Analysis of creativity in a computer-mediated-conversation

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E301THE ART OF ENGLISH: TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT 02

Swann (2006, p12), writing in The art of English: everyday creativity states that the term creativity can be used to “refer to the way that people use literary-like features in everyday discourse”. In Reading 1A,  “Extracts from ‘Common language: corpus, creativity and cognition’” (2006), Carter states that “the inherent creativity of significant proportions of language use” cannot be ignored. Whilst carrying out research for the CANCODE project, he says that researchers found that examples of creativity in the language were very obvious. I am going to consider the three approaches to creativity in language proposed by Carter, and then examine how far these are obvious in part of a chat log that I have obtained.

I propose to use a text that was made available to me by a friend who is an English graduate and therefore has an interest in what I am studying. It is the transcript of part of an online conversation that she had with a man who she was dating at the time. Both participants are middle-aged and work in jobs where they routinely use academic English. In the chat, they are arranging their date for the following week. The names of the participants have been altered to maintain anonymity.

Carter proposes three models of creativity: an inherency model, a sociocultural model and a cognitive model. (Carter, 1999, cited by Swann, 2006, p10.) In an inherency model of creativity, the concern is how the text is constructed, with the emphasis on the language used. A sociocultural approach takes into consideration the background of the speaker and the writer, and the social, cultural and even historic contexts of the text. It is concerned with the effect that the effect that the language produces on the receiver. A cognitive approach to language examines links between language and mental processes, and the effect that the text has on the reader or listener.

In the course reading “ Extracts from ‘Common language: corpus, creativity and cognition’” (1999), Carter identifies certain literary devices which he asserts could indicate creativity in language. Some of the features that he mentions are:

*        Punning and playing with words: participants take well-known expressions and alter them slightly for creative effect. The transcript shows evidence of this when the chatters play with the word “kind”.

Romeo says: Should I charge for putting on the webcam?

Juliet says: I'll pay you on Wednesday.

Romeo says: Bring lots of money then.

Juliet says: In kind!

Romeo says: What kind?

Juliet says: I've just gone off into a fit of giggles.

Romeo is using his web cam, which Juliet does not have, and teasingly says he should charge for her for using it. Juliet is using a slight sexual innuendo when she says that she will pay him in kind, but he teases her again by pretending not to understand and asking what kind she means. Juliet finds this very amusing, so the incident has served create a bond between the couple.

*        Morphological creativity: taking words and making new words from them. There is evidence of this in the chat in the following snippet of dialogue:

Join now!

Juliet says: Have you got an anorak?

Romeo says: We'll buy one each at Merry Hill.  We can look for the most nerdish.

Romeo has adapted the word “nerd”, which means someone who is socially inept, and adapted it as an adjective to apply to the sort of clothing that a nerd would wear.

*        Echoing and converging: speakers using each other’s words and phrases, as in the example below, where Romeo, in particular repeats the word “laughing” to emphasise the fact that he is happy to be amused by Juliet, and does not treat her as the ...

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