ABSTRACT
Technological advances have to some degree broken down the traditional choice between talking and writing, so that millions of us today, especially younger people, spend time communicating through new channels, particularly email, mobile phone and online discussion forums. This chapter considers not only some of the established differences between speech and writing, and issues concerning the study of these modes, but also the varieties of English evolving through computer-mediated or 'electronic' communication. The Internet and mobile phone technology are playing an ever-increasing role in people's daily lives, in the workplace and in educational contexts. The English of mobile phone text-messaging, or texting, is affected in a number of ways by the limited space available for the message and the usual importance of speed in both composing and replying to messages. As in text-messaging, speed is of the essence in chat rooms, which has an effect on the forms and style of the language used.
