Laughing online: Investigating written laughter, language identity and their implications for language acquisition

Abstract

Research in computer mediated communication and sociolinguistics, have increasingly highlighted the concept of establishing an "online identity" through specific language use. However, while emojis or common netspeak abbreviations are often the focus of research concerned with cyber language, no studies have considered the function laughter might play in establishing an online language identity. Furthermore, no studies have considered the possible significance of online laughter in terms of language acquisition. Researchers now have the opportunity to study laughter from a linguistic perspective since laughing online is illustrated through the use of emojis or typed text. The present study considers how the data and research in previous studies on written laughter and language identity can be combined to support arguments that laughing in a specific language online not only expresses the language identity of an individual, but should be considered an important aspect of second language acquisition.

Laughing Online: A Morpho-Semantic Study on Typed Laughter-Derived Expressions Used in Hijazi Twitter and WhatsApp Instant Messages

“…Studying online laughter in English, it was found that laughter can be expressed through the use of acronyms and initialisms such as lol to stand for laugh out loud, onomatopoeic expressions such as haha, haphazard letters such as mwhaha, or specific emojis such as😂 (McKay 2020;Christopherson 2013;Kadir et al 2012). Grundlingh (2020) studying written laughter online in different languages from a sociolinguistic and pedagogical point of view found out that written language is language-specific marking the user's identity.…”

Studi Awal “Wkwk”: Ekspresi Tulisan Tawa Daring Masyarakat Indonesia

“…Jika mengacu pada pendapat ini, maka tidak salah mengasumsikan bahwa "wkwk" dikategorikan sebagai onomatope. Menurut Grundlingh (2020), onomatope mudah ditemukan dan dikaitkan keberadaannya dengan bahasa-bahasa tertentu. Nash (2001) menyebutkan bahwa setiap bahasa yang berbeda membuat bentuk onomatope yang berbeda pula dengan mengikuti struktur bahasanya yang berlaku.…”