6533b7d2fe1ef96bd125f218

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Les modalités iconiques dans le discours médié par ordinateur: du neuf dans l'interaction?

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Graphic modalities (emoticons, emoji, GIF…) are often presented as one of the distinctive features of computer-mediated interaction. In what may be the first reference book on computer-mediated communication (also known as CMC), American linguist Susan C. Herring goes as far as calling them a “unique feature” of digital interaction (Herring 1996, 3). Since then, many linguists have tempered this view and shown that graphic modalities are by no means specific to CMC. However, they remain one of its salient features. Are they, then, to be considered as an evolution or a revolution in interaction? The real question is indeed what they bring to computer-mediated communication, and their status in interaction. How do those modalities, which are normally attached to non-verbal communication, interact with verbal modalities? Do they sometimes replace them? What is their place and use in interaction? Those questions are the ones this article intends to explore using the tools of discourse analysis, particularly computer-mediated discourse analysis, applied to a dataset composed of interactions on Facebook.