(2006). In F. Sudweeks and C. Ess (eds.), Proceedings of Cultural Attitudes Towards Technology and Communication 2006 (CATaC'06), Tartu, Estonia, June 28-July 1. GENDER ENCODING OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ELEMENTS IN LITHUANIAN AND CROATIAN IRC ASTA ZELENKAUSKAITE Department of Linguistics Indiana University, Bloomington SUSAN C. HERRING School of Library and Information Science Indiana University, Bloomington Abstract. Much sociolinguistic research discusses differences between male and female language. In this paper we consider the language of Internet Relay Chat (IRC), studying if and how non-standard typography depends on the gender of the writer. We distinguish two kinds of non-standard typography that are typical of IRC users: technology-conditioned and voluntary. Our results show that use of non-standard writing variants depends on writer gender in both cases. Comparable results are found for Lithuanian and Croatian chat. 1. Introduction Many studies have been dedicated to the description of differences between women and men in different linguistic situations. At the same time, research on computer-mediated communication (CMC) has shown corresponding similarities regarding gender differences in language use in CMC, despite the fact that virtual space provides ideal conditions for hiding identity, in that it conveys minimal physical clues (Danet, 1998). Various studies confirm that the CMC language of female and male users differs (Hall, 1996; Herring, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2003; Savicki, 1996). Existing gender studies of CMC in English-speaking communities are focused on stylistic, lexical, and discourse-pragmatic aspects of language. These aspects are also evident in traditional modes of speaking and writing. In contrast, in this paper we focus on CMC typography, which raises issues unique to the online communication environment. To our knowledge, this aspect has not yet been investigated from a gender perspective. Aside from language usage proper, typography can be considered the most important aspect of the public face of CMC users. Typography and orthography are the primary "physical" cues available to users to express themselves and to convey information about their identity. Non-standard typography substitutes for such non- verbal phenomena as laughter (e.g., emoticons), volume (e.g., ALL CAPS), and