Student: Pintilie (Gurlan) Alexandra Elena MA 2 Limba engleza.

Practici de comunicare Curs : Registers and styles of English Language Lector univ. dr. Nadia Mor ra u A register analysis of Computerese/ hacker jargon The term computerese is a jargon and it used as a technical term associated with computers and their operation1. Computerese is the language used by those in the business of manufacturing, selling, servicing, or using electronic computers, characterized by many abbreviations and acronyms, excessive use of technical jargon, and, frequently, lack of concern for traditional spelling and grammar.2 The synonyms for this term are: computer jargon, computer terminology, computer terms, hacker talk and tech talk 3 Even if the terms: computerese, hacker jargon and tech talk are considered synonyms, there is a slight difference between them. The difference between hacker jargon and tech talk is not very well defined because a lot of tech talk originated as hacker jargon, and on the other hand, a lot of hacker jargon arises from overgeneralization of tech talk terms. There is a steady continuing uptake of jargon into tech talk. In general, we have considered techspeak any term that communicates primarily by a denotation well established in textbooks, technical dictionaries, or standards documents. In order to illustrate and discuss Computerese/ hacker jargon upon the model of analysis provided by Biber and Conrad (2009), I have chosen two texts which are in fact excerpts of an article talking about tech talk, and a fragment of a story from the Jargon file. I will discuss them in contrast as this is the most welcomed perspective of analysis of the features which characterize a certain register, in our case, a socio-linguistic register. What I intend to do in this paper is to identify the typical elements of a register and illustrate them with examples from the texts below.

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http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/computerese 5/8/11; 6.33 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/computerese 3 http://thesaurus.com/browse/computerese 5/8/11; 6.33

Text 1: LastPass Alternatives that Keep Your Passwords Safe from Online Hacking Whitson Gordon After popular password manager LastPass faced a possible security breach yesterday, many of you are looking for an alternative password solution that doesn't store your passwords on someone else's servers. Here are three of our favourite password managers that will store your passwords without syncing them to the cloud. LastPass has long been our favourite any-browser, any-OS password solution, and its password generation features are great for creating super-secure passwords, but it stores all of your passwords on their serverswhich make them vulnerable if their servers somehow get compromised. We still love LastPass, and pretty much all of us use it. As long as you're using a strong, non-dictionary password, you're probably pretty safe, and as far as today's breach is concerned there's still no evidence that they were actually hacked. But, we understand that some of you may be rethinking your decision to store your passwords online. If you'd like to look at other options, here are some great programs that will keep all your passwords stored safely on your local machine. KeePass KeePass has long been one of our favourite password managers; in fact, it won our Hive Five on the topic last year. Pros: It's open source, available for tons of different platforms, and has some pretty great plug-ins available. You can automatically generate passwords, automatically fill in information, and import and export your database into a number of different formats. If you want to store information other than passwords, it also has a great "secure notes" feature that lets you store any data you want, while keeping it secure in its database. Cons: While there are some specialized apps like KeeFox out there for better browser integration, KeePass' browser integration has always left a little bit to be desired. Where LastPass works seamlessly with almost every browser and OS out there, you need to work a little harder to get KeePass to play nicely with whatever software you're running.4
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http://lifehacker.com/5799131/the-best-password-utilities-that-dont-store-your-data-in-the-cloud

Text 2 Given the extraordinary growth of - computer terminology, it is not enough these days to take pride in avoiding redundant expressions like RAM memory or DOS operating system; no longer a source of linguistic competence to realise that MIPS (Millions of Instructions Per Second ) is not the plural of USP. It is even old hat to have mastered the meaning of RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) microprocessor, that speedy microchip that simplified hardware and shifted many complex operations to the software, thereby earning the alternative name of Relegate Interesting Stuff to the Compiler. That was just the prelude. Now MPPs (Massively Parallel Processors) are on the horizon. Those of us who absorbed, however imperfectly, three or four generations of computer terminology on the fast trip from Trash 80 (an affectionate name for the old Tandy TRS computer) to Teraflops must meet the challenge. We are going to have to learn to debate the relative merits of SIMD (Single-Instruction, Multiple-Data) and MIMD (Multiple-instruction, Multiple- Data ) machines. Then we'll know about MIMD MPPs. [.] Aspirants to the language must also cope with many of its terms in abbreviated forms, usually acronyms (initial letters or parts of the term spoken as a single word, RAM or initialisms (initial letters or parts of a term pronounced letter by letter, CPU). In line with the ruling ethos of computer terminology-livelinessthese categories are often merged, giving us Troff (Typeset RunOFF, pronounced "tee-roff"), say, or DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory, pronounced "deeram"). Capitalisation in these acronyms comes and goes. Most commonly seen are all capitals (DRAM, but many who find a string of capital letters unsightly, or even distracting, have opted instead to capitalise only the initial letters of longer acronyms. The difference of opinion has led to Fortran (a portmanteau word, from FORmula TRANslation) for some, FORTRAN for others. Inevitably, a linguistic area this rambunctious has given rise to three or even four versions of the same acronym-for instance, Teraflops, teraFLOPS, teraflops and teraFlops ( from tera, trillion, plus FLoating-point OPerations per Second). [] ANNE EISENBERG, a professor at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, is the author of four books on scientific writing.5
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http://www.fortunecity.com/emachines/e11/86/comptese.html

According to Biber and Douglas, the register has three main components: a) describing the situational characteristics of the registers, b) identifying the distinctive linguistic characteristics of the register c) showing how the situational and linguistic descriptions are related to one another. The situational context refers to the mode in which the text is produced (written or speech). The linguistic feature refers to the lexical and grammatical characteristics of the register. Analysing the two texts from Biber and Conrad general framework for analyzing situational characteristics we have: a) The participants In both texts we have one addressor, multiple addressees and an unidentified number of on-lookers. Both texts are excerpts from different online articles on computerese. The first text is written by Whitson Gordon who is probably a hacker which gives us some pieces of advice on the programmes we should use to protect our computer ( LastPass and KeePass). The second text is written by Anne Eisenberg a professor at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn and the author of four scientific books. b) The relations among participants The relations among participants are less interactive because both articles are from online articles. Analysing the place where both articles were published the first text is published on a hackers blog and the second one which is a content site (Sites whose business is the creation and distribution of original content) or informational site (Most websites could fit in this type of website to some extent many of them are not necessarily for commercial purposes)6, we can see that the first text is more interactive than the second one because of the comments left by other bloggers. Another important part of the relation among the participants is the social roles and the personal relationships. In the first text, the participants have different degrees of shared background knowledge and specialist background knowledge (the hacker and the bloggers) while in the second one, the relation between participants is one of power (teacher-student relationship).
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website

c) The channel The physical channel or mode of the two texts is writing. The written registers have un-numerated addresses. The specialized mode of communication of both fragments is electronic. d) Production circumstances When choosing between spoken and written mode, we directly influence the production circumstance. For example, the writer has as much time as needed to plan exactly what she wants to write, and if she writes something unintended, he or she can revise/edit/delete/add language until it ends up with language that conveys exactly the intended meaning. Thus, the final written text that a reader sees may bear little resemblance to the initial words that the author wrote, and readers usually have no indication of the extent to which the author has revised the original text. How the different modes of production influence the production circumstance, the addressee has different circumstances for comprehension according to the modes of production. Being a written text, the reader has complete control on the text. The reader can carefully read one word at a time, or he/she can quickly skim a text. e) Setting The setting refers to the physical context of the communication the time and place. In comparison to a spoken text where the time and place is more explicit, in written texts have a more specific setting. Because the text was published as a part of a larger document dealing with the theme computerese, the two texts are two contemporary articles. The modernity of these articles is also given by the format in which they were published: on the internet, and the date of publication: the first text was published on May 5, 2011 at 9:20 PM, while the second text was updated on the 8th of August 2003. The place of the communication is public the articles being accessible for everybody. f) Communicative purpose The communicative purpose can be described on several different levels: 1) general purpose; 2) specific purpose; 3) factuality 4) expression of stance.
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The general purpose of the register in these texts is: explaining or interpreting information, providing procedural information about how to perform certain activities, and revealing personal feelings or attitudes. The specific purpose is to summarize information from different sources, describe methods and present new research findings in the articles. Many registers combine several communicative purposes. In the first fragment we have a combination of: providing information about some password programmes and revealing personal feelings and attitudes through the discussions on the blog. In the second text, we have a combination of descriptive and explanatory purposes. There is no shift in the communicative purpose of the two texts, both of them presenting a specific situation. The parameter relating to purpose is actuality, and is present in both articles. The addressors present factual information on the topic. The expression of stance is the parameter that includes expressions both of personal attitudes and epistemic stance. g) Topic The general topic of both articles is: science and education/academic. The specific topics are: password programmes for the first article and computerese for the second one. Since the topic is the most important situational factor that influences the choice of vocabulary, we have specific terms in the texts referring to computer programming such as the following glossary. In conclusion, the two texts illustrate some aspects of computerese and hacker jargon. Glossary: Browser - A software program that allows users to access the Internet. Examples: Nona user interface for computers which allows you to read plain text, graphical not pictures, sound, or video, on the Internet. It is strictly text based, non-Windows, and does not place high memory demands on your computer. An example is lynx .(http://lynx.browser.org/) Graphical a user interface for computers which enables people to see color, graphics, and hear sound and see video, available on Internet sites.
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These features are usually designated by underlined text, a change of color, or other distinguishing feature; sometimes the link is not obvious, for example, a picture with no designated characteristic. Examples are Netscape and Internet Explorer. Blog - A blog is information that is instantly published to a Web site. Blog scripting allows someone to automatically post information to a Web site. The information first goes to a blogger Web site. Then the information is automatically inserted into a template tailored for your Web site. OS = /O-S/1. [Operating System] /n./ An abbreviation heavily used in email, occasionally in speech. 2. /n. obs./ On ITS, an output spy. See " OS and JEDGAR" in Appendix A. or OS/2 /O S too/ /n./ The anointed successor to MS-DOS for Intel 286- and 386-based micros; proof that IBM/Microsoft couldn't get it right the second time, either. Often called `Half-an-OS'. Mentioning it is usually good for a cheap laugh among hackers --- the design was so baroque, and the implementation of 1.x so bad, that 3 years after introduction you could still count the major apps shipping for it on the fingers of two hands -- in unary. The 2.x versions are said to have improved somewhat, and informed hackers now rate them superior to Microsoft Windows (an endorsement which, however, could easily be construed as damning with faint praise). See monstrosity, cretinous, second-system effect. Server = A kind of daemon that performs a service for the requester and which often runs on a computer other than the one on which the server runs. A particularly common term on the Internet, which is rife with `web servers', `name servers', `domain servers', `news servers', `finger servers', and the like. Database = is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality (for example, the availability of rooms in hotels), in a way that supports processes requiring this information (for example, finding a hotel with vacancies). The term "database" refers both to the way its users view it, and to the logical and physical materialization of its data, content, in files, computer memory, and computer data storage. Plug-ins = add-ons are a set ofsoftware components that adds specific abilities to a larger software application. If supported, plug-ins enables customizing the functionality of an application. For example, plug-ins are commonly used in web browsers to play video, scan for viruses, and display new file types. Well-known plug-ins examples include Adobe Flash Player and QuickTime.
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app /ap/ /n./ = Short for `application program', as opposed to a systems program. Apps are what systems vendors are forever chasing developers to create for their environments so they can sell more boxes. Hackers tend not to think of the things they themselves run as apps; thus, in hacker parlance the term excludes compilers, program editors, games, and messaging systems, though a user would consider all those to be apps. (Broadly, an app is often a self-contained environment for performing some well-defined task such as `word processing'; hackers tend to prefer more general-purpose tools.) See killer app; oppose tool, operating system. RAM =memory DOS= operating system MIPS =Millions of Instructions Per Second RISC= Reduced Instruction Set Computer microprocessor MPPs= Massively Parallel Processors Trash 80 =an affectionate name for the old Tandy TRS computer SIMD =Single-Instruction, Multiple-Data MIMD =Multiple-instruction, Multiple- Data CPU = central processing unit The central processing unit(CPU) is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, and is the primary element carrying out the functions of the computer or other processing device. The central processing unit carries out each instruction of the program in sequence, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. This term has been in use in the computer industry at least since the early 1960s. DRAM =Dynamic Random Access Memory, pronounced "dee-ram"). a. A unit of weight in the U.S. Customary System equal to1/16 of an ounce or 27.34 grains (1.77 grams). b. A unit of apothecary weight equal to 1/8 of an ounce or 60 grains (3.89 grams). See Table at measurement.2.a. A small draft: took a dram of brandy. b. A small amount; a bit: not a dram of compassion. Fortran = a portmanteau word, from FORmula TRANslation, is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality (for example, the availability of rooms in hotels), in a way that supports processes requiring this information (for example, finding a hotel with vacancies). The term "database" refers both to the way its users view it, and to the logical and physical materialization of its data, content, in files, computer memory, and computer data storage.
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Bibliography: Morarasu, Nadia, Registers and styles of English language, masters degree course book, electronic format, 2011. English for specific purpose in Computerese, fromhttp://www.cartidownload.ro/Diverse/53286/English_for_specific_purpose_in_ Computerese The New Hacker's Dictionary athttp://www.outpost9.com/reference/jargon/jargon_toc.html http://www.fortunecity.com/emachines/e11/86/comptese.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computerese http://www.dictionary30.com/encyclopedia.php?subject=Computerese http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website http://lifehacker.com/5799131/the-best-password-utilities-that-dont-store-your-datain-the-cloud http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/computerese 5/8/11; 6.33 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/computerese http://thesaurus.com/browse/computerese 5/8/11; 6.33