The aim of this essay is to determine where on a continuum between speech and writingwritten computer-mediated communication (chat language) would be placed. The essay makes use of a methodology based on Biber (1988). This was done using a quantitative research methodology based on counting and comparing specific linguistic features in different texts. The data for chat language came from the NPS Chat Corpus. Other data used were transcripts of spoken discourse as well as a popular scientific text as material for comparison. This essay is mainly focused on four features: the use of pronouns, passives, ellipsis and the type/token ration of each individual text. Despite the limited size of the material sampled, the results showed that chat language had more in common overall with speech than with writing.