How Electronic Communication Changes English Language

Slovakia, ID LLCE2015-183

ABSTRACT: The electronic communication makes connection among people distant thousands of miles possible. The main objective of the paper is to describe, explain, and analyze the essential nature of this new form of communication by pointing to its crucial features which make it hybrid of spoken discourse and written texts. The theoretical background lays in the explanation of different understanding of terms ´discourse´ and ´text. The theoretical framework of the paper is backed up by the arguments of such thinkers as Crystal, Davy, or Halliday. The special attention is paid to the Internet communication on pre-selected social networks with the particular emphasis on the Facebook as it is the largest and that is why also the most influential network of its kind. This new phenomenon in communication means a challenge to traditional ways of communication, especially to written language. Attention is paid not only to the linguistic phenomena of the Facebook communication, but also to search for the advantages and disadvantages for its interlocutors.

KEYWORDS: chat; spoken and written discourse