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Tuesday 22 May 2012

Good laugh (and great resource)

I was looking for authentic texts for my students to analyse during my Language and the Internet classes, when I came across



(DISCLAIMER: Read before opening the link above.
 The above site is highly addictive. Make sure you have sufficient time to browse because if you start reading the entries, you won't be able to stop for quite some time. )

Not only are these autocorrections hilarious, but they are a phenomenal source for observing computer-mediated discourse in action.

This one below, for instance, is a great example of using ALL CAPS  strategically to give emphasis, but NOT shouting. 

I would classify it as a form of orthographic eye-dialect - which means a method of using orthography in order to capture the audio qualities of spoken language, such as dialect, intonation, emphasis or tone.

This one here is a great basis to start talking about word formation processes and morphology.




LOL is an acronym, formed from the initial letters of "laughing out loud", but this example shows its status as a new word of the English lexicon. The use of the inflectional morpheme ( -ed) could be an indicator of its new status.

And finally, a funny one with lots of exclamation marks.  Enjoy.



 

1 comment:

  1. You are so right... completely addictive. I laughed til I cried. Next time I'll pay more attention to the linguistically interesting stuff. (Some are definitely typos rather than autocorrect.)

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