Effect of exposure to British culture on the use of terms of endearments in Singaporeans' instant messaging conversations

• Main Author: Liu, Fun Juin
• Other Authors: Ivan Panović
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities::Linguistics::Sociolinguistics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/62126
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The terms of endearment (ToE) used in every culture are different. Some use them liberally, some reserve them for intimates, and others hardly use them. With the advent of technology and a world in which people of different cultures can now easily interact with one another, one wonders whether differences in the use of ToE in each culture may result in misunderstanding and miscommunication, as well as whether having a good understanding of different cultures aids in intercultural communication. This paper investigates the effect of exposure on Singaporeans’ use and perceptions of the use of ToE in Singaporean-British instant messaging (IM) conversations in two parts. IM transcripts retrieved from WhatsApp Messenger, iMessage, and Facebook Messenger presented ToE used by British and Singaporean youths, and showed that Singaporeans who have lived abroad tend to use more ToE with their conversation partners, including Singaporeans. Excerpts from the IM transcripts were then shown to participants who had been or had yet to be on exchange, and they were asked to determine interlocutors’ relationships, genders, and nationalities. Though the results were found to be inconclusive, participants who had been on exchange seem to be better able to ascertain gender and nationality of the interlocutors. The use of ToE was found to be a large factor towards respondents’ judgements.