Submission
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Conversational floors in synchronous text-based CMC discourse
James Simpson
University
of Reading
School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies
Whiteknights
Reading RG6 6AA
j.e.b.simpson@reading.ac.uk
Abstract: This paper presents a study of the discourse characteristics of a virtual community. The data is from the synchronous, or real time, text-based chat forum of Webheads, an internet-based community of learners of English, teachers of English, and others interested in the relationship between language learning and technology. The chat forum is the online meeting place for community members. As such, it is an international site of language use with participants from a range of linguistic backgrounds.
Within this context, some pertinent themes are investigated which relate to a relatively recent form of discourse. Synchronous text-based computer-mediated communication (SCMC) is not a simple hybrid of speech and writing. Rather, speech-like qualities are created by the ability to communicate in writing, in real time, with spatially distant participants in novel social situations.
The discussion centres on the interplay between the technological attributes of the medium, linguistic, discourse and sociocultural conditions within which the participants interact. How do these elements combine to shape the discourse? This question is addressed with reference to the cohesive feature of conversational floor. Because there is a lack of coordination of transfer in the medium, conversational floor emerges as an organising principle in preference to models of conversation based on turn taking.
Three main floor types are discussed and exemplified: the speaker-and-supporter floor, the collaborative floor and the multiple conversational floor. It is further suggested that in addition to the medium-related influences, the development of particular floors is dependent on discourse features such as participant role relations, topic, and communicative action.
Keywords: computer-mediated communication, discourse analysis, conversation analysis, conversational floor, virtual community
