The language of chatgroups 167
female speech.^63 Some studies have already identified salient con-
trasts in certain Internet situations. One study of an academic
newslist showed that males,inter alia, sent longer messages, made
stronger assertions, engaged in more self-promotion, made more
challenges, asked fewer questions, and made fewer apologies. An-
other study, of material from newsgroups and special interest
groups, showed that women used more smileys (p. 36) than men.^64
Not enough research has been done to determine how far differ-
ences of this kind will translate into reliable intuitive impressions
about gender, age, or other personal characteristics. But there is un-
doubtedly much of social–psychological–linguistic interest here.
Why chat?The distinction between asynchronous and synchronous situations
is not absolute. Some authors have noted the ‘asynchronous qual-
ity [of] synchronous computer conferences’.^65 If someone is offline,
in a synchronous chatgroup, messages can be left in that person’s
buffer to be read later. Or again, it is possible to save the text of a
real-time business meeting so that it can be replayed later to an-
other group (perhaps in a different timezone) who will comment
upon it. These comments are then saved and returned to the first
group for further comment; and so the discussion continues.^66
Moreover, several of the issues we have noted as important for
(^63) For example, Lakoff (1975), Tannen (1990), Coates (1993), and, in the context of chat-
groups, Herring (1996b). Some authors think the adoption of a female persona is a
common occurrence in MUDs, where the stratagem evidently guarantees extra attention
from male players (Bruckman, 1993; Wallace, 1999: ch. 11). Cherny (1999: 65) thinks
that the incidence of gender-swapping is low in MUDs, where many players know each
64 other off-line.
Witmer and Katzman (1997), though as only 13.2% of the sample included graphic
accents, the results need further support. Unexpectedly, this study found that challenges
65 and flaming were more common in women than in men.
66 See the references in Cherny (1999: 151).
This procedure is the basis ofPAVE, the ‘PAL Virtual Environment’: see Adams, Toomey,
and Churchill (1999). People communicate by typing text into a box which appears on
the screen as a cartoon balloon. Because long utterances result in large balloons, which
can block out the rest of the screen, users develop the habit of breaking their long remarks
into smaller segments, using carriage returns – a nice example of how a development in
technology influences language structure.