Abstract
Texting is the process of sending and receiving written messages using a mobile phone. It is a stunning phenomenon and marks a new era of electronic language. It has highly abbreviated and alpha-numerical styles that represent a continuous evolution of a unique language. Texting is becoming very popular across the globe but the findings of the present research show that it is still in embryonic stage in KSA, because Saudi EFL/ESL teachers feel unease to text and exhibit more readiness to speak. Three major surveys were conducted at Saudi universities to ascertain frequency of texting. The research findings of these surveys explored the overwhelming and favorable response of the participants towards texting. Almost all the participants agreed that texting is cost-effective and manifests dynamic socio- cultural and linguistic identities. In addition, they endorsed that SMS dictionary should be written to avoid idiosyncrasies and to standardize the style of texting. It was also explored that cultural and religious inclusion in texting was predominant when Saudi EFL /ESL teachers wrote text messages. The text messages they sent to their friends and relatives also reflected code- mixing, which was a beautiful blend of English, and Arabic language discourses and hence echoed distinctive socio-cultural and religious features.
Highlights
Texting represents a telegraphic or an alpha-numeric language such as ‘2day or b4’ and has a unique style
It was explored that cultural and religious inclusion in texting was predominant when Saudi EFL /ESL teachers wrote text messages. The text messages they sent to their friends and relatives reflected code- mixing, which was a beautiful blend of English, and Arabic language discourses and echoed distinctive socio-cultural and religious features
According to Crystal (2001), ‘the Short Message Service (SMS) was developed within the mobile phone industry in the early 1990’s but it did not become popular until about 1998’.Within the time span of ten to twenty years texting has become very popular across the world
Summary
Texting represents a telegraphic or an alpha-numeric language such as ‘2day or b4’ and has a unique style. According to Wikipedia, The concept of texting was first given by Friedhelm Hillebr and later Neil Papworth. He was a 22-year-old engineer for Sema Group in the UK. It was for the first time on 3rd December 1992, Neil Papworth sent the text message “Merry Christmas” via the Vodafone network. According to Crystal (2001), ‘the Short Message Service (SMS) was developed within the mobile phone industry in the early 1990’s but it did not become popular until about 1998’.Within the time span of ten to twenty years texting has become very popular across the world. In English speaking countries text messaging is extensively used by the masses and it is used as a fun game or entertainment by school children. The reason why texting has become very popular across the globe is that it is shortened, cost effective and consumes less time and space
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