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| CMC - Afifah (Question 3) |
| Mar 25, 2009 |
Question 3
Asynchronous CMC : Forum
Web URL : http://www.gsmarena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23850
Topic : Nokia 5800 good or bad
Discourse Analysis : REGISTER in technology, multimedia and gadget world
Asynchronous CMC refers to a kind of delayed communication that gives some time to users before responding to it. Some examples of asynchronous CMC are forums, e-mails, blogs, discussion lists and bulletin boards. I have chosen a gadgets forum, specifically about the good and bad things of a mobile phone, Nokia 5800. The discourse pattern of interaction in this forum will be analysed in terms of register.
Register is a linguistic term which refers to “a set of features of speech or writing characteristic of a particular type of linguistic activity or a particular group when engaging in it”. Usually, words can be classified as a register when they are used by a group of people and other people who do not belong to this group will never know what some or all of the words mean. Register can be used formally or informally, as long as the message gets acrossed.
Throughout the forum discussion, almost all the users produced certain similar words that are unfamiliar to those who do not know or have less knowledge about technology, multimedia and gadgets. Therefore, register here can be defined as the language of a group of people who share similar or common interests. It also refers to language used in situations related to such group, particularly those people who involved in this forum.
Some examples of register that can be found from the users’ writing are 3d accelerator, grafix card, firmware, chipset, freescale, Geo tagging, touch interface, BETA, S60, IPHONE, IMAP servers, voice navigation, gen firmware, activation key, Garmin, TomTom, McGuider, Route66, GPRS, WIFI and many more. Obviously, not all of these words can be easily understood by people who are new to technology.
It is very important for people to know register of a particular group if they want to be associated and part of that group. In addition, by knowing a group’s register, people can find it quite easy to understand the language used and they will be accepted as members. Nonetheless, if there is any person who wants to know about Nokia 5800 and he or she accidentally comes acrossed this forum, he or she will not easily understand every single word of the group members if he or she is not willing to learn that language.
Based on the use of register in this forum, it can be predicted that even though some registers are shorten, they can still be understood by all members of this forum because there is no member asking the meaning of such shorten words written by other members. Obviously, the choice of register for this forum is very appropriate as it does not lead people to confusion or misunderstanding.
Now I will discuss the meaning of some unfamiliar registers appeared throughout this discussion. Firstly is 3d accelerator which definitely does not refer to the pedal in a vehicle that controls its speed, but is a three-dimensional computer hardware that enhances the speed of any operating program. Secondly is GPS, an abbreviation for global positioning system which functions to fix the radio receiver location on the earth’s surface by using satellite signals.
There are some examples of GPS occurred in this forum; Garmin, TomTom, McGuider and Route66. One member does mention that Route66 is not a GPS navigation device and he suggests the other three devices. From his suggestion, it can be assumed that this member has a wide knowledge about technology and anything related to it, or he probably has tried using all the four navigators. Apparently, by suggesting and commenting about GPS devices, people may assume that this particular member knows a lot and be influenced by him.
Moreover, some members shorten certain words because they know other members can understand the things that they talk about. For instance, instead of writing ‘version’, they just write ‘v’ and ‘vs’, ‘megapixel’ becomes ‘mp’ as well as ‘navi’ for ‘navigation’. They perhaps want to be friendlier towards one another and to create a closer relationship by using informal words. In addition, members might shorten several words because they type their message very fast or in a hurry.
One important thing to be noted from this discussion is no member tends to correct other members even though they have made some language errors like spelling and capitalization. This shows that the forum users are not very serious about being perfect in language because as long as they can interpret the message clearly, they care less on such errors. Sometimes, people know that they commit language errors but since no one corrects them, they will continue to make the same errors and this situation is a bad way to learn a language.
Furthermore, there are several familiar registers appeared in this forum such as email, sim card, upgrade and YouTube. Such known words may help new members of this forum to understand some of the shared knowledge. Hence, these new members will not easily be lost once they joined the forum as they can also guess some new words that they encounter, and this won’t be a problem because people will easily learn and understand things that they are interested in.
In conclusion, this forum discussion contains informality in words as its members are only discussing and sharing their interest, and apparently, their chosen topic is a leisure one which does not require them to be very formal that sometimes can lead them to be someone that they are not as they have to explain every single thing in details. Register is a good example of solidarity between people of the same or common interests.
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posted by PiNk ButTeRfLy @ 10:59 PM  |
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