The English language : rumors of its death are greatly exaggerated : registers in instant messaging conversations

This article looks into accounts of the computer mediated discourse medium of instant messaging programs. Previous accounts have compared communication within this medium either to solely written or to solely spoken language, thus neglecting its relationship to both or to the constraints generated specifically by the medium. Such accounts have therefore, often come to erroneously alarming conclusions. This article lays out an argument for the treatment of computer mediated communication through instant messaging programs as the beginnings of a set of new registers.