Examining textism convergence in mediated interactions

Abstract

Textisms refer to unconventional digital cues used to convey nonverbal information in text communication. However, little is known about how these cues operate and what theoretical underpinnings help us understand when users choose to integrate textisms into their personal and professional online interactions. One theory that explains this phenomenon is communication accommodation theory (CAT), which describes how people adapt their behaviors in interpersonal and intergroup contexts using verbal and nonverbal strategies to accommodate a conversational partner. Using CAT as a lens, this study examined a dataset of 635 naturally occurring text message screenshots to identify how many times senders and receivers converged in using specific types of textisms. Through examining the degree of convergence that occurred in 15 different types of textisms, it was found that three textisms generated a high degree of convergence or matching behaviors (phrase-shorteners, emojis, and word-#substitutions) and five textisms showed a moderate degree of convergence (cases-upper, markers-missing, lexical-surrogates, word-expansions, and cases-lower). From the textisms that resulted in high to moderate convergence, three were found to be statistically significant (phrase-shorteners, emojis, and markers-missing). Through the examination of text messaging and adaptation behaviors, scholars can better understand the contexts in which users intentionally integrate textisms in our evolving era of mediated interpersonal interactions.