Information structure of voice messages in instant messaging
Abstract
Despite the many similarities between instant messaging conversation and face-to-face spoken interaction, both have particular characteristics. One of the most defining aspects of the former is the channel switching of the verbal content, which can be transmitted as written text or voice messages. This paper focuses precisely on the discursive features of WhatsApp audios, one of the most widely used instant messaging applications today. The main objective of this research is twofold: to understand how WhatsApp audios are inserted within the conversational structure and to determine whether they present an internal organisation that reflects the formation mechanisms used by the speakers when uttering them. From a macrosyntactic model, the distribution of the different topics that comprise the audio is observed, and thematic units are delimited in order to provide clues to its structuring. Through a qualitative analysis of the conversational features of WhatsApp and the recounting of certain tendencies in the organisation of topics within the audios, we aim to shed some light on their discursive configuration.
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