Stylistic Analysis Of Online Forum Posts On Casual Topics

This thesis first gives a brief introduction to the establishment and development of computer-mediated communication (CMC), and summarizes the most popular situations of CMC on the Internet. It then compares the online forum discussion to other important situations of online information transmission, and points out the differences in their functions and message formations. This study also reviews literature on linguistic and stylistic studies concerning CMC at home and abroad.Aiming at identifying language habits of online forum posts on casual topics and investigating the impacts the Internet makes on the electronic texts published on the new medium, the study attempts to utilize both the linguistic description and contextual factors analysis on the 71 online forum posts written by 51 posters. Three linguistic levels are examined: the graphological, the lexical and the syntactic-grammatical level.At the graphological level, the study reveals the unique format and information layout of the forum messages that are different from those of traditional letter or message writings. With the employment of personal avatars, the quoted texts, the pictures and emoticons provided by the forum software, the forum communication appears to be more informative and interactive. At the lexical level, the forum messages reveal dimensions of stylistic features that are similar to those found in oral communication: the simple vocabulary, informal diction and the employment of...