Abstract:
Communication through CMC (computer-mediated conversation) is hazardous. The commonality of CMC misunderstandings suggests this conclusion: proper grammar is not always adequate for expressing meaning. Many attempts have been made to bridge the gap between CMC and speech, but while academics were inventing fanciful additions to the keyboard, millennials were developing their own tactics for inserting nuance into CMC. Although some observers are quick to accuse millennials of illiteracy or laziness, dissection of these trends reveals that, since millennials engage in CMC at far higher rates than older generations, they have subsequently developed a number of grammatical quirks intended to mimic the nuances of face-to-face conversation in CMC. Through examining millennials’ treatments of sarcasm and emphasis as examples, the purposes behind these linguistic trends will be revealed, hopefully explaining if not outright justifying the phenomena.
Full Work: