It's Like, IMing Is So Like Talking

Jan. 22, 2008 -- Instant messaging, a synchronous form of typed, computer-mediated communication, is becoming more conversational, blurring the divide between face-to-face speech and writing, suggests a new study.

Evidence for the change includes the growing use of forms of "to be" combined with the word "like," as in, "He was like, 'It's so interesting.'" The practice is commonly known as "Valley Girl speak," but linguists refer to it as "be + like" or "quotative like."

"What we document is the use of quotative like in spontaneous writing, where people are using it -- a lot -- as a tool for quoting the speech and thought of themselves and others," co-author Bambi Schieffelin told Discovery News.

"What this suggests is that IMers experience the activity of IMing as very similar to face-to-face talk," she added. "Indeed, we find that they go out of their way to develop styles of writing that make IM more like talk."

Schieffelin, a professor of anthropology at New York University, and colleague Graham Jones had student investigators between the ages of 18 and 20 collect data on their own speech and IM practices in the years 2003 and 2006. In total, 33 face-to-face conversations and 132 IM sessions were recorded.

As the recordings demonstrate, students kept their communications raw and real.

For example, one speaker, Ellen, visited her doctor and documented this face-to-face chat she had afterwards with a friend: "And umm and he was like you know alright and so then he took my blood pressure and he was like it's a little bit high did you eat a lot of salt last night? And I was like dude, I had pizza."

Another student, Tom, recorded this from an IM: "Haha and marc asked if i wanted to get dinner tomorrow and im like…I have clas (sic)…and hes like at night? and im like yup…and hes like what about lunch in the afternoon…and im like oh i have class then too…"

While such casual chit chats and writing might horrify parents, the researchers believe that quotative like serves a valuable function, particularly in IMing. Without it, speakers and computer users are limited to standard verbs, such as "say" and "think," to introduce quotations of speech or thought.