- D. Nguyen, C. Rosé. 2011. Language use as a reflection of socialization in online communities. Abstract: In this paper we investigate the connection between language and community membership of long time community participants through computational modeling techniques. We report on findings from an analysis of language usage within a popular online discussion forum with participation of thousands of users spanning multiple years. We find community norms of long time participants that are characterized by forum specific jargon and a style that is highly informal and shows familiarity with specific other participants and high emotional involvement in the discussion. We also find quantitative evidence of persistent shifts in language usage towards these norms across users over the course of the first year of community participation. Our observed patterns suggests language stabilization after 8 or 9 months of participation.
