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In:The Pragmatics of Personal Pronouns
Edited by Laure Gardelle and Sandrine Sorlin
[Studies in Language Companion Series 171] 2015
► pp. 215–238

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Chapter 11. Referring to oneself in the third person

A novel construction in text-based computer-mediated communication

 | Åbo Akademi University
Published online: 10 November 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.171.11vir
This chapter examines the increasingly popular practice in text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) of users referring to themselves in the third person, e.g. *runs to the kitchen*. Originating in game environments, the zero subject construction has in recent years spread to other modes of CMC such as discussion forums, microblogging and texting. In these contexts, users take the trouble of typing in asterisks and other signals mimicking the screen view of early chat. Based on data from recreational discussion board threads and microblogging, the chapter focuses on the emergent grammar of the typographically marked, self-referential third-person construction and its pragmatic constraints. Special attention is paid to the variation between pronominal forms and other means of referring to oneself. It is argued that the construction is grammatically and pragmatically innovative in English.
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