Speaking, writing, playing : Multimodal alternation in online multiplayer videogames

This paper investigates the discourse-functional use of speech and writing by players of online multiplayer videogames. In these multimodal interfaces, the players can write and talk about the game or any other topic either through written chat or orally through microphones. This dual technical affordance is presently considered as a linguistic resource in the management of the interaction, following the hypothesis that different semiotic modes fulfil different linguistic functions and that multimodal alternation should be interpreted as a pragmatically-motivated, meaningful device in this type of interactive environment. The paper provides a qualitative analysis of several cases of multimodal alternation extracted from recordings of Belgian French-speaking players.