Language and Gender Differences in Computer-Mediated Communication. An Analysis in German Newsgroups

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2, University of Frankfurt (Main), course: Language and Gender, language: English, abstract: As the internet, with its ever-growing number of internet users, is becoming increasingly influential in our society, the ways of interacting online are also growing in importance. Many users seem to believe that the internet is a medium where they are able to communicate freely regardless of their appearance, social status or their gender. As a result computer mediated communication (CMC) should differ greatly compared to face-to-face communication, because of the possibility of staying anonymous and not revealing one s true identity. This would lead one to think that women and men can participate equally online i.e. in chat rooms and newsgroups as their true gender is invisible to other users.