Peculiarities and gender differences in the use of language in informal email messages SUMMARY1. INTRODUCTION 32. DESCRIPTION OF THE PECULIARITIES IN THE USE OF LANGUAGE IN INFORMAL ELECTRONIC MAIL MESSAGES 52.1. SENTENCE STRUCTURE 62.1.1. Declarations 62.1.2. Questions 82.2. VOCABULARY 92.2.1. Symbols 92.2.2. Abbreviations and acronyms 102.2.3. Emotes 122.2.4. Spoken inarticulations 122.2.5. Word formation 132.3. SPELLING AND PUNCTUATION 132.3.1. Spelling 132.3.2. Punctuation 153. GENDER DIFFERENCES IN LANGUAGE USE IN INFORMAL EMAIL MESSAGES 174. CONCLUSIONS 215. BIBLIOGRAPHY 221. INTRODUCTION Computer-mediated communication is a relatively new use of language and has great potential for linguistic research. It's surprisingly playful. Millions of people play games on their computer keyboards, with such humble means as commas, colons, and backslashes. Not only hackers, computer addicts and children, but also serious adults, play with identity, interaction structures and typographical symbols: language. On the computer keyboard, creative individuals sometimes produce surprising effects. Some of these peculiarities have become computer-mediated conventions and will be described in the article. One might call digital writing "tacky" or consider it to conflict with the standards of good writing associated with literate culture, however, for many of us it is a reality, a new culture of cyberspace. Computer-mediated communication includes forms of synchronous and asynchronous communication. This article focuses on the asynchronous form of email messages. Only informal messages were considered, as they differ most from the traditional letter writing style...... middle of paper ......Network clustering: applying a self-associated neural network to computer-mediated discussions . http://jmcm.huji.ac.il/vol2/issue4/berthold.htmlBrenda Danet. Hmmm... where is that smoke coming from?".http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol2/issue4/danet.htmlLee-Ellen Marvin. Spoof, Spam, Lurk and Lag: the aesthetics of virtual based text Reality http://jcmc.huji.ac.il/vol1/issue2/marvin.htmlRogers, E.M. and Rafaeli, S. Computers and Cummunication, Vol. 1, 1985, BDRuben, 135-155 New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.Savicki Victor. Gendered Language Style and Group Composition in Internet Discussion Groups http://jcmc.huji.ac.il/vol2/issue3/savicki/htmlTannen, D. Gender Gap in Cyberspace, May 16, 1994, 54.The online hacker Jargon File, version 2.9.10, 01 JUL 1992", [pg/etext92/jargn10. TXT]