92 LANGUAGE AND THE INTERNET
has limited Internet presence. Likewise, the use of programming
devices that affect or replace conventional grammatical construc-
tions tends to be very restricted in its occurrence. For example,
the symbolP(a notation from the programming language LISP)
is sometimes added at the end of a word to turn it into a question,
usually of a ‘yes/no’ type:
GlobeP=are you going to the Globe?Cognoscenti might respond withT[‘true’] orNIL[‘no’]. Again,
the effect is indicative of a restricted genre among in-group en-
thusiasts rather than of a productive strategy being employed by
Internet users in general. Features of this kind, along with associ-
ated discourse features, are thus best discussed in relation to the
individual Internet situation in which they occur.
This chapter has discussed the main linguistic features which
people consider to be part of Netspeak. In some cases, the fea-
tures are genuinely present, encountered on most online visits. In
others, they are assumed to be present, though in fact the assump-
tions made are often wide of the mark. And in yet others, people
want them to be present, on the basis of a private belief about the
way Internet language should develop. The lexico-graphological
distinctiveness described above, along with the general character-
istics of the medium outlined in chapter 2, provide a solid basis
for the impression I have of Netspeak as a genuine language vari-
ety. On the other hand, the differing expectations, interests, and
abilities of users, the rapid changes in computer technology and
availability, and the rate at which language change seems to be
taking place across the Internet (much faster than at any previous
time in linguistic history) means that it is difficult to be definitive
about the variety’s characteristics. Doubtless some of the linguis-
tic features described above will still be contributing to Netspeak’s
identity in fifty years’ time; others may not last another year. Al-
ready hacker guides talk routinely about features which were com-
monplace ‘back in the mid-90s’. In discussing the frequency of a
Netspeak idiom with a hacker friend, I was told that its popularity