Letter and Punctuation Mark Repeats as Cues in Computer-Mediated Communication

• In Event: Constructing Meaning With and Through the Internet

Abstract

Analysis of an extensive corpus of half a million e-mail messages reveals abundant use of letter repeats and of punctuation mark repeats. The role of these repeats as paralinguistic cues in CMC is explored through quantitative and qualitative analysis. The findings of this study strengthen the claim that CMC has additional and important cues, beyond chronemics and emoticons. Implications of the findings on hyperpersonal communication and social information processing in CMC are presented.

Authors

• Yoram M. Kalman, The Open University of Israel

• Darren Gergle, Northwestern University