Email and SMS Language among

Youth:

Presented by:Arslan Aftab

Asim Liaquat KhanMuhammad Bilal

Muhammad Waleed UsmanSalman Irshad

Globalization has brought information

revolution. Internet and mobile technology has brought

different dialects and variations. Language of youth.

Background and Context

“The impact, the use of internet and

SMS language has on the youth of

Pakistan”

Statement of Purpose

linguistic use in case of SMS and Emails

among the youth of Pakistan. We used personal interviews and

questionnaires to get information from youth. Research process remained confined to the

Lahore.

Scope of Study

Salia Tagliamonte and Derek Denis (2008) article

“LINGUISTIC RUIN? LOL! INSTANT MESSAGING AND TEEN LANGUAGE”

David crystal (2008) article “Txting frNd or foe?” Guy merchant (2001) article “Teenagers in Cyber

Space” David crystal (2005) article “The Scope of Internet

Linguistic” Muhammad Shaban Rafi(2002) in the article “SMS Text

Analysis: Language, Gender and Current Practices”

Literature review

Abdullah , Mardziah Hayati(2003) article “The

Impact of electronic communication on Writing”.

David crystal (1998) “Interpreting Inter”. Wood, Plester, Bowyer (2008) “Texting and

Literacy” . Anupam khatpalia “The effects of Text

messaging”

Literature review

Mixing of variants by formal and informal ways

cannot be categorized as ruin. Increasing literacy level. Creating innovation in language. Use of abbreviations are not started by youth

but many authors used abbreviations in past. Make youth more confident and comfortable. Better atmosphere. Increase writing skills.

Overview of literature review

E-mail

Second to the telephone in terms of the world-wide users Allows users to send pictures and files as attachments According to CNN, more than 36 billion E-mails are sent each day

around the world• Instant Message (IM)

— a form of real-time direct text-based communication between two or more people using shared clients

— approximately 12 billion instant messages are sent each day— popular among large organization

Short Message Service (SMS) The text communication service component of phone, web or mobile communication

systems The Pakistani send 106 billion SMS/ text messages a year Each SMS has the ability to carry 160 characters and the latest mobiles can send up to

20 SMS messages each time.

Popular Means of Communication

Inexpensive Convenient Reliable “Cool”

Reasons for Popularity

Two styles of Communication

i. Formal— Associated with corporate world

ii. In-Formal— Associated with the youth— High use of Slangs, jargons, Clichés and

shorthand words

Language Styles of Youth

Vs

Tone, vocabulary, syntax and contractions Structure & organized Abbreviations Formal: “It has been noticed” Informal: “I have noticed” Contractions

Distinction b/w Formal and In-Formal Style

Comics & Text messages gonna, wanna, ain't, woulda, coulda, shoulda

English newspapers & Informal Reports

it'll, would've, could've, might've, that'll

Formal business or project reports & proposals

won't, can't, don't, doesn't

Characteristics Roman Urdu (Urdu Written using English

Alphabets) According to Gillani Research Foundation,

Roman Urdu is the most used language for sending text messages in Pakistan

SMS and Internet Language among youth of

Pakistan

Roman Urdu 37 %

Urdu 15%

English 17%

Do not use Electronic Medium

29%

No response 2%

Code Mixing Examples:

Ma class k liye late ho rha hoon. Try kerna to must hai Kya kr rhay ho? Are you mad?

• Complete Disregard of grammatical Rules• Examples

Kya hoing? Where jaaing? Kya likhing?

Roman Urdu: Cont’d…

Google Transliteration

A software that converts the text of one writing system into another in a systematic way

It currently supports 23 languages

Roman Urdu: Cont’d…

The four main reasons

I. It looks beautifulII. It is convenientIII. It saves timeIV. It is a common trend

Three types of shorthand Terms in In-formal LanguageI. Words without vowelsII. The initials of wordsIII. Acronyms

Compressions and Shorthand terms

Words Without Vowels

“Whn” or “Wn” for When “Wht” or “Wt” for What “L8” for Late “Gr8” for Great

• Acronyms— “LSE” for London School of Economics— “T.V” for Television— “PC” for Personal Computer

Examples

Initials

“BRB” for Be right back “LOL” for laughing out loud “WTH” for What the Heck “BTW” for By the way “XOXO” for Kisses and Hugs “TTYL” for Talk to you later “OMW” for On my way

Examples: Cont’d…

Skipping of words that are felt unnecessary Example:

“Mom eating” instead of Mom is eating “Drinking” instead of “I’m drinking” “Driving” instead of “I’m driving my car”

• Adverse Effects

Compressions and Shorthand terms: Cont’d…

David Crystal and Muhammad Shaban Rafi A representation of the body language, which would

otherwise be missing from a non-face-to-face communication

These Emoticons have the ability to change the meaning of a sentence just as the gestures; body language, eye contact and so forth have the ability to change the meaning of the verbal communication

Examples:

Emoticons and Symbols

If a person is Happy :)

If a person is sad :(

If a person is angry :@

If a person is confused

:S

Difference in Males and Females Internet and

SMS language Punctuation Number of words used per message Complexity Lexical Dense words Clauses

• According to “Waqt” Newspaper— SMS language has a more adverse and bad

influence upon the women than the men

The difference in the Internet and SMS Language

of Girls and Boys

Role of Media Television Commercials

“Kyunke Dawlance Reliable hai” “Talk Shawk” “Pepsi, Dil mangay more”

• Bollywood Movies “God tussi great ho” “Jab we met” “Love aaj kal”

Pakistani Songs Billie Jean(Atif Aslam) Mahiya (Annie) Bounce Billo (Imran khan)

Reasons of the Novice Internet and SMS

Language

English as the “Lingua Franca” of the world

English as a language of Elites and Upper-class

• Modern Gadgets of Communication The need to build a whole new infrastructure for the

promotion of Urdu

Reasons of the Novice Internet and SMS Language:

Cont’d…

Culture means the values, traditions, norms,

customs, arts, history, folklore, and institutions that a group of people, who are unified by race, ethnicity, language, nationality, or religion, share.

Pakistan follows a Muslim Culture. Language is termed as the identity of any nation. The national language of Pakistan is “Urdu” but the

language that is mostly used in offices of Pakistan is “English.”

Adapting English language was the first step when Western Culture started influencing our culture.

Impact of Western Culture on Communication Styles:

When any culture start influencing other culture then the

living styles and patterns of the later culture start changing.

We try to adapt western habits, for example we are now more towards the western food, western style of clothing, we like to build our houses like the west, so in a nutshell we try to copy all the things that the western culture possess. Similarly it applies on the communication styles.

Because of the impact of Western culture we try to speak in a way in which the people of west speak.

Our elite some way or the other communicate in English in their society.

Cont…

Many of us now want our children to read,

write and speak English more frequently than our native, national language “Urdu”.

Many slangs and clichés have also made their place in our communication styles.

The usage of this language in our Email and SMS language is due to the impact of the Western culture.

Cont…

Miss. Memoona Anwar instructing subjects

related to language at the Kinnaird Collage for Women, Lahore and Lahore School of Economics said “Though the language originated by western countries but in Pakistan’s case the blame cannot be shifted totally on the west as it is just one thing which they originated and we learnt it from them, which was transferred to us with the transfer of technology.”

Interview Findings

Mr. Imtiaz Shah said that “Western culture has

affected our lives our habits, our way of perceiving and doing things and also the communication styles both verbal and non-verbal”.

The survey also showed that most of the respondents agreed that Western culture had an impact on the communication styles of youth.

Cont..

“The Email and SMS language that is being used

by youth these days does not decrease the literacy level both it has rather increased the literacy level, innovation and creativity”. (DAVID Crystal)

SMS and Email language has become a lingua Franca for Youth.

It has increased the literacy level of the youth living in the rural areas of Pakistan.

Youth communicate now much faster and easily with one another than it used to be before.

SMS and Email Language and effects on Youth:

Email and SMS language is not destroying the traditional rules of language but it is a new form of language which is more creative and innovative.

language is not a static term rather then it is a moving phenomenon and it keeps on changing with time.

It is a language of youth and it has increased the literacy level because it is now understood by each and every person so it has enhanced the reading and writing skills of Youth. (Imtiaz Shah)

Interview Findings

According to Ms. Mehmoona Email and SMS language

has evolved as one the major form of communication among youth of country, has its own impacts both formally and informally.

This language is un-doubtfully proving support verbally and adding more to the verbal repertories of language users and even in case of Pakistan it has enhanced the verbal skills of both literate and illiterate people somehow by proving them knowledge of words and language resulting in development of their verbal skills, but when it comes to writing language.

Cont…

Slang words use and short hand words, it is

none other than a time saving, money saving strategy, where youth today tries to adopt a shortcut and a condensed way to communicate.

This is also the attitude of youth towards their lives and towards their formal communication which is not good.

Cont….

a. Formal Style b. In-Formal Style c. Both/ Mixed

9 11

30

Language Style in Email and SMS Language

Series1

Analysis of Data:

100%

Using Jargons and Slangs in SMS &Emails

a.       Yes b.      No

a.       Agree b.      Tend to agree c.       Tend to disagree d.      Disagree

39

6

32

Impact of Western Culture

Series1

a.       Never b.      Seldom c.       Occasionally d.      Frequently

0

2

5

43

How often use Email and SMS

Series1

a.       It looks beautiful b.      It is convenient c.       It saves time d.      It is a common trend

0

15

33

2

Why people use short hand writings

Series1

52%

30%

8%

10%

Impact of Pakistani Culture

a.       Agree b.      Tend to agree c.       Tend to disagree d.      Disagree

a.       Strongly agree b.      Agree c.       Disagree d.      Strongly disagree

27

21

2

0

Smiles and Emoticons make communication more expressive

Series1

a.       10-15 b.      16-24 c.       25-30 d.      31 and above

0

48

20

AGE

Series1

2%

16%

62%

20%

Education level

a.       Matriculation/ O-level b.      Intermediate / A- level c.       Undergraduate d.      Graduate

a.       Male64%

b.      Female36%

Gender

Email and SMS can help in creating bridge. According to linguistic expert’s emails and

SMS helps to bring new and interesting way of writing.

Awareness should be created between the Students, Teachers and Parents.

Seminars SMS and Email language should be treated as

a separate subject

Conclusion