From Evelyn Nien-Ming Ch'ien, Weird English
(Cambridge, MA: Hravard UP, 2004) ...
"Unlike print-language culture, e-language cultures
do not encourage monoglot reading publics; they
encourage linguistic individualism. Internet
communities don't require monoglottism, since they are
closer to physical communities than to imaginary ones.
Internet exchanges can occur with the same timing as
the fluid, fast bilateral exchange characteristic of
conversation. This makes the internet community
tangible and effable; as a result, language is
colloquial and proximate in tone, rather than
distant." (p. 286, n. 9 cont'd)
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/CHIWEI.html