What is ‘textese’
and is it ruining the English Language?
One of the many
stereotypes that circulate nowadays is that text speak or ‘textese’ is ruining
the way young people talk and act. Of course, this stereotype has been blown completely
out of proportion by prescriptivists who believe there is only one type of
language and any other variation is incorrect.
A descriptivist (like myself) believes that there are multiple
variations of language in which none are inferior or superior to each other.
You are probably
wondering (and if you are not, pretend you are for my sake and this post’s
sake) where text messaging originated. Well, on the 3rd December
1992, Neil Papworth used a personal computer to send the message “Merry
Christmas” to the phone of Richard Jarvis and thus, texting was born. Around 8
trillion text messages are sent every year with 18.7 billion sent every day.
Now before we continue, I should probably elaborate on what
‘textese’ really is. It is a form of text speak is made up mainly of
abbreviations and slang that is stereotypically linked to teenagers. In one
American study, researchers found that less than 20% of messages used SMS
language. Looking at his own texting history, the study's author, linguist
David Crystal, noted just 10% of his messages used SMS language.
You are also probably thinking how many of those texts
contain vital information, well… all of them do. I mean, say you get a text and it reads, “I’m
having curry for dinner lol”. The person clearly thought that it was important
for them to inform you about the choice of meal for the evening, although you
probably did not care at all and proceeded to question the status of your
friendship.
I can admit, receiving texts that contain those irritating
abbreviations and confusing misspelt words is incredibly annoying but the
purposeful misspelling and abbreviating of words dates far back. Way way far
back to before the internet and hand held phones were even an idea. Therefore,
it is not that new to see words spelt incorrectly when sending messages to one
another. Although on the Brightside, it is still practise for children in
reading and writing.
There have been many debates by well-acknowledged people
about the effects that ‘textese’ has on people and whether or not it actually
is useful. Many people think it is just a child’s laziness and the fact they do
not even know how to spell whereas others believe it actually has nothing to do
with laziness and you actually need to know where the letters are to leave them
out in the first place. Welsh journalist and television reporter John Humphrys
has criticised SMS messaging by saying that is it “...Ruining our language”,
whereas the linguist David Crystal (mentioned prior) believes it has little to
no effect on grammar and language and in fact it is actually a good thing.
So the real question
is, who do you agree with and why?
