Researchers study text messages as language form
Professors seek text ‘ donations’ ( in 140 characters or less)
R u being lzy & illterte when u text?
Or are your texting shortcuts and abbreviations a display of creativity and imagination?
Simon Fraser University researcher Christian Guilbault and researchers at the University of Ottawa and the Université de Montréal are asking people to “donate” their text messages to science to help them find the answers to those questions.
The researchers have created Text4science, a collaborative project through which they hope to learn how people communicate creatively using texts despite the constraints of 140 characters and some cumbersome cellphone keyboards.
And they are hoping their research will back their theory that people who use such shortcuts and abbreviations aren’t just lazy.
Rather, the researchers expect they’ll find people are being creative and imaginative in their use of language.
“They are being very creative and efficient at communicating, using novel forms of communications,” said Christian Guilbault, an associate professor with SFU’S French department.
Guilbault dismisses the criticism that abbreviations and grammatical lapses in texts indicate young people are becoming less literate than earlier generations.
“When they talk to their friends they speak differently than if they were to speak to Stephen Harper or the queen or to a university professor,” he said. “Put them in an informal environment and they switch to a whole new register.
“It’s the same thing with writing; they are developing a new skill.”
Guilbault said researchers hope to see how text messages change with languages and dialects.
Just as there are differences between Quebec French and that spoken in France, researchers expect to see significant differences between different dialects of English used in texting.
The researchers have set up a website ( text4science. ca) with information on how people can ‘ donate’ their messages.
“The goal of the Text4science project is to collect ... a large electronic bank of messages that can be used for research ( primarily in the fields of linguistics and computational linguistics),” the site says.
“To build this bank, we are calling upon volunteers who are willing to “donate” their texts to science. We are asking participants to send their messages to a short number ( 202202) and to fill in a short online questionnaire.”