by Dallas Spires

Created on: October 13, 2009

A new form of written - in this case typed - English has emerged in the last few years that really troubles a lot of people: text messaging. Lately, it has been treated as an entirely new phenomenon, when it has its roots in instant messaging on the internet. This form of "written" language uses different grammatical standards and many abbreviations. In many cases, spelling is ignored (so long as the reader can recognize what word is being sent) and verbs are not conjugated. Those of us who prefer more traditional forms of written English fear for the sanctity of our precious language.

To assume that text messaging will "destroy" the English language shows a certain lack of understanding on the part of the person holding this misconception. Texting is still English. The people using this form of "written" English are still communicating in English. To understand what is being typed, they must have a good understanding of syntax and grammar already. They must be able to recognize speech and sentence patterns, to predict accurately what someone is going to say, especially since the words probably won't be typed out. Unfortunately, for many young people, this understanding is so fundamental that they can't access it in any way other than through texting.

With all the abbreviations and acronyms used in typing text messages, texting reads like some sort of code. This is nothing new. In fact, what you are reading now is a code. It is a code that many of us understand because we have been taught this code by the adults and other people we accept as linguistic authorities. This code relates ideas in the English language. So does Morse code, which is a system of sounds transcribed as dots and dashes that represent messages interpreted as recognizable English by those people who understand the code. However, it doesn't sound or look anything like the code I'm currently using.

The use of codes is widespread, from law enforcement agencies to businesses to criminal organizations. Each one uses a code exclusive to it, except maybe in the case of street gangs. Military groups use codes no one else understands so that ideas in English may be communicated without being easily intercepted. Businesses may use codes simply for ease of communication. Even outside of any code, business communication already uses its own grammatical standards, which can be just as strict as those in English classrooms. Criminal organizations developed codes to deliver messages without being found

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>