Considerations on the concept of “internetês” in language studies

Abstract

Our objective in this essay is to discuss the concept of “internetês”, popularly known as the written (typed) Portuguese used on the Internet. Based on the perspective of language studies, particularly on theories from discourse studies, we raise questions and to present hypotheses concerning this phenomenon, usually seen as a type of “phonetized” writing or as the “interference of speech on writing”. From our point of view, the analysis of “internetês” can enable us to observe a possibility of language and discourse, considering heterogeneity as a constituent trace of language and of verbal human activities. Based on a corpus of written utterances characterized by the use of “internetês”, we attempt to demonstrate the relevance of the definitions of writing and language to conceptualize “internetês”, taking into account the radical relationship between language and social life.