I presented a paper called “Embedded multimodality in text-messages” at the annual Postgraduate Linguistics Conference on 12th May 2010. You can view the relevant abstract below:
Embedded multimodality in text-messages
Due to its text-only character, texting is often perceived as expressively impaired and seen purely as a linguistic experiment.
Based on the analysis of nearly two thousand English and Polish text-messages and referring to multimodal discourse analysis framework, I argue that texting represents “embedded multimodality”, which I define as the use of discursive tools inherent in the primary mode in order to perform multimodal communication within a technologically mono-modal medium.
I distinguish between descriptions and enactment. I also point to the emerging grammar of embedded multimodality. Finally, I suggest some routes along which multimodal elements could have found their way into texting.
