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Naomi Baron, a professor of linguistics at American University and author of “Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World,” shares Crystal’s view. She predicts that the number of “textisms” will stop growing as people continue to develop more proficiency in using handheld devices and as the devices continue to grow more sophisticated than simple telephone touch pads. She adds that part of the appeal of texting shorthands is their novelty, and that that will fade. (Shea, 2010)
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Devices that people are using to text are getting more and more complicated and therefore textisms and abbreviations will begin to fizzle out. With many of the new phones it is easier and quicker to touch the entire word you are trying to use. Similar to T9 but even better you type in the first few letters and you have a large list of possible words you are trying to write. You simply touch that already correctly spelled word and move on. It's quicker than typing a 3 or 4 letter abbreviation that could be misinterpreted. I believe a lot of the abbreviations and textisms were somewhat of a fad. Younger kids got creative abbreviating words to create their own texting "style" . Some of these will stick but, like most fads the majority will fade.
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David Crystal on It's Only a Theory, defending the proposition that texting is good for the English language. In this YouTube video David Crystal talks about how teens leave letters out of words when texting because it is cool. And that they could not leave out certain letters if they did not know the correct spelling in the first place.
Reference
Ammon, Shea. "The Keypad Solution." New York Times. 22Jan2010: n. page. Web. 9 Sep. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/magazine/24FOB-onlanguage-t.html>.
Crystal, David. "David Crystal on It's Only a Theory S01E02." 21Oct2009. Online Posting to Gassalasca2. Web. 9 Sep. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7WSzxQ0nX4>.
I completely agree with you, these fads will not last. Kids invent these abbreviations and then they overuse them and then they get tired of them just as quickly! These will be "ccol" for a little bit but then the next group with come up with something different and that will be the new "in" thing.
ReplyDeleteJennifer,
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think that most of the text messaging abbreviations will fade out and just be another passed fad. Its hard to believe that as technology grows we will practically be carrying small computers in our pockets to call and text our friends. It seems that with some cell phones its already like that, but I think that as we go along they will all be like that. I personally am not to sure how well I'm going to like it. I like the idea of the phone generating the proper spelling of words for me in case I would need help, but I also wonder if that will affect people's spelling skills, making them better or worse?
First off, I loved your video. Quite entertaining! Second, I feel the same way you do about this texting shorthand. My phone is so easy to type on that most of the time using abbreviations is more time consuming than typing out the entire word or phrase. With technology advancements the way they are, I think the fad will fade too.
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