ANALYSIS OF AN INTERNET FORUM’S CONVERSATION

G – INTERNET FORUM

R – MIXED: INFORMAL/COLLOQUIAL

A – PUBLIC

M – WRITTEN, WITH SPOKEN FEATURES

P – INTERACTIONAL

S – OPINIONS ABOUT A FESTIVAL

The first thing we see is the view of the screen. It’s evident that is a forum on the internet, because every interlocutor is identified with “user” and a correspondent number. Again, on the top of every message there is written the post subject: “Well what did you think?”.

In the chat there are some linguistic features that make the text messages more immediate and emphatic. Truly that features make me think that it is a conversation on internet.

We see immediately an elongation at the beginning: “Well? Opinions pleeeease…”. This feature gives more emphasis at the request, but it isn’t very useful for rhetorical purposes.

The user 2 answers with an homophonic representation. “2 many people in dance tent – 2 many chavs and underage idiots at beer tents”.  We can see an homophonic representation where a sound/number is used to represent a string of letters. These are very useful because the permit to write faster, so step in immediately.

In the same message, the user 2 utilises a non – standard punctuation: “(…) and too much rain!!!”. This is a great way to express emphasis and give power to what is said.

User 3 replies with a list of good and bad points. He uses emojis like five hearts, in order to express that he has spent a great time with the girl with the pink hat at the beer tent. He also uses a funny smiley for suggesting that the couple in the next tent who kissed loudly all night haven’t just kissed.

User 1 returns into the conversation with an objection about a band who played during the festival that seems to be disapproved by the other users: “Really have no idea why people hate the Vaccines so much. FWIW I thought they were one of the highlights of the weekend”. She uses an initialism, FWIW, that means “for what is worth”. The usage of initialisms or acronyms is really common in internet forums and chats. It allows to express the meaning of a quite long sentence with few words, with a consequent saving of time.

The user number 4 replies her with a kind of slang, for explaining his point of view. He says: “Ova-hyped fake indie. But your entitled to an opinion”. Fist thing we see is the word “ova”, that means “over”. Later I can see the non-standard usage of a possessive pronoun, your. The correct sentence should be: “(…) But you are entitled to an opinion”. He uses this feature for saving time again.

From the linguistic features and the ways the users express their opinions, we can deduce a few hypothesis about their personality.

User 1 probably is a girl. I can deduce this from the usage of the elongation in the first message. This is not typical of boys. She seems to be a curious person and she is not afraid of stating her opinion.

User 2 is a frank person as well. I can see this from the way he express his opinion in his unique message. He seems to like having fun in a moderate way. There aren’t sufficient indications about the gender.

User 3 is probably a male: in the list of good points of the festival he says: “the girl with the pink hat at the woodland beer tent”, adding hearts. He seems to be a funny person: he is ironic and he doesn’t spare comments to anyone. Probably he is also a methodical person: he gives a clear list of what was good and what was not.

We don’t know the gender of user 4. Apparently he seems to be an expert in music. He has well-defined opinions, but he is respectful and he cares about other people’s opinions.