43 © Copyright Monash University Linguistics Papers. ISSN 1327-9130. Volume Eight, Number One, July 2012, pp. 43–51. 1. Introduction: A case for the role of temporality in CMC research The mid to late 1990s saw the emergence of CMC research which aimed to examine how CMC as a linguistic variety, alternately termed “Netspeak” (Crystal 2006), “electronic language” (Collot & Belmore 1996) or a variation thereof, dif- fered from the varieties of speech and writing (Collot & Belmore 1996). This first wave of scholarly examination of CMC focused on how technological factors were potentially the most salient feature in either constraining or enhancing CMC as a linguistic variety. Thus, a technologically deterministic focus was placed on how the various technological aspects of a medium affected the style, vocabulary and social norms of language employed by users of these mediums (Crystal 2006). According to these early theorists, whether or not CMC occurred in real (synchronous) time or in delayed (asyn- chronous) time represented one of the most influential technological factors behind the analysis of so-called electronic language. It was argued that the synchronous or asynchronous nature of a medium, in conjunction with other technologi- cal factors such as message length, message permanence and the accessibility of a text would determine the availability of specific linguistic strategies, thus leading to the development of a distinct variety for each medium (Herring 1996). However, Androutsopoulos (2006:420) has criticised this approach, arguing that by focusing upon synchronicity and asynchronicity as purely technological aspects of a medium, previous scholarship has not paid enough attention to how CMC can be conceptualised as a socially situated act driven by user engagement. Androutsopoulos thus suggests that viewing CMC as a purely technologically determined linguistic variety does not allow scholars to critically engage with the effects of socially motivated utilisation of CMC on language choice. Androutsopoulos (2006) states that due to the “social turn” in linguistic research, there has been a new emphasis placed upon investigating the social setting and situated use of CMC. Therefore, it has become necessary for researchers to reflect critically on technologically deterministic approaches to synchronicity and asynchronicity in order to ascertain whether or not technologically determinist approaches are theoretically sufficient to analyse all aspects of social CMC use. THOMAS BAUDINETTE MONASH UNIVERSITY Investigating the effects of users’ perceptions of temporality on a Japanese gay dating site Traditionally, studies of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) have relied heavily on the concepts of synchronicity and asynchronicity to investigate how technological communication mediums constrain and expand language use. However, due to the new ‘social turn’ in CMC research which emphasises the examination of individual users’ socially motivated use of CMC, it has become necessary to investigate how CMC is affected by users’ perceptions of temporality. Through the analysis of 200 posts from a Japanese gay dating site, this study examines how users’ desires and engagement with the site’s multi-modal structure affect perceptions of how to appropriately utilise temporal language in order to elicit off-site interactions. It was found that the structure of the site somewhat privileged the immediate gratification of desires, and that users signalled their awareness of this norm through the adoption of temporal language. Furthermore, users with long-term desires utilised various temporal strategies in order to overcome the perceived social norm of immediacy. These findings suggest that users’ perceptions of temporality affect their linguistic strategies more saliently than the technological medium of the site itself, highlighting the importance of engaging with social approaches to the examination of CMC. Key words: Computer-mediated Communication (CMC), temporality, desire, Discourse Analysis (DA).