Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 11:58:48 +0100

From: Mike FOX-ecki mlisecki[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]KKI.NET.PL

Subject: email/irc MA thesis survey



If you feel like helping a fellow linguist-to-be in writing his MA thesis

about the Internet "dialect" then you might help him doing this survey.

NOTE: You should be acquainted with IRC, unless you only do the three

questions about email. If you would rather help me with the survey about

MUDing then let me know and I shall mail it to you. Any other questions? I'd

be glad to answer them. mlisecki[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]kki.net.pl

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==

My name is Michal Lisecki, and I am a fifth year student at University of

Silesia, Poland. My nick on the IRC is usually either "lisu" or "cmc". I

am currently working on my thesis under the subject: An Interdisciplinary

Study of Computer-mediated Communication. The Language of the Internet on

the basis of selected services /email, IRC, MOOs/MUDs./

The following survey is to help me analyze my data on email, IRC in Polish

and English. All replies will be kept strictly anonymous.

For the following questions, please give as much detail in your answers as

you feel comfortable revealing. Please forward this to any of your friends.

I did not think it will be that hard to get the respondents.

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====

++++ IRC ++++

Question 1. Are you a native speaker of English?

Question 2. When using IRC, do you feel that you are "talking" to other

people, or "writing" to them? If neither, with what would you compare IRC?

Question 3. Is it possible to have IRC friends, or just acquaintances?

----------- GREETINGS / LEAVE-TAKINGS -------------

Question 4. When you enter a channel for the first time, how would you greet

the people who are already there?

Question 5. When you enter a channel for the second (or more) time, how

would you greet the people who are already there?

Quesion 6. When leaving a channel how do you usually say goodbye? (give as

many examples as you can think of)

Question 7. You are already in a channel when a new person joins it. How

would you greet them (or would you greet them at all) if:

a. you already know this person?

b. you do not already know this person?

Question 8. You are already in a channel when someone who is in the same

channel as yourself has to leave. What would you say (if anything) if:

a. You know this person, and he will be coming back soon?

b. You know this person, but he will not be back until tomorrow at the

earliest?

d. You DON'T know this person, but he will be coming back soon?

e. You DON'T know this person, and he will not be back until tomorrow at

the earliest?

------------ PARTICLES / PHONETIC SPELLING ------------

Question 9. Particles are a part of speech -- they are often spoken, but

hardly ever written. How often do you use particles in your IRC

communication?

a. Never

b. Sometimes, but seldom

c. Often

d. Very often

e. Always

(Particles are words like "ummm", "well", "you see", "the thing is ..."

etc.)

Question 10. English isn't always pronounced as it is written. Sometimes

people say "hoi" instead of "hi", "dawg" instead of "dog", "ya" instead of

"you", "watcha upta" instead of "what are you up to? etc. How often do you

write English as it is pronounced on Internet Relay Chat?

a. Never

b. Sometimes, but seldom

c. Often

d. Very often

e. Always

------------ EMOTIONS AND ACTIONS -------------

Question 11. Do you believe it is possible to express emotions on Internet

Relay Chat? If yes, how does one do so? eg. use of capitalisation,

emoticons, letter-repetition (ie. Hellooooo, reeeeeeeee), use of multiple

punctuation marks (ie. hi :))))) !!!!!!!!), the "/me" command, a combination

or all of the above, or something else?

Question 12. Do you believe it is possible to express actions on Internet

Relay Chat? If yes, how does one do so?

------------- NICKS -------------

Question 13. a. Is choice of Nick important to you?

b. How did you come to choose your nick?

c. How do you usually indicate whether your message is intended

for one person or the entire channel?

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