and frequent it is, after establishing a certain kind of relationship inside a chat room, to reaffirm it with continuity statements, well-wishing or creative cyber closings, group 30+ and 60+. Provided that there was no need for chat participants to act in this way, there would be no need for good-byes either, and the conversation could end with 5 a vague pre-closing topic, termination section acknowledged with ALS or with no closing at all as in the majority of cases in the Teen group. 6. Turn-allocation strategies - My findings based on quantitative and qualitative analyses point out that the most used strategy is Strategy A, the current speaker selects the next speaker, 75.5 per cent regardless of age. In other words, this one bears the most resemblance to the circumstances of face-to-face conversation, with a limited number of overlapping contributions. Still, I claim that the transfer of turn-taking skills from a face-to-face setting to the IRC environment is problematic. It is important to mention that one of the most specific characteristics of IRC is its semi-permanence. This means that previous utterances, or turns, are available for direct review by conversational partners. This feature affects conversational practises in many ways. The prevalence of Strategy A may be the consequence of this effect. IRC, serving as a record of participants‟ input, may also help suppress some problems associated with the increase of a group size. Thus, the circumstances described above provide users with a flexibility that is not possible in face-to-face conditions. 7. The analysis verifies the hypothesis H1 and confirms that that age has a medium- strong affect on the conversational practises of chatroom participants in all four conversational denominations. 8. Apart from quantitative and qualitative methods, the work introduces another statistical method of chi-square test for independence that verifies strength of dependence of individual variables. The study is expected not only to be an asset for understanding the principles of synchronous Internet chatting, albeit this is its central objective, but also to provide some valuable hints as regards the rules, norms and rituals governing Internet Relay Chat in general. Thus, the analysis may serve as a helpful aid for chat providers working to improve the IRC interaction programmes, and where age becomes one of the main denominators. 6 Shrnutí Tématem této práce jsou konverzační metody při synchronním chatování na Internetu, které jsou podmíněny specifickými podmínkami chatovací místnosti. Tyto specifické podmínky jsou anonymita, nedostatek audio-vizuálních podnětů a interakce založená výhradně na písemném projevu. Práce se tudíž zaměřuje na takové konverzační prvky, které jsou považovány za nezbytné pro úspěšnou konverzaci. Jsou to formy oslovení, sekvence zahájení konverzace, sekvence ukončení konverzace a konverzační strategie “turn-taking”. Tato empirická studie jazyka synchronního chatování na Internetu si klade za cíl prozkoumat vliv věku na dané konverzační strategie a odpovědět na následující výzkumnou otázku: Do jaké míry jsou konverzační techniky užívané při synchronním chatování na Internetu ovlivněné věkem? Během analýzy jsou ověřovány tyto dvě hypotézy: hypotéza H0 tvrdí, že konverzační techniky nejsou závislé na věku, hypotéza H1 tvrdí, že konverzační techniky jsou závislé na věku. K tomuto účelu byly vybrány tři reprezentativní věkové skupiny a bylo sledováno jejich chování v chatovacích místnostech. Předmětem zkoumání jsou následující věkové skupiny: Mladiství (13-19 let), 30+ (30-59 let) a 60+ (přes 60 let). Vytvořený korpus obsahuje 2 382 Internetových zpráv a byl shromážděn mezi roky 2004 a 2005 od různých poskytovatelů chatovacích místností. Každá věková skupina zahrnuje 794 Internetových zpráv. Konverzační analýza prezentovaná v této práci vychází ze dvou zdrojů: z výzkumu v oblasti mluvené konverzace a výzkumu z oblasti Internetového jazyka. První část výzkumu