Investigating how technology has affected the development of everyday language, looking mainly at text messages, chat rooms and e-mails and the creative spellings, abbreviations and acronyms used.

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Erin Buckley

Introduction

   As mobile phones become more frequent it is questioned as to whether this increase has affected the English language.  So I am investigating how technology has affected the development of everyday language, looking mainly at text messages, chat rooms and e-mails and the creative spellings, abbreviations and acronyms used.

   43% of mobile phone users aged 12 to 17 use text messaging compared with 25% of those 30 to 34.  The limited space and the difficulty of writing words on numeric phone keypads, have helped create the text-messaging lingo.  Words have become abbreviated (HV for have) and common phrases have become acronyms (by the way becomes BTW), there are even texting dictionaries to interpret these.

   I chose this project because I wanted to see if this new wave of technology and fast increasing text terminology would have an effect on the everyday language of myself and those people around me.  In a wider context I would also like to know the effect it will have on the world and all written languages.

   My main aim is to find out if communication technology has effected the development of written language.  I intend to find out whether the medias hype on the deterioration of language because of text messages is justified.

(Include headlines from newspapers)

I believe the students I have selected will use ‘text language’ in note taking, diaries, or other daily activities but will be able to distinguish the difference in language terminology when they have to write important work for school, for example, essays.

Methodology

   I am looking at the text messages and written work of three different people within year 13, two are female and one male to make sure I was not based too specifically on a particular group of people.

   I chose year 13 because they are not as impressionable as younger students and have been exposed to this new language longer and they are also an easily available recourse.

Made sure mixed gender.

   I gave all the people I was studying a questionnaire and once they were filled in I asked them questions based on how they had filled it in to get more in depth answers.

I noted down their comments which gave me a broader idea of their use of these forms of technology and their use of language.

 I decided to list seven questions, which allow me to concentrate closely on the language in text messages:

1    Do the people who text more abbreviate more?

2.        Do the people who abbreviate more in text messages abbreviate more elsewhere?

3.        How many abbreviations does each person use?

4.        How many acronyms does each person use?

5.        Has the person used numbers to replace letters in text messages?

6.        Does the speed of typing a text message affect the overall language and grammar?

7.   Has the text message been personalised, eg. With emoticons?

Text Messages

   Text messaging is sending a short message (typically 160 characters long) from your computer or mobile phone to another mobile phone.  It is simple, instantaneous, cheap, discrete and fun.

   Text messaging was introduced in 1995 as a way to let network operators communicate service messages to their subscribers, over the past few years text messaging has caught the imagination of mobile users all over the world. In December 2001, well over 1 Billion messages were sent in England as they lost the traditional Christmas card in favour of seasonal text messages.

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   It has been established that the mobile phone industry caters mainly for the younger market and that texting is part of the youth’s mobile phone use.  Early to late evenings are the preferred time to text, this is maybe because students are out of school and have time to spend on leisurely activities, including texting.

To find what influence text messaging has had I will also look at:

  • E-mails

E-mails are sent usually on computers or on other devices like mobile phone, they can be used within companies to send information or reminders, to distribute junk mail ...

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