Authors
Robert R Provine, Robert J Spencer, Darcy L Mandell
Publication date
2007/9
Journal
Journal of language and social psychology
Volume
26
Issue
3
Pages
299-307
Publisher
Sage Publications
Description
Laughter “punctuates” speech, occurring during pauses, at phrase boundaries, and before and after statements and questions—the places where punctuation would be placed in a transcript of a conversation. Such punctuation indicates that language is dominant over laughter in competition for the vocal tract because laughter seldom interrupts spoken phrases. The punctuation effect is shown here to extend to emoticon placement in website text messages, a nonvocal linguistic medium. As in earlier studies of speaking and manual signing, the phrase structure of language was preserved, indicating the regulation of emotional expression by a common, higher-order linguistic process.
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Scholar articles
RR Provine, RJ Spencer, DL Mandell - Journal of language and social psychology, 2007