Alex Veeneman, Opinions Editor
A linguist at Simon Fraser University in the Canadian province of British Columbia is looking into the affects of text messages in the usage of the English language.
Christian Guibault, a French professor at SFU, has been conducting a study based on text messages in conjunction with other universities in Canada, known as Text4Science, and has found it has not been a blur.
“One of the main [beliefs] about text messages is if you don’t know the code, you can’t read them and understand them,” Guibault told the Vancouver Sun. “We’re finding out that’s not the case at all. Most people don’t modify spelling nearly as much as we were led to believe.”
The study lasts until June, but has been part of a global debate about whether text messages have caused concerns.
Katherine Martin, senior editor of U.S. dictionaries at Oxford University Press, says that it is difficult to distinguish between language’s use in texts compared to face-to-face interaction.
“One unique thing is that so long as it is done on a traditional phone keyboard, it encourages brevity because of typing,” Martin said. “Abbreviations are also common in an online context. Texting and IMing [are also popular] because they are taking the place of face-to-face conversation. They encourage a lot of interjections.”
Martin added, though, that despite the unique concerns about its effects on the language, it is a common trend for new methods to be criticized.
“It is a nature of all languages to change, and it changes all the time whether the technology changes or not,” Martin said. “The language of youth is often criticized and someone somewhere has said the language has declined, and then the next generation turns around and says the same thing.”
Victoria Strid, a business administration and computer information systems major, said shorthand is the way forward. “If Beyonce was able to make an impact to our language by her term ‘Bootylicious,’ I most definitely believe shorthand versions of words and/or acronyms will become more commonplace and accepted in society,” Strid said.
Junior broadcast journalism major Veronica Mathy said there are also other items to consider when addressing the concerns expressed by some that the language is being harmed.
“You can’t reasonably expect someone to type on the older, smaller touchpads (where the numbers and letters are on the same buttons) as you would now when you have a full-length keyboard at your disposal,” Mathy said. “Those abbreviations also worked well when trying to fit within character limits to avoid breaking up a message into pieces that would inevitably be delivered in the wrong order by the carrier — a problem that I haven’t noticed happening on my newer phones.”
Martin added that abbreviations will continue to expand, but adds that standard English is migrating online.
“As Twitter or Facebook becomes important ways to communicate, they will be less likely to be places to use language in a playful way,” said Martin. “Texting will be private communication.”
Victoria Strid is the Online Community Manager for the Online Flyer.
Alex Veeneman
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