사이버 공간의 채팅문화와 언어적 특성

CMC Culture and Linguistic Characteristics in the Cyber Space

This paper aims to investigate cultural phenomena and various kinds of linguistic characteristics of the language used in computer-mediated communication (CMC). There are general characteristics in the Internet language used in CMC. Spoken forms are generally preferred to written forms; Simplified forms are used to save time; Abbreviated cyber languages are created; New words based on sound, image, or action are used, and so forth. Specifically, in terms of lexical aspect of languages used in CMC, Internet users often coin new jargons and slang and use onomatopoeia. Regarding phonological aspects, computer users usually delete consonants and vowels to type fast and add /n/-sound to communicate with each other friendly. Also they often use soundalike slang in order to convert ordinary words or phrases into something new. Furthermore, they use abbreviated forms, form variations, honorific forms, and semantic tansfer in terms of syntactic and semantic aspects. It was also pointed out that there are negative aspects due to the Internet language used in CMC such as too excessive use of new jargons and slang, flagrant violations of grammar or orthography, and consequent miscommunication between older and younger generations, and so forth. However, it is a reality that Internet users form their own cyber community which is one of the important features the cyber space shares. Internet users express their own culture, interest and way of life by using Internet languages. They also try to find their identity and their own cyber community by using their own language, viz, Internet language. In this regard, it is a reasonable way to understand the languages used in CMC as a general subcultural phenomenon of N generations.