The language of chatgroups 169
be a more accurate description for most of what goes on in a chat-
group situation. And gossip, as in the real world, is of immense
social value.^68
The second reason follows from this. It would seem that, when
the social advantages are so great, people make enormous seman-
tic allowances. Several authors make the point that the presence of
linguistic confusion and incoherence could be inherently attrac-
tive, because the social and personal gains – of participating in
an anonymous, dynamic, transient, experimental, unpredictable
world – are so great. The situation ‘is both dysfunctionally and
advantageously incoherent’, according to Herring.^69 Participating
in the most radical synchronous chatgroups must be like playing
in an enormous, never-ending, crazy game, or attending a perpet-
ual linguistic party, where you bring your language, not a bottle.
The shared linguistic behaviour, precisely because it is so unusual,
fosters a new form of community. The point is made by Davis and
Brewer:^70
The repetitive, rambling, discursive, recursive features of
electronic conference writing may actually, then, serve the
purpose of creating community among its writers, even though
that community is short-lived.The type of community has been described as ‘hyperpersonal’
rather than ‘interpersonal’,^71 and there is some merit in this. Com-
munication does seem to transcend the individual exchange, being
more focused on the group, or its textual record.
People interpret the chatgroup experience in many ways. Patricia
Wallace,forexample,hasprovidedathoroughdiscussionoftheim-
plications in social psychological terms.^72 From a linguistic point of
view, I find chatgroup language fascinating, for two reasons. First, it
(^68) Forthesocialfunctionsofgossip,seeGoodmanandBenZe’ev(1994).Foranevolutionary
69 perspective, see Dunbar (1996).
Herring (1999: 2). In her view, it is ‘the availability of a persistent textual record of the
70 conversation [which] renders the interaction cognitively manageable’.
72 Davis and Brewer (1999: 34).^71 See Walther (1996).
Wallace (1999). The fact that romantic attachments can arise out of chatgroup interac-
tions (being followed up by e-mails, Website photos, and so on) is strong evidence of the
social power inherent in the medium.