Gender, Identity, and Language Use in Web Discussion Forum and Mobile Phone Txt Messages

Abstract

This study explored and compared both online and txt (text) messaging gender and identity construction and language use among adult males and females. The online gender and identity construction and language use concerned adult males and females who participated in a web discussion forum (WDF) while the txt messaging gender and identity construction and language use related to adult male and female users of mobile technologies from South Africa. The specific WDF serving as a focal point for the study was http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/becomingwebhead, whereas the specific mobile technologies on which the study focused were mobile phones (MPs). Online and MP txt messaging gender and identity construction and language use were examined in terms of the disclosure of personal information, sexual identity, emotive features and semantic themes (Huffaker and Calvert 2005). Some of the findings of this study are as follows: both females and males investigated here tended to construct their identities both similarly and differently depending on the form of technology they employed; in both the WDF and MP messages, more females tended to employ emoticons than did males and the same was true of the emotive traits related to expressive language; the two genders engaged in intimate topics in varying degrees; and both genders seemed to employ passive and cooperative language (and accommodating language to some degree) very nearly similarly.

Keywords

• gender
• identity
• language use
• web discussion forum
• txt messages