The structure and features of the SMS language used in the written work of Communication English I students at a university in South Africa

Chaka Chaka,Mampa L Mphahlele,Charles C Mann

doi:10.4102/rw.v6i1.83

Chaka Chaka, Mampa L Mphahlele + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4102/rw.v6i1.83

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Journal: Reading & Writing	Publication Date: Nov 4, 2015
Citations: 2	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Tshwane University of Technology

Abstract

Employing an explanatory design, this study set out to investigate the morphosyntactic structures of the SMS language of Communication English I students, and the types of SMS language features used in their written work at a university of technology in South Africa. The study randomly sampled 90 undergraduate students (M = 40; F = 50) enrolled for a national diploma programme during the first academic semester in 2013. Their ages ranged from 19–22 years; they all spoke English as a second language, whilst having one of the five black South African languages as their home language. The study had two types of data: participants’ mobile phone text messages (in two sets), and their writing samples. Two of the findings of the study are: the morphological structure of the textisms used in the participants’ text messages deviated from that applicable to formal, standard English, whereas much of their syntactic structure did not; and, the frequency and proportion of textisms in participants’ writing samples were lower than that reported in studies by Freudenberg (2009) and Rosen et al. (2010).

Highlights

Short message service (SMS) language – known as text messaging – has become a subject of a number of studies in recent times
This study set out to explore the morphosyntactic structures of the SMS language of Communication English I students, and the types of SMS language features these students used in their written work at a university of technology in South Africa
The two textisms with the highest occurrence frequency percentages were rebus, letter and number or number and letter homophones, and initialisms and alphabetisms. These occurrence frequency percentages seem to be slightly lower than the highest occurrence frequency percentages of textisms reported in other studies on text message features, such as those studied by Lyddy et al (2013) and Thurlow and Brown (2003)

Summary

Introduction

Short message service (SMS) language – known as text messaging – has become a subject of a number of studies in recent times. The current study set out to examine the morphological and syntactic (morphosyntactic) structures and features of SMS language evident in the written work of undergraduate students enrolled in a national diploma course, Communication English I, at a university of technology in Gauteng, South Africa. In relation to the morphosyntactic structure of student SMS language, Adebileje’s (2014) study explored the use of various registers in the syntax of text messaging amongst young undergraduate students at a university in Nigeria. The study by Kahari et al (2013) explored the syntactic structures of text messages in the English language used by 50 students in Zimbabwe These students comprised 30 females and 20 males. It found that texters employed some word order (which deviated from formal English), and that morphological processes such as contractions, abbreviations, acronyms, compounding, and blends featured in varying degrees in the texters’ messages (Nweze 2013)

Research methodology

Participants and sampling technique

Findings

Discussion

Conclusions and recommendations for further studies