Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!decwrl!limbo!taylor
From: jeffl@sybase.com (Jeff Lichtman)
Newsgroups: comp.society
Subject: Re: Email: (adding inflection and body language)
Message-ID: <1030@limbo.Intuitive.Com>
Date: 23 Jul 90 18:31:09 GMT
Sender: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com
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Approved: taylor@Limbo.Intuitive.Com

>> Of course, email doesn't have the same potential for inflection 
>> and body language...

> As email becomes more prevalent, new methods of including 
> inflection will arise...

But much of inflection and body language are unconcious.  People don't
think as they speak, "This is a sardonic comment, so I will speak a
little more nasally than usually and move my head like this."  Written
inflection is nice, but it requires the author to think about subtexts
like emotional content in order to put them into writing.  Of course,
any good writer does this expression already, by choosing words
carefully, and any good reader looks for clues in the author's word
choices.  Doing so is a lot of work, which is one of the reasons that
speaking and listening are easier than writing and reading.

The main advantage to written inflection is lack of ambiguity, which
makes things easier for both writers and readers.  I doubt that written
inflection will ever be as flexible and versatile as spoken inflection
and body language, but that's just a gut feeling.

Jeff Lichtman