Explore varieties and attitudes to texting.

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Explore varieties and attitudes to texting.

This essay will discuss the different varieties of, and attitudes to, texting. The language used in texting is interesting, as it blurs the boundaries between spoken and written language, adopting features of both. In recent years, texting has dramatically increased. In 2009, over 96 million texts were sent throughout the UK. Texting has influenced our language in both positive and negative ways.

I have spent most of my childhood in middle class areas, and this has affected my idiolect. I usually speak more formally compared to some of my friends who live in different areas. These people use language such as ‘Do u wanna go in 2 town’ which shows very informal and transactional talk. There are a number of reasons for this, for example the need to keep the person’s text short and to the point. The techniques that were used by my friends include using phonetic spelling (such as wanna for want to) and replacing words with digits (such as 2 for to). The other reasons that my friends may have been using very informal and transactional talk is because of their idiolect or regional accent or dialect this means that they may be using different grammar and pronunciation of words to me. Because I have been taught to use more formal language in my texts I tend to break the stereotype and say things like, ‘it was good to see you’ instead of “it woz gd 2 c u”. I used this language when texting my cousin who was brought up in a middle class area causing me to use accommodation theory to write more similar to her.  So I used more formal phatic talk texting her because I do not text her as regularly as I text my friends at home this meant that she isn’t as used to my texts. On the other hand, when I text my friends back home I use more transactional language and more taboo and slang words and less formality because I text them regularly and because I want to ‘accommodate’ my language to make it more similar to theirs.

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In one of my texts, my mum chose to write a very short informative text to me. She used small amounts of phatic language (especially for a female) and used emoticons to show emotion while saving time. She shorted words for example she said ‘enjoyin footy game’. This style of language would normally be inappropriate to her if she were writing a letter or emailing and shows that language changes the way we text. Because as she was in a rush she texted much more informally, using more emoticons, which are used to show emotion but are quick to write ...

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