ABSTRACT
The digital interfaces through which human communication is increasingly mediated have inspired rapidly changing language innovations. Online
chats, such as this excerpt between honeygarli and sk8Celine, two female twenty-somethings, exemplify variable ways of spelling, using emoticons (:-D), hybrid orthographies (w/), abbreviations (wk), onomatopoeia (hehe), homophones (u), novel word shapes (phun), creative capitalization and punctuation (sk8Celine; eee!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and new digital identities (honeygarli and sk8Celine) to mention just a handful of innovative conventions.
