Orality and writing on the Internet

Abstract

In this brief essay I will describe the presence of oral features in written communication through the Internet. Such features are produced out of a variety of conditions which promote the use of language not in a regulatory or institutional way, but closer to what could be distinguished in a face-to-face conversation. The conditions which contribute to the appearance of oral features not only restrict to the variety of textual resources which users utilize in order to perform the communicative act through the net, but certain factors —such as the conception of writing on a new visual platform, as well as the context in which different programs are used to be able to establish a conversation— also foster the use of this type of communication and of such oral features.