John von Radowitz Far from undermining our ability to communicate, teenage text message shorthand represents a "linguistic renaissance", say researchers.
John von Radowitz
Far from undermining our ability to communicate, teenage text message shorthand represents a "linguistic renaissance", say researchers.
E-mail and mobile phones have bred a whole lexicon of abbreviations, truncated words and acronyms that can be used to swap instant messages.
Mostly it is young people whose e-vocabulary is punctuated with cryptic short forms such as omg (oh my God), gr8 2 cu (great to see you) and lol (laugh out loud).
Parents and teachers have voiced concern that instant messaging (IM) is making youngsters less adept at language. But two researchers from the University of Toronto in Canada disagree.
Dr Sali Tagliamonte and linguist Derek Denis, who conducted a study of IM, believe text message short forms actually represent "an expansive new linguistic renaissance".
They point out that instant messaging allows teenagers to deploy a "robust mix" of colloquial and formal language.
This allows them to walk a tightrope between risking disapproval from those in authority and the scorn of their friends. IM enables people to show off what they can do with language, say thescientists.
Dr Tagliamonte said: "Everybody thinks kids are ruining their language by using instant messaging but these teens' messaging shows them expressing themselves flexibly through all registers.
"They show an extremely lucid command of the language. We shouldn't worry."
The research, due to be presented at the annual meeting of the Linguistics Society of Canada and the US in August, was highlighted yesterday in New Scientist magazine.
Mr Denis said: "IM is interactive discourse among friends that is conducive for informal language, but it is a written interface which tends to be more formal than speech."
Together he and Dr Tagliamonte analysed more than a million text message words and 250,000 spoken words produced by a group of 72 Toronto teenagers aged 15 to 20.
The scientists compared the way the youngsters used language in speech and when sending text messages.
Dr Tagliamonte and Mr Denis suggest that abbreviations were mainly favoured by the youngest users of IM.
