OMG, Instant Messaging Doesn't Hurt Syntax! LOL!

[Jon Westfall]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin6/060731-2474.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin6/060731-2474.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>"With 80% of Canadian teenagers using instant messaging and adopting its unique linguistic shorthand, many teachers and parents are concerned about the medium’s potential to corrupt kids’ grammar. But instant messaging doesn’t deserve its bad reputation as a spoiler of syntax, suggests a new study from the University of Toronto. U of T linguists Sali Tagliamonte and Derek Denis studied over 70 Toronto teenagers and compared their use of language both in speech and while using instant messaging. They will present their research at the Linguistics Society of Canada and the United States Annual Meeting on August 2."</i><br /><br />I've posted in the past about my concerns regarding youth and the ways in which they choose to express themselves in writing. This piece seems to provide comfort to those rearing teenagers or dealing with them, but I don't know if I'd go as far as to say they have an "Extremely lucid command" of the language! What do you think - are teens just using language in a different manner? Should we be concerned?

[KTamas]

ZOMG LOL I r usin shortcutz in my msgs &amp; yet my grammar r still good. I dunno why r ppl thinks dat usin slang at sms is bad 4 ur grammar. I mean yesterday i talk to my friend and he was like wazzup and i was like watchin the game, having a bud, i mean that was cool.


Errr....so, yeah, slang is common in IM, and I use it as well but I still have a fairly decent grammar (in my mother language, Hungarian. In English...I do have mistakes.). I'm a journalist I might add, so I may not be the perfect example. :roll:

(oh, and I'm 17)

However, I have a friend who is using online slang extensively in real life, which is quite amusing.

[Vincent M Ferrari]

Simply put, it's not the grammatical effects I worry about, it's about knowing when to use it and when not to use it.

I get e-mails all the time with crap like, "ppl! can u belive... OMG... GTG... C ya l8r."

It's one thing to use it in IM's or even e-mails to your "friends" but it's not... hmmm... "proper" to use it in e-mails or other correspondence with strangers.

It's when, not what, that I have a problem with.

[hamishmacdonald]

I find it hard to believe that people who use this shorthand syntax are able to simply switch off their bad grammar.

I want to poke pencils in my eyes when I read discussion boards in which almost every poster misuses "your", "to", "its", and the apostrophe.

[ctmagnus]

I want to poke pencils in my eyes when I read discussion boards in which almost every poster misuses "your", "to", "its", and the apostrophe.

One thing that has me very worried is the fact that since I started touch-typing, I've caught myself several times making these mistakes. I spent ten years doing the two finger, eyes on the keyboard thing and even managed to get up to 30ish wpm that way, but less than a year after I start learning to do it the better/quicker/easier way, my grammar almost went straight out the window. Fortunately, I also learned to proof-read before I hit Submit in those ten years.

[rassah]

"LOL" should be added to webster's dictionary

[SteveHoward999]

I worry more about rampant mis-spellings that appear to be getting into common use by people who think that the spelling is absolutly correct - for e.g. "alot"

Otherwise, teenagers have been trying to create their own language since forever. Somehow they still manage to muddle on and become electricians, bank managers and presidents ...

[JesterMania]

I find it hard to believe that people who use this shorthand syntax are able to simply switch off their bad grammar.

I totally agree with that. I do use "lol" a lot, but that's really the only short-form I use, and only in IM or Counter-Strike. As a test, I actually did try typing in these short-forms excessively to see what the attraction was, but found it extremely frustrating and lengthy to get even a few simple sentences out. Plus it was pretty damning to my intellect so I dropped the experiment immediately :lol: .

[Vincent M Ferrari]

Otherwise, teenagers have been trying to create their own language since forever. Somehow they still manage to muddle on and become electricians, bank managers and presidents ...

Yep. A bunch of executives who, at the moment they have to write their own communications, look like total fricking idiots. I deal with lots of 'em regularly.

[Janak Parekh]

I worry more about rampant mis-spellings that appear to be getting into common use by people who think that the spelling is absolutly correct - for e.g. "alot"
Sorry, Steve, but I couldn't resist -- how about misspellings like "mis-spellings" or "absolutly"? ;)

Otherwise, teenagers have been trying to create their own language since forever. Somehow they still manage to muddle on and become electricians, bank managers and presidents ...
True, but Vinny's point is right on the mark. People seem to be losing the ability to distinguish circumstances and when to use formal writing skills as opposed to informal chat lingo. I have a much simpler approach: I tend to write "properly" in any context, be it email, IM, formal letters, etc. The only thing I've let go of is proper capitalization in instant messages. Fortunately, most of my fellow IMers maintain a similar level of literacy.

--janak

[mrozema]

Hey Janak, I'm the same way actually. Its nice to see someone out there 'keeping it real' (for lack of a better phrase). When it comes to making sure caps are used in IMs, I'm pretty lazy about it. Shortening words to single letters and the like is "right out!" (spoken as from Monty Python).

A co-worker told me about his WoW experience one night this past weekend. He uses Teamspeak as many seem to and a 'kid' showed up on the server and was actually speaking these silly acronyms (out loud) such as: "LOL", "ROFL", etc. My co-worker was so disturbed by the kid's lack of proper English that he had to leave the server and resume playing another time. Needless to say, everybody here had a good long laugh at that story, but its kinda sad to think that it was actually true... 8O

[Janak Parekh]

8O He SAID LOL!?

I haven't sunk that low... yet. :lol:

--janak

[hx2210]

Well I am sorry to have to disagree on this topic.

I use a lot of short cuts when typing to friends over instant messengers or via text messages and yet my grammar when typing or writing is as good as some one who doesn't use these short cuts.

As I was taught when I first started with my Amiga 500, "A computer is only as smart as the user." I mean think about it. Computers are a part of everyday life now and one of the main benefit is that you can multi-task.

In order to multi-task the user must also be able to multi-task. Because most teenagers have grown up around computers they have learned to multi-task not just tasks but language as well.
:idea: