|
Naomi S. Baron Professor of Linguistics |
 |
As a linguist, Professor Baron
is principally interested in computer-mediated communication, writing and
technology,
language in social context, language acquisition, and the history
of English. A Guggenheim Fellow, Fulbright Fellow, and past
president of the Semiotic Society of America, she has written
seven books:
In October 2000, Alphabet to
Email was "Highly Commended" in the English-Speaking Union's Duke
of Edinburgh English
Language Award Competition.
Professor Baron taught at Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design,
Emory University, and Southwestern
University before coming to American University in 1987. From 1987-1992, she
was associate dean for undergraduate
affairs, and from 1992-1994 served as associate dean for curriculum and faculty
development in the College of Arts and
Sciences at AU. From 1996-2000, she chaired the Department of Language and Foreign
Studies. She was president of
American University's Zeta of Washington chapter of Phi Beta Kappa between 1998
and 2000. In Fall 2007, Professor
Baron held a Fulbright Award at Goteborg University in Sweden, and for 2007-2008 was recipient of an AU Presidential
Research Award. Professor Baron is on the
editorial boards of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication,
Language
Sciences, and Visible Language,
as well as co-director of the American University TESOL Program
SELECTED Recent and Forthcoming
Publications:
In Press
"Adjusting
the Volume: Technology and Multitasking in Discourse Control,"
to appear in James E. Katz, ed., Handbook of Mobile
Communication
Studies. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.[PDF
file]
"Discourse
Structures in Instant Messaging: The Case of Utterance Breaks," to appear
in Susan Herring, ed., Computer-Mediated
Conversation.
Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. [PDF file]
2007
"Emerging Patterns of American Mobile Phone Use: Electronically-Mediated Communication in Transition" (with Rich Ling),
in Gerard Goggin and Larisa Hjorth, eds., Mobile Media 2007. Proceedings of an International Conference, University of Sydney,
July 2-4, Chapter 23. [PDF file]
""The Mechanics of Text Messaging and Instant Messaging among American College Students" (with Rich Ling), Journal of
Language and Social Psychology 26: 291-298. [PDF file]
2005
"Killing
the Word by Snippets," LA Times, Op-Ed, November 28.[PDF
file]
"Tethered
or Mobile? Use of Away Messages in Instant Messaging by American College
Students"
(with Lauren Squires,
Sara Tench, and
Marshall Thompson), in R. Ling and P. Pederson, eds. Mobile Communications:
Re-Negotiation of the
Social
Sphere. Springer-Verlag, pp. 293-311. [PDF
file] [PDF
Figures]
"The
Future of Written Culture," Ibérica,
Journal of the European Association of Languages
for Specific Purposes.
(Special Issue, Santiago Posteguillo, ed.) 9:7-31. [PDF
file]
"The Written Turn," English Language and Linguistics 9:359-376. [PDF file]
"See "Cybertalk at Work and at Play," Visible Language 39(1): 64-84. O
"See "Who Wants to be a Discipline?" The Information Society 21(4):1-3. [PDF file]
"Instant Messaging and the Future of Language," Communications of the ACM 48(7): 29-31.
2004
"See
You Online: Gender Issues in College Student Use of Instant Messaging," Journal
of Language
and Social Psychology 23:397-423. [PDF
file]
2003
“Language
of the Internet,” in Ali Farghali, ed. The Stanford Handbook for Language
Engineers. Stanford: CSLI Publications,
pp. 59-127. [PDF File]
“Why
Email Looks Like Speech: Proofreading, Pedagogy, and Public Face,” in
Jean Aitchison and Diana Lewis, eds., New
Media Language.
London: Routledge, pp. 102-113. [PDF
File]
2002
“Who Sets
Email Style: Prescriptivism, Coping Strategies, and Democratizing Communication
Access,” The Information Society
18:403-413. [PDF File]
2001
"Put on a Public
Face," op-ed, New York Times, April 11.
"Commas and
Canaries: The Role of Punctuation in Speech and Writing," Language
Sciences, 23(1):15-67.
1999
"History Lessons:
Telegraph, Telephone, and Email as Social Discourse," in Bernd Naumann,
ed., Dialogue Analysis and Mass
Media. Tubingen:
Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1-34.
1998
"Letters by
Phone or Speech by Other Means: The Linguistics of Email," Language
and Communication 18:133-170.
[PDF
File 1] [PDF File 2] [PDF
File 3]
"Writing
in the Age of Email: The Impact of Ideology versus Technology," Visible
Language 32(1):35-53.
Selected Recent Lectures:
2007
"Gresham's Ghost: The Future of Written Culture," Plenary Address, Swiss Association of University Teachers of English, Biannual
Conference, Zurich, Switzerland, May 4. [PDF file]
"'Whatever': Is the Internet Destroying Language?," University of Karlstad, Department of English, Karlstad, Sweden
October 5 [PDF file]
"My Best Day: Presentation of Self and Social Manipulation in Facebook and Instant Messaging," Eighth International Conference,
Association of Internet Researchers, Vancouver, British Columbia, October 18-20. [PDF file]
"The Myth of Impoverished Signal: Dispelling the Spoken Language Fallacy for Emoticons in Online Communication," University of
Udine, Emotions and ICTs International Workshop, Pordenone, Italy, October 25-26. [View Slideshow]
2006
Keynote Address, College of Saint Rose (Albany, NY), President's Day Opening Convocation.
Keynote Address, Loft Literacy Center (Minneapolis, MN), Conference on "Reading and Writing the Future" April 22
; Invited lecture series on computer-mediated communication, University of Udine, Italy, April 3-6
2005
"Language Under the Radar: Redefining
Spoken and Written Discourse", Sixth International Conference of the Association
of Internet
Researchers, Chicago, IL, October 6-9. [View
Slideshow]
"Instant Messaging by American College Students: A Case
Study in Computer-Mediated Communication," American Association for
the Advancement
of Science, Washington, DC, February 17-21. [PDF file]
2004
“You Are
What They Post: Identity Construction on the Internet,” Fifth International
Conference of the
Association of Internet Researchers, University of Sussex, UK, September
19-22.
[View
Slideshow]
2003
“IM and SMS:
A Linguistic Comparison” (with Rich Ling), Fourth International Conference
of the Association of Internet
Researchers, Toronto, October 16-19.
2002
“ ‘Whatever.’:
A New Language Model?,” Modern Language Association, New York, December
27-30. [PDF File]
“Text
in the Fast Lane,” Third International Conference of the Association of
Internet Researchers, Maastricht, The
Netherlands, October 13-16.
2001
“Whose Words:
Commonplaces, Canned Text, and Intellectual Property,” Second International
Conference of the
Association of Internet Researchers, Minneapolis, October 10-14.
Current Research:
Professor Baron is currently studying cross-cultural mobile phone use in Sweden, the US, Italy, and Japan.