Enquoting voices, accomplishing talk: Uses of be + like in Instant Messaging

Based on a comparative study of informal speech and writing practices within comparable samples of American college students in 2003 and 2006, this article charts a dramatic expansion in the use of quotative like, and of reported speech and thought more generally, in Instant Messaging (IM). The spre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Language & communication 2009, Vol.29 (1), p.77-113
Main Authors: Jones, Graham M., Schieffelin, Bambi B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
College students
Computer mediated communication (CMC)
Instant messaging
Language
Quotative like
Reported speech
Reported thought
Speech
Style
Youth language
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Summary:Based on a comparative study of informal speech and writing practices within comparable samples of American college students in 2003 and 2006, this article charts a dramatic expansion in the use of quotative like, and of reported speech and thought more generally, in Instant Messaging (IM). The spread of be + like from speech, where it was already pervasive, into IM correspondence gives a quotative format once thought exclusively oral new purchase in written language and heralds new strategies of voice representation within a typewritten medium ostensibly limited in its expressive potential. We present this development as evidence of a speech community that recognizes specific quotative forms and functions as constitutive of a preferential conversational style we term ‘polyphonic’, which foregrounds morally and affectively charged voicings.
ISSN:0271-5309
1873-3395
DOI:10.1016/j.langcom.2007.09.003