22nd Annual Student Research Conference
The Evolution of the Ellipsis in Internet Discourse
Stefani Grodie
Dr. Sally Cook, Faculty Mentor
As technology advances and the need for faster written communication increases, the standard uses of English punctuation are changing. For example, ellipses have taken on a wider variety of uses in Internet communication, often used as replacements for commas, periods, and paragraph indentations, and even utilized to help relay emotions such as humor and anger. In this study, more than a hundred public Facebook wall posts were randomly collected and analyzed. For example, some of the sample posts began with an ellipsis, and others contained ellipses as the only form of punctuation in the entire message. The purpose of this research was to categorize the functions of ellipses in Internet communication, and to also consider whether the sex of the author and the sex of the recipient influences the use of ellipses.
Keywords: Language, Gender, Grammar, Internet Communication
Topic(s):Linguistics
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 44-3
Location: OP 2117
Time: 1:45