Textese Cell Phone Language Emerges: Cn U Rd Ths?
Jason Mick (Blog) - December 10, 2008 10:16 AM
Language experts say that that texting is becoming almost a language of its own
With cell phones becoming the primary means of distance communication, text messages and instant messages are becoming almost a new written language of their own, according to University of Tasmania lecturer Nenagh Kemp.
Professor Kemp, a psychology lecturer who specializes in language use, nicknames the new language "Textese". She performed a study in which she assigned 55 of her undergraduate students to compose text messages in textese and in normal English and then to try to read their classmates compositions.
Textese is a language of abbreviations, based on Standard English. For example "How are you doing today? Want to go for a coffee later?" might translate to "hi HRU 2day? wnt2go 4 a cofy l8r?".
The study revealed interesting insight into this emerging language. The study indicated that textese was not ruining students' traditional spelling abilities. However, it did indicate that significant differences exist between English and textese. Traditional English takes longer to write, but is less ambiguous and quicker to read. Textese is ultra-speedy to write but takes a longer time to decipher and often is misread.
Professor Kemp states, "It's quicker to write in textisms, but when you go on to read it, it took people longer. As skilled adult readers, we're used to reading full words and sentences, so it is harder for us to decipher."
Fortunately, adult texters' literary skills appear to be intact despite criticism of the trend. However, Professor Kemp emphasizes that the focus of grammatical structure on understanding textese makes texting a tricky business.
Cautions Professor Kemp, "It's fine to use textese on a mobile phone, as it saves you time, but you have to make sure your reader understands it. And don't let it creep into your emails, student essays or job applications. Keep the boundaries."
dailytech.com
Is The Period Becoming an Expression of Anger?
Jason Mick (Blog) - November 26, 2013 2:02 PM
In the text area, a familiar punctuation mark is taking on a new meaning
The digital age of instant communication has dramatically affected the English language by changing its grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. Then again the English language has survived and thrived due in part to its shameless flexibility, which historically led it to liberally borrow from other language and accept unusual new creative linguistic constructs.
The New Republic is a news site that focuses primarily on espousing neoliberal political views, but it also offers a bit of interesting technology coverage at times. Story editor Ben Crair has actually offered up a rather interesting piece on how the period has become a long desired piece of punctuation -- the "irony mark".
A 2007 study by The American University found that at the time students add sentence ending punctuation (i.e. '!', '?', and '.') 39 percent of the time in texts and 45 percent of the time in online chats. The punctuation at the end of the last sentence of the text -- the so-called "transmission-ending punctuation" occurred especially infrequently. It was found in only 29 percent for texts and 35 percent for IMs.
Part of English language speakers' trend of shortening words -- noted by other peer-reviewed research -- and dropping punctuation in the digital age is out of necessity. Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters, traditional SMS was limited to 160 characters.
But it is still somewhat odd to observe how in an age where punctuation is being mothballed by so many, that digital denizens are increasing the period ('.') to express sarcasm, frustration, and/or anger.
Mark Liberman, a professor of linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania, tells Mr. Blair:
Not long ago, my 17-year-old son noted that many of my texts to him seemed excessively assertive or even harsh, because I routinely used a period at the end.
In the world of texting and IMing … the default is to end just by stopping, with no punctuation mark at all. In that situation, choosing to add a period also adds meaning because the reader(s) need to figure out why you did it. And what they infer, plausibly enough, is something like ‘This is final, this is the end of the discussion or at least the end of what I have to contribute to it.’
But lest the humble dot feel demeaned, it still has many friendlier usages, such as it symbolic use in internet domain names and "..." which strangely has the reverse affect as a single '.' when ending the sentence -- inviting the conversation to continue.
dailytech.com |
