The article “Text Messaging” by Thurlow and Poff (2013) has introduced the issue of messages’ sending, its mechanisms, and the linguistic peculiarities. The authors try to analyze the phenomenon of the “communication imperative” realized via modern technologies and to understand whether its language is as unintelligible as one claim (Thurlow and Poff 171).
While examining the linguistic aspect, the authors have made a series of discoveries. First of all, modern texters do not use all the space provided for a message. Even though the number of words is not very limited, one tends to use abbreviations that are understandable by the majority of people. Secondly, the language applied to text messages is not as incomprehensible as one might suppose. In fact, the main distinctive trait of the texting language is an abundance of non-standard orthography and a particular typographic use – either the prevalence of exclamation points or, on the contrary, the complete absence of any punctuation marks.
Finally, the authors agree that today, texting is one of the most efficient forms of communication. Users can develop their social identity through texting, and they feel more free due to the so-called “recognized anonymity” that allows them to express the thoughts they would not, probably, announce in a live communication (Thurlow and Poff 173).
Works Cited
Thurlow, Crispin and Michele Poff. ” Text Messaging.” Pragmatics of Computer-Mediated Communication. Ed. Susan C. Herring, Dieter Stein and Tuija Virtanen. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2013. 163-190. Print.