Conversational Analysis of Chatroom Talk

Thesis Timetable (2001)

• April (15-30): Case Study 1 completed
• May: Case Study 2 completed
• June: Case Study 3 completed
• July: Case Study 4 completed
• August: Case Study 5 completed
• September: Comparison of Case Studies 1–5
• October: Conclusion
• November: Literature review completed, first draft of thesis
• December: Second draft completed
• January 2002: Thesis submission

Thesis Outline

Abstract

Introduction

• Statement of the Problem
  • Why examine chatroom dialogue?
  • How is electronic talk comparable to verbal talk?
• Analyzing Chatroom 'Talk'
  • Research questions
  • Research hypothesis
• How 'chat' differs from natural conversation

Literature Review: Approaches to Analyzing Chatroom Conversation

• Conversational Analysis (CA)
• Speech Act (SA) Theory
• Discourse Analysis (DA)
• Reading Theory (including hypertextuality)
• Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC)
  • Electronic Communicated Analysis
  • Computational Linguistics
  • Text and Corpus Analysis
• Semiotics
  • Pragmatics
• Linguistics (to establish a chatroom linguistics)
  • Prague School of Linguistics
  • Dependency Grammar
  • Tagmemics
  • Stratification Grammar
  • Systemic Linguistics
  • Optimality Theory

Methodology

• Development of a transcription methodology protocol
  • Qualitative analysis of chatrooms using QSR NUD.IST 4
• Grammatical patterns in chatroom 'talk' (abbreviations, emoticons)
• Role changes in chatroom 'talk'
• Patterns of interaction
• Mood establishment and changes
• Turn-taking and threads
• Chunk and chat segments
• Types of chatrooms

Chatroom Analysis: Case Studies

• Case Study 1: Emergency (Hurricane Floyd Chat)
  • Reason for choosing this chatroom
  • Methodology
  • Grammar of chat
  • Discourse structures
  • Analysis
  • Conclusion
• Case Study 2: Topic-Specific (Astrology Chat)
  • Reason for choosing this chatroom
  • Methodology
  • Grammar of chat
  • Discourse structures
  • Analysis
  • Conclusion
• Case Study 3: General Chat (No Specific Topic)
  • Reason for choosing this chatroom
  • Methodology
  • Grammar of chat
  • Discourse structures
  • Analysis
  • Conclusion
• Case Study 4: Topic-Specific (Web3D Computer Modelling Chat)
  • Reason for choosing this chatroom
  • Methodology
  • Grammar of chat
  • Discourse structures
  • Analysis
  • Conclusion
• Case Study 5: General Chat in Topic-Specific Chatroom (Britney Spears Chat)
  • Reason for choosing this chatroom
  • Methodology
  • Grammar of chat
  • Discourse structures
  • Analysis
  • Conclusion
• Case Study 6: Topic-Specific (Baseball Chat)
  • Reason for choosing this chatroom
  • Methodology
  • Grammar of chat
  • Discourse structures
  • Analysis
  • Conclusion
• Case Study 7: Sexual Chatrooms
  • Reason for choosing this chatroom
  • Methodology
  • Grammar of chat
  • Discourse structures
  • Analysis
  • Conclusion

Overall Chat-Table Comparison

Conclusion

Bibliography

Appendices

• Proposal for Thesis
• Ethics proposal and approval
• Links to related work on chatrooms, MUDS, MOOS, IRC, virtual communities
• Southern Expressway: Online journal with chatroom for research
• Master’s thesis: The Influence of the Internet on Literature
• Glossary: Common abbreviations and emoticons