Embedded paralinguistics in textual computer-mediated communication: Is a picture really worth a thousand words

Technology has spurred the development of intriguing additions to written language. Since the 1970s, there has been the necessity or perceived necessity of adding embedded paralinguistics; symbols, textual cues, emoticons, and graphics into textual computer-mediated communications to transmit the nonverbal aspects of speech. Drawing on the literature concerning nonverbal cues and computer-mediated communication, this study endeavored to discover if the addition of nonverbal paralinguistical cues into textual computer-mediated communication significantly impacts the narrative fidelity of the message; the ability of the receiver to understand the message being sent. The research used an experimental model that implemented a two factor, 4 x 4 experimental design tested by a General Linear Model (GML) two-way classification MANOVA. The results of this study indicated that the embedding of nonverbal cues did not have a significant effect on the narrative fidelity of the presented messages. None of the three selected styles of embedded paralinguistics, significantly enhanced the reader's understanding of the writer's tone or the reader's perception of the strength with which that message communicated that tone. In every case the messages containing embedded linguistics did not generate significantly different interpretations than the corresponding controlled message with no embedded paralinguistic.