«Peculiarity of using sms-shortenings and sms-abbreviations in the modern English language»

City science-practical conference

« A Step to Science-2014»

Junior group

English language Section

«Peculiarity of using sms-shortenings and sms-abbreviations

 in the modern English language»

Shnireva Anastasiya, Grade 8 «a»

Science research supervisor: Lazareva Olga Sergeevna

Chita 2014

Contents:

1. Brief annotation…………………………………………………………………………………..3

2. Annotation………………………………………………………………………………………..4

3.  Plan of research …………………………………………………………………………………5

4.  Science article …………………………………………………………………………………..7

5.  List of literature

6. Appendix

City science-practical conference

« A Step to Science-2014»

«Peculiarity of using sms-shortenings and sms-abbreviations

 in the modern English language»

Shnireva Anastasiya, Grade 8 «a»

Municipal Educational Institution “Secondary State School № 2”, Chita

Brief annotation.

      This research work contains the analyses of sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening in modern English language and thesaurus dictionary of sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening. The notion  «SMS», the influence of sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening  on perceptions of the student, the development of SMS-abbreviation in English language, the main methods of forming SMS-shortening were described in this research work.

City science-practical conference

« A Step to Science-2014»

«Peculiarity of using sms-shortenings and sms-abbreviations

 in the modern English language»

Shnireva Anastasiya, Grade 8 «a»

Municipal Educational Institution “Secondary State School № 2”, Chita

Annotation.

       Telephone, radio, television, the Internet and mobile communications have caused the highest rate of drift of information, which caused acceleration of life in common. The desire to save time has led to a change of thinking of people, including text. Hundreds of words have SMS- equivalent, SMS- language has became the second language to millions of people, especially for English-speaking users.

   This research work proposes the dictionary of sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening, which pupils can use studying modern English language. 

The main aim of my work: compiling of a dictionary of sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening.

Problems to be solved:

1) To study and analyze different sources of information on sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening.

2) To make up a list of sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening.

3)  To compare and analyze different sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening both in Russian and English languages.

4) To reveal the role of sms-abbreviations in English language.

The influence on perceptions of the student, the development of SMS-abbreviation in English language, the main methods of forming SMS-shortening were described in this research work.

City science-practical conference

« A Step to Science-2014»

«Peculiarity of using sms-shortenings and sms-abbreviations

 in the modern English language»

Shnireva Anastasiya, Grade 8 «a»

Municipal Educational Institution “Secondary State School № 2”, Chita

 Plan of research

All people live in the quickly changing world.  Telephone, radio, television, the Internet and mobile communications have caused the highest rate of drift of information, which caused acceleration of life in common. Universal desire to save time and, accordingly, linguistic resources, has led to a change of thinking, including text. In the United States SMS- language dictionary was published. Hundreds of words have SMS- equivalent, SMS- language has became the second language to millions of people, especially for English-speaking users. This method of communication is wide spread among particular groups of people. A similar phenomenon is observed  in almost all countries, ​ but especially SMS- shortening  is popular in the USA.

 Problems of shortened lexical units as a specific linguistic phenomenon in modern languages ​​have attracted  attention of many scholars . These problems are discussed  a in numerous articles and individual works of Russian and foreign authors, such as AA Ioannina , LP Krisin, Y. Gorshunov Their  articles has become the  basis for our research work.

These theme was chosen by me because I have English-speaking friend, we always communicate in the Internet and use some abbreviations and shortenings.

While studying the problem, I have used the following methods of investigation:

-descriptive method of research; it is used to describe the development of SMS-abbreviation in English language, the influence of sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening  on perceptions of the student.

-collection of the material: in my research I’ve studied a number of articles and books different authors such as AA Ioannina , LP Krisin, Y. Gorshunov.

- systematization of the material: this method was used when I try to describe some rules of forming sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening.

- study and analysis: ; this method was used to make a conclusion of our investigation.

The object of investigation: sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening in English language.

The subject of investigation: the process of enlargement of vocabulary by means of sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening.

Hypothesis: If sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening are growing in number in the English language, there is a necessity to compile thesaurus dictionary of sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening.

In my research the following stages can be distinguished:

1. Preparatory stage

     1)  The analyses of the problem.

     2) Defining the main idea of the project and allocation of the problems.

2. Research stage

     1)  Data acquisition.

3. Analytical stage

     1) The analyses of the acquired data.

     2) Summarizing the gathered information.

4. Conclusive stage

1)  Introducing the project to the public.

2)   Self-evaluation of the project.

Novelty. This topic is new in the linguistic, scholars have not yet studied thoroughly the frequency of using these sms-shortening, so we believe that we contributed something to the study of this phenomenon, as SMS-language.

   In my research work I, firstly, studied the notion SMS, the influence on perceptions of the student, the development of SMS-abbreviation in English language.

Secondly, I studied  main methods of forming SMS-shortening and gave the analyses.

Thirdly, I compile  a dictionary of sms-abbreviations and sms-shortening.

Appendix contains diagrams and a dictionary.

City science-practical conference

« A Step to Science-2014»

«Peculiarity of using sms-shortenings and sms-abbreviations

 in the modern English language»

Shnireva Anastasiya, form 8 «a»

Municipal Educational Institution “Secondary State School № 2”, Chita

Scientific article

The notion SMS and SMS today

       Short Message Service (SMS) is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems. It uses standardized communications protocols to allow fixed line or mobile phone devices to exchange short text messages. [6]

     SMS is the most widely used data application, with an estimated 3.5 billion active users, or about 80% of all mobile phone subscribers at the end of 2012. The term "SMS" is used for all types of short text messaging and the user activity itself in many parts of the world. SMS is also employed in direct marketing, known as SMS marketing.

     SMS as used on modern handsets originated from radio telegraphy in radio memo pagers using standardized phone protocols. These were defined in 1985 as part of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) series of standards as a means of sending messages of up to 160 characters to and from GSM mobile handsets. Though most SMS messages are mobile-to-mobile text messages, support for the service has expanded to include other mobile technologies, such as ANSI CDMA networks and Digital AMPS, as well as satellite and landline networks. [7]

SMS today

    In 2012, 6.1 trillion SMS text messages were sent. This translates into an average of 193000 SMS per second. SMS has become a massive commercial industry, earning $114.6 billion globally in 2012. The global average price for an SMS message is $0.11, while mobile networks charge each other interconnect fees of at least $0.04 when connecting between different phone networks.

   While SMS is still a growing market, traditional SMS are becoming increasingly challenged by alternative messaging services available on smartphones with data connections, especially in Western countries where these services are growing in popularity. [7]

Europe

   Europe follows next behind Asia in terms of the popularity of the use of SMS. In 2003, an average of 16 billion messages were sent each month. Users in Spain sent a little more than fifty messages per month on average in 2013. In Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom, the figure was around 35–40 SMS messages per month. In each of these countries, the cost of sending an SMS message varies from €0.04–0.23, depending on the payment plan (with many contractual plans including all or a number of texts for free). In the United Kingdom, text messages are charged between £0.05–0.12. Curiously,      France has not taken to SMS in the same way, sending just under 20 messages on average per user per month. France has the same GSM technology as other European countries, so the uptake is not hampered by technical restrictions.

    In the Republic of Ireland, a total of 1.5 billion messages are sent every quarter, on average 114 messages per person per month. In the United Kingdom over 1 billion text messages are sent every week.

    The Eurovision Song Contest organized the first pan-European SMS voting in 2002, as a part of the voting system (there was also a voting over traditional phone lines). In 2005, the Eurovision Song Contest organized the biggest televoting ever (with SMS and phone voting).[7]

During roaming, that is, when a user connects to another network in different country from his own, the prices may be higher, but in July 2009, EU legislation went into effect limiting this price to €0.11.

Finland

   In addition to SMS voting, a different phenomenon has risen in more mobile-phone-saturated countries. In Finland, some TV channels began "SMS chat", which involved sending short messages to a phone number, and the messages would be shown on TV a while later. Chats are always moderated, which prevents sending harmful material to the channel. The craze soon became popular and evolved into games, at first slow-paced quiz and strategy games. After a while, faster-paced games were designed for television and SMS control. Games tend to involve registering one's nickname and, after that, sending short messages for controlling a character on screen. Messages usually cost 0.05 to 0.86 Euro apiece, and games can require the player to send dozens of messages. In December 2003, a Finnish TV channel, MTV3, put a Santa Claus character on air reading aloud messages sent in by viewers. On 12 March 2004, the first entirely "interactive" TV channel, VIISI, began operation in Finland. That did not last long, as SBS Finland Oy took over the channel and turned it into a music channel named The Voice in November 2004.Also in 2004, Finnair became the first airline in the world to enable passengers to check-in in advance for flights with text messages. [6]

United States

   In the United States, text messaging is very popular; as reported by CTIA in December 2009, the 286 million US subscribers sent 152.7 billion text messages per month, for an average of 534 messages per subscriber per month. The Pew Research Center found in May 2010 that 72% of U.S. adult cellphone users send and receive text messages.

   In the U.S., SMS is often charged both at the sender and at the destination, but, unlike phone calls, it cannot be rejected or dismissed. The reasons for lower uptake than other countries are varied—many users have unlimited "mobile-to-mobile" minutes, high monthly minute allotments, or unlimited service. Moreover, push to talk services offer the instant connectivity of SMS and are typically unlimited. Furthermore, the integration between competing providers and technologies necessary for cross-network text messaging has only been available recently. Some providers originally charged extra to enable use of text, further reducing its usefulness and appeal. In the third quarter of 2006, at least 12 billion text messages crossed AT&T's network, up almost 15 percent from the preceding quarter.

   In the United States, while texting is widely popular among the ages of 13–22 years old, it is increasing among adults and business users as well. The age that a child receives his/her first cell phone has also decreased, making text messaging a very popular way of communication for all ages. The number of texts being sent in the United States has gone up over the years as the price has gone down to an average of $0.10 per text sent and received.[6]

    In order to convince more customers to include text messaging plans, some major cellphone providers have recently increased the price to send and receive text messages from $.15 to $.20 per message. This is over $1,300 per megabyte. Many providers offer unlimited plans, which can result in a lower rate per text given sufficient volume.

New Zealand

    There are three mobile network companies in New Zealand.
Telecom NZ was the first telecommunication company in New Zealand. In 2011, Telecom was broken into two companies, with Chorus Ltd taking the landline infrastructure and Telecom NZ providing services including over their mobile network.
Vodafone NZ acquired mobile network provider Bellsouth New Zealand in 1998 and has 2.32 million customers as at July 2013 Vodafone launched the first Text messaging service in 1999 and has introduced innovative TXT services like Safe TXT and CallMe
2degrees Mobile Ltd launched in August 2012.
In 2005, around 85% of the adult population had a mobile phone. In general, texting is more popular than making phone calls, as it is viewed as less intrusive and therefore more polite.[7]

Influence on perceptions of the student

   When a student sends a text message that contains phonetic abbreviations and acronyms that are common in text messaging (e.g., "gr8" instead of "great"), it can influence how that student is subsequently evaluated. In a study by Lewandowski and Harrington (2012), participants read a student's text message  sent to a professor that either contained text-messaging abbreviations (gr8, How R U?) or parallel text in standard English (great, How are you?), and then provided impressions of the sender. Students who used abbreviations in their text message were perceived as having a less favorable personality and as putting forth less effort on an essay they submitted along with the email. Specifically, abbreviation users were seen as less intelligent, responsible, motivated, studious, dependable, and hard-working. These findings suggest that the nature of a student's sms-language communication can influence how others perceive the student and their work.[1]

Development of SMS-abbreviation in English language

Fast pace of life, which gives the appearance of new phenomena in the media category by creating complex multipartite names, is the main cause of the growth rate of reducing in the language, which make the text bigger. Then we would like to find adequate and, at the same time economic means for transmission of information.

Feeling that the language "sick" is not new: every ten years of the twentieth century the purity of English language is threatened. "The main linguistic" criminals "are the press, radio, television, America, the Internet and mobile telephony. Media means only "grasp" the new language forms and expand the area of their using».

Today, when the SMS-abbreviation, is a mass phenomenon in many languages, it is used extensively to supplement vocabularies, serving a variety of areas of knowledge, it is considered one of the most "productive ways of updating the vocabulary of». The process of SMS-abbreviation is widely developed in all languages.[4]

We can say that reducing were widespread throughout the world, they are not a specific feature of one nation, one language. SMS-abbreviation is not only in English but also in other languages, and the causes of its development, should not be found in the peculiarities of the national language or national thinking, but in the general laws of development of human society, the organization of human memory and perception.

Y. Gorshunov wrote that the abbreviation is reducing, which was formed from the first letters of reduced words.[2]

In our study, we take another definition, which was given by AA Of Jonah. So "abbreviation is a linguistic phenomenon, which should reflect both the common properties ​​and laws of languages , and internal features peculiar to specific language.

To my mind, we should note that " abbreviation exist in different  styles and types of speech activity: advertisements , newspaper articles , scientific and journalistic writings and even works of art". However, the modern  world has the most active using of English abbreviations, and the modern English language abbreviations would have the correct interpretation of the relevant characteristics.

Especially powerful influence on the content and structure of SMS-language, of course, has the Internet. Worldwide network of communication has its own culture, etiquette (netiquette), characters (computer geeks, mouse potatoes, screenagers (as teenagers), newbies (or noobs), technophobes), and, of course, language, or Internet Slang, having its own terminology and neologisms. Main characteristics spread to text messages by mobile phone, so-called SMS-messages.

Main methods of forming SMS-shortening

It is known that "the main principle of SMS-language is the maximum information in the minimum amount of keystrokes; it is a saving of time and effort". These are the main characteristics of SMS-language (SMS-language, chatspeak, txt, txtspk, txt talk). The basic rules of spelling and punctuation are ignored.[3]

The most popular means of shortening of the words in the SMS- language are abbreviation and acronym.

The most popular abbreviations are such as: TTY (talk to you later), BTW (by the way), IMHO (in my humble opinion), FYI (for your information), HAND (have a nice day) and, finally , LOL (laugh out loud). The latter form is used more often as an word- acronym, we can hear it in  the oral speech. Acronyms are abbreviations, which were formed " from the first letters of words or phrases ", for example : «NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), DVD (Digital Videodisk), CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read-only Memory) or Web (World Wide Web) .

Four main rules of forming  sms-shortening are defined by me:

1. One letter or number substitute the whole word, eg: be - b (be); ate - 8 (ate); see - c (see); for - 4 (four); are - r; to / too - 2 (two) ; you - u (you); why - y (why); your / you are - ur (your).

2. One letter or number substitute the syllable, for example: activate - activ8 (activate); great - gr8 (great); mate - m8 (mate); later - l8r (later); before - b4 (before); therefore - there4 ; today - 2day (today); wait - w8 (wait); threesome - 3SUM (threesome); hate - H8 (hate); no one - NO1 (no one); anyone - NE1 (anyone); forever - 4eva (forever).

3. Changing the value of symbols, for example: ss - $; oo -%;-orr-- oz; sorry - soz (sorry); tomorrow - tomoz (2moz) (tomorrow); tomorrow - 2moro (tomorrow); tonight - 2NITE (tonight ); thanks - TX (thank you); today - 2dA (today) address - addy (address); says - sez (says); because - cuz, bcuz, bcz, bcos, bc, coz or bcoz (because); please - plez (please); probably - probz (probably).

4. Omitting of letters and punctuation marks when:

- excluded vowels,  the meaning of the word is determined by the sequence of consonants, for example: between - btw (between); because - bcs (because); your - YR (your); speak - SPK (talk); people - PPL (people) ; please - PLS (please); friend - frnd (each); homework - hmwrk (homework); message - msg (message), probably - prbly (probably), peace - pce (world), text - txt (text )

• is used  abbreviations «/»: with - w / t (a); something - s / t (something); boyfriend - b / f (man); girlfriend - g / f (girl); bedroom - b / r (bedroom); homework - h / w (homework); class work - c / w (classwork).
• is  used transcriptions of slang or dialectal variants, if they are shorter than the original word, for example, instead of because - cos (because).

In this study, we analyzed SMS- shortening. The analysis shows us that in the English language SMS-shortening are formed from reducing of letters and punctuation marks (39%). Also there are a lot of SMS-shortening, where one letter or number replaces the syllable (25%). With the same frequency generated SMS-shortening when change the meaning of symbol and one letter or number replaces the whole word (19% and 17%) (Appendix 1).

We can say that the SMS- shortening are formed by reducing of  letters and punctuation, the vowels miss more often (60%) and of the abbreviation "/" and using of transcription (slang, dialectal variants) are used in SMS - language less (35% and 5%) (Appendix 2).

In my opinion, it is necessary to say that the combination of means of text messages can significantly reduce the whole sentence. For example: hi m8 u k? i soz i 4gt 2 cal u lst nyt-y dnt we go c film 2moz (60 symbols) - Hi, mate. Are you okay? I am sorry that I forgot to call you last night. Why don't we go and see film tomorrow? (120 symbols)

This fact shows us that "the use of distorted and truncated version of the English language is acceptable in society". Although many scientists and linguists believe that broadcast such messages should be banned on national television, as the popular media are obliged to promote the literary language.

Thus, the extension and significance of SMS-language for communication, on the one hand, make it (language) the subject of linguistic research, on the other hand, psychologists and philologists believe that the text language can destroy the basis of language.

 It seems to me that SMS- dictionary ingrained among the English-speaking part of the American population. The process of constant change and modernization is peculiar to any language, and if people prefer to use the new spelling or pronunciation of words,  linguistic norm is changing and becoming acceptable .

Changeability is universal characteristic of any living language, and these changes are inevitable. New realities in the modern language (including SMS-language) attract attention and new research.

The list of literature:

1. Goldenkov M. – Be carefull, hot dog! Morden English. – Moskov, 2003
2. Gorshunov, Y. Types of semantic relations between components of the words (in the English language). - St. Petersburg, 2004.

3. Ioannina, AA Features of the present textthinking. SMS-language. - Moskow, 2007

4. Krisin LP The explanatory dictionary of foreign words. - Moscow, 2003.
5. Genon.ru-Abbreviation
6. SMS language. – http.//en.wikipedia.org
7. http://studyenglishnow.ru