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Volume 2, Issue 1
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Abstract

Abstract

This article focuses on the question of whether online news comments are like face-to-face conversation or not. It is a widespread view that online comments are like “dialogue”, with comments often being referred to as “conversations”. These assumptions, however, lack empirical back-up. In order to answer this question, we systematically explore register-relevant properties of online news comments using multi-dimensional analysis (MDA) techniques. Specifically, we apply MDA to establish what online comments are like by describing their linguistic features and comparing them to traditional registers (e.g. face-to-face conversation, academic writing). Thus, we tap the and the Canadian component of the . We show that online comments are not like spontaneous conversation but rather closer to opinion articles or exams, and clearly constitute a written register. Furthermore, they should be described as instances of argumentative evaluative language.

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2020-04-10
2023-12-02

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Are online news comments like face-to-face conversation?
Register Studies 2, 1 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1075/rs.19012.ehr
/content/journals/10.1075/rs.19012.ehr
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): corpus linguistics; multi-dimensional analysis; register variation; social media language

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