Adopting a cyberpragmatics framework based on Relevance Theory (RT henceforth), the present volume provides readers with a comprehensive and cutting-edge approach to digital communication through the smartphone, a ubiquitous device in our current society. After an introductory chapter on the importance on smartphones in everyday communication, the work is structured in four closely related parts, which can however be read as independent units.
The first part consists of three chapters. Chapter 2 sets up the bases of RT and its application to digital communication or cyberpragmatics (pp. 13–26). It provides a comprehensive and clear account of RT, useful for any reader keen on understanding the key tenets of this theory. It also sums up very nicely the main challenges analysts face when studying digital, smartphone communication, as well as defining the notion of cyberpragmatics, first introduced by the author in Reference Yus2001 and further developed in Yus (Reference Yus2011). Chapter 3 (pp. 27–42) focuses on an aspect often neglected by most traditional approaches to pragmatics, namely non-propositional effects. However, these include key elements in human communication such as feelings, emotions or affect. Based on Garde-Hansen & Gorton (Reference Garde-Hansen and Gorton2013), the author includes a useful distinction between these three related but different concepts. Furthermore, the differentiation between affective attitude and affective effect is quite enlightening (see also Yus Reference Yus2018). This chapter also revises the different contextual constraints met by users when employing the smartphone to communicate. Part I closes with chapter 4 (pp. 43–53), which explores further the notion of (interface) usability, as one of the major contextual constraints (both positive and negative) and which may highly influence relevance.
The second part focuses on the features of smartphone-mediated discourse and communication. It also encompasses three chapters. Chapter 5 (pp. 57–106) is devoted to texting, from SMSs up to the current smartphone messaging. It provides a comprehensive review of SMS research, accounting for its surprising and unexpected popularity as well as describing its main features, such as asynchrony or textism, cultural and age differences, its affordances and constraints as a means of communication. Smartphone messaging is also thoroughly considered. Interestingly, the author shows how practically identical apps (e.g. WhatsApp and Telegram) can nevertheless provide users with different affordances that make all the difference in what he terms the ‘users’ ecosystem’. Also interesting is the review of emoji use, according to users’ age, gender or cultural background, illustrated by thought-provoking examples and a comprehensive review of the different – often overlapping – taxonomies of functions. Also, particularly useful for researchers in the field is the author's revisiting of Calero Vaquera's (Reference Calero Vaquera2014) list of attributes and the revision of the different strategies for text alteration, not only to mimic orality but also to convey other pragmatic meanings, such as irony or emphasis. The chapter closes with an interesting list of non-propositional effects that may explain why users are so prone to texting, such as the feeling of interconnectedness or increased social presence, among others. Chapter 6 (pp. 107–18) reflects on how human communication has changed, not only because of the Internet (albeit accelerated by it) but even before that, moving from very local relationships in the nineteenth century to cyberspaces and the increasingly blurry distinction between offline and online worlds. The chapter also reviews the main aspects that pragmatics has addressed regarding phone calls (e.g. turn-taking, sequence organisation, etc.), while clearly differentiating video calls from face-to-face (F2F henceforth) interaction. The author suggests an interesting field of cyberpragmatic research regarding how mutual manifestness is dealt with in smartphone communication versus F2F. This part closes with chapter 7 (pp. 119–40), where the author focuses on the notion of narrative in smartphone communication, with special attention given to the emergence of new genres and of new ways to narrate involving the reader more actively. An interesting notion revised in this chapter is that of ‘transmedia narrative’ (see Jenkins Reference Jenkins2006; Nisi Reference Nisi2017), where the narrative typically unfolds through different media while allowing readers to participate in its development. A taxonomy of seven main types of smartphone narratives is then put forward. In my view, this chapter is indeed a must-read for scholars interested in the study of digital narratives.
Part III consists of two chapters respectively focusing on images and video and animation. Thus, chapter 8 (pp. 143–72) deals with images, given their ubiquity on smartphones. Following an RT approach, the author argues that images convey both explicit and implicated interpretations as much as (language-based) utterances do. Another interesting concept explored in this chapter is that of the ‘scale of iconicity’, according to which the more ‘realistic’ the image, the more iconic it is. The author also revisits the three different (often concurrent) phases camera practices have followed. Thus, the Kodak phase co-exists with the current phase where the emphasis is not so much on the photograph itself but on what the user does with it – e.g. connecting, sharing with other users, hence boosting mutual manifestness and connectivity despite (or maybe also due to) the ephemeral nature of the images taken. Thought-provoking differences regarding gender and culture are also presented in this chapter, together with an enlightening discussion on the selfie phenomenon. Chapter 9 (pp. 173–91) focuses on the analysis of video and animation – i.e. GIFs (graphical interface format files) and stickers – from a cyberpragmatics approach. Indeed, videos have become ubiquitous on the Net, not only for users to watch but also to share, create, mash, edit and so on, while triggering accompanying comments and interactions, which in turn generate fruitful (and relevant) non-propositional effects, such as that of belonging to a participatory culture, feelings of connectedness, bonding, increased self-worth, and so on. The author distinguishes between a first-order video interaction – e.g. the by-default interaction triggered by the posting of a video on YouTube – and a second-order interaction, which takes place when these videos are shared elsewhere and hence re-contextualised. Interestingly, and given the variability and multimodality exhibited by online videos, the author concurs with other scholars (Johansson Reference Johansson, Hoffman and Bublitz2017) that they cannot be regarded as a ‘delimited communicative genre’, but are indeed a complex multimodal whole. Another interesting distinction is that between inter-video and intra-video interaction, which makes online videos extremely richly layered, also because the inter-video interaction may be multilayered itself (e.g. between one-to-many or many-to-many users and beyond dyadic interactions, or even more radically so in damnu and Bilibili videos). In my view, a highly thought-provoking notion put forward in the chapter is that of users being less in control of what they watch than they believe. In other words, while users may think they choose what to watch, it is algorithms that generate income considered relevant for these users based on their prior content, hence entering a vicious circle hard to escape. Besides videos, chapter 9 also deals with GIFs and stickers, which the author argues are included here rather than with images or emojis, as they are animated and are always sent as independent posts rather than as part of the text. Quite interestingly, users’ personality seems to influence their use, with extroverts being more prone to employing them (especially GIFs). As expected, other sociological variables such as age or gender play a role in the use of GIFs and stickers, the primary rationale behind their use being that they provide users with a more vivid way to express their feelings and emotions, hence compensating for the loss of non-verbal communication and guiding the receiver towards a more accurate (albeit sometimes infelicitous) interpretation of their illocutionary force. However, as the author rightly argues, both GIFs and stickers may also serve users to ‘stand out from the typing crowd’ and are inherently intertextual. All the above explains their pervasiveness in smartphone communication.
The volume closes with part IV, where the author addresses the interplay between the physical (offline) and the virtual (online) in four chapters. Chapter 10 (pp. 195–210) focuses on livestreaming, illustrating it more specifically with an analysis of the game-centred platform Twitch. As argued by the author, livestreaming not only diffuses the boundaries between the physical and the virtual worlds but adds media convergence (i.e. video, text-based chat, etc. take place simultaneously, hence triggering a highly rich, multi-layered interaction among the different participants with numerous non-propositional effects). Interaction and, as a result, a high level of engagement make Twitch much more than a game streaming site and explain its popularity among users. Two further interesting characteristics of Twitch mentioned by the author are the notion of crowdspeak and the use of emotes, which behave in a different way from emojis. All in all, the chapter unpacks the mesmerising popularity and addictiveness that these platforms have for many users. Indeed, as rightly argued by the author, Twitch communities share the same features as communities in general, namely, membership, influence, needs fulfilment and emotional connection to others. This sense of community is further reinforced by a very specific kind of discourse, which only in-group members can produce and interpret. Furthermore, for many users, the illusion of sharing a personal relationship with the streamer – who often qualifies as a (micro)-celebrity – is also a powerful non-propositional effect accounting for the platform's immense popularity. In chapter 11 (pp. 211–30), the author reflects on the impact of locative apps (LAs henceforth) on everyday interactions. He tries to respond to the puzzling question of why some users share their location with others and to what extent these shared locations are relevant to others. Convincingly, the author provides a myriad of reasons behind location sharing which range from identity management and self-worth (e.g. users might want to disclose a particular aspect of their lifestyle, hence building an image for themselves) to practical reasons such as arranging a meeting point. This use of LAs as a self-presentation strategy is particularly interesting, as illustrated by the example of Facebook check-ins. The chapter also reviews different labels to conceptualise these new spaces which are no longer virtual nor physical, but rather should be conceived of as ‘hybrid spaces’. The chapter closes with pointers to future research in (cyber)pragmatics, such as the users’ underlying intentions for sharing their location, mutual manifestness or inference. In my view, another avenue for future research in this direction might include other apps such as Tinder or Grinder, which are also rather dependent on users’ geolocalisation. Chapter 12 (pp. 231–69) focuses on social networking apps (SNAs henceforth) in contrast with their desktop counterparts – i.e. social networking sites – given that the former are becoming increasingly more frequently employed ‘on the fly’. As seen in chapter 11, SNAs have also fostered the physical and virtual congruence while playing a crucial role in users’ identity management. Interface and user's constraints are also analysed, with special attention to users’ personality (e.g. narcissism, extroversion, etc.). Especially challenging for pragmatic research, as the author rightly points out, is the fact that content is often co-constructed and interaction on SNAs demands a higher degree of contextualisation. The author thus revisits some of the language-based (typed), visual and multimodal discursive features seen in previous chapters, such as emojis, GIFs, images and the like. Especially interesting, in my opinion, is the idea that phatic messages on SNAs prevail out of people's need to feel connected and in touch with others – i.e. constant touch or perpetual contact – together with feeling acknowledged by others, for example when receiving positive reactions after posting a photograph. This, however, can also be counter-effective when not getting as much approbation as expected and/or desired, leading to negative psychological effects such as anxiety or even depression. The chapter closes with an extended section on identity on SNAs, where some previous notions are revisited, and interaction is presented as a ‘hinge’ articulating the two kinds of identity: personal and social.
The volume closes with chapter 13 (pp. 270–4), where the author provides readers with concluding remarks and an impressive list of potential areas for (future) research, which encompass, among others, the study of multimodality, the importance of the physical in virtual interactions, the increase of phatic relevance and importance of contextual constraints. Personally appealing is the suggestion to analyse how artificial intelligence (e.g. bots and virtual agents) pragmatically deals with what is said versus what is really meant (e.g. the use of irony or humour) or to go deeper into cross-cultural studies to find out, for example, whether different cultures may also make different use of text alteration and emojis, among many others.
All in all, the present volume is not only original and interesting, but also provides a cutting-edge approach to smartphone communication, relevant not only to researchers in cyberpragmatics or digital communication but also to anybody interested in smartphone communication. Indeed, and despite adopting a cyberpragmatic approach, the author also includes references and results from other disciplines such as psychology, among others. Furthermore, the author demonstrates he is an expert in the field of smartphone communication (and digital communication for that matter), providing readers with clear definitions of key concepts, updated references at an international level, useful figures and plenty of examples from different platforms and apps, all written in impeccable academic (albeit accessible and reader-friendly) language. In fact, the quality of the work has earned the author the prestigious Rafael Monroy prize, granted by the Spanish Association of Applied Linguistics (AESLA). All of the above makes the volume a must-read for any scholar in the field of digital communication, and a highly recommended reading for anybody interested in how smartphones have revolutionised the way human beings ‘do communication’.
