Text messaging has experienced a huge boom in popularity and in 2019 alone, more than 8 trillion text messages were sent. That is equal to 270,000 text messages per second! Because of the massive amounts of texts sent every day, people, mainly the younger generation have revolutionized the way we write and has made the texting language more in common with speech than with the standard writing language. People have introduced many features to make texting more akin to speech such as devices for para-linguistic features, using slang and very informal language, and often use omission. All these are features from or related to speech that has been brought into text messaging and makes texting very similar to speech. Text messaging is also instantaneous, making these verbal features effective in the writing of a text.
With the introduction of the instantaneous direct messaging that we call texting, people felt the need to convey their emotions through text messages, a feature commonly used in verbal conversations with gestures, tone and facial expression. In 1999, the first Emoji was created for the purpose of being able to express emotion through a small image. This was a very effective and popular way for people to show emotions in texting and is very common in current-day texting, as recent statistics show that 5 billion emojis are sent daily on Facebook Messenger. One of the most commonly used Emoji is the ‘?’ emoji or the Face With Tears Of Joy emoji. This emoji is used to express the emotion of laughter or happiness. It is a substitute for laughing in a face to face verbal conversation. This image is hyperbole, as it is unlikely that the sender of the Emoji is literally laughing with tears of joy, but it still indicates humour that is in the text. It also helps give the receiver an idea of what the tone of the writing is like. If a text is sent with the ‘?’ emoji in it, it means that the sender of the text is joking and the tone of the writing is light and happy. Emoji are a very effective way to convey emotion in writing and would be used frequently in the 23 billion text messages sent every day.
With the intention of making text and speech homogeneous, informal language and slang became very common in texting. Informal language is used very often in verbal conversations when the participants are intimate and relaxed or have a relationship with the other. It creates a connection between the participants and sends the message of friendship. Informal language is also common in text messages and is used in much the same way it is used in speech. However, the informal language will never occur in standard English writing, such as letters and documents. Slang is also common in text messaging and speech, as it can communicate ideas quicker than formally describing it. ‘Why na I’m about to head off rn. Putting my kicks on.’ This is a very good example of very informal language and slang commonly used in text messaging. It can be inferred with the language used that the participants of the text conversation have some relationship and are very relaxed in the presence of each other. The formalized version of this text would be: ‘No because I am about to leave shortly. I am currently putting my shoes on.’ This is very different from the text and would be used in very formal occasions. In most texts, informal language is used as texting imitates a normal conversation, so the language and slang would come into it. As most texts are sent to people that have a relationship with the sender, informal language is found very often in the huge number of text sent each day.
There is a large amount of omission that can be found in nearly all of the 8 trillion text messages sent. In texting, it is very common to find omission in the messages, usually, basic words such as ‘the’ and ‘or’, but can be parts of sentences that are not needed. This is because omission of words makes it much faster for the sender to write the text and send it. Because text messaging is instantaneous, the reader will get the text as soon as it is sent. However, there is still the delay of writing that text. People have started omitting words to make the text conversation more like a verbal one because verbal conversations are instant. Omitting words is a very effective way of making the text message faster, but still make the text understandable. In the text ‘Biking?’, there is a large amount of omission in it. Most of the question has been taken out, but to the receiver of the text, it is still understandable. The question is also asked often so the receiver knows the question well and can respond to just one word. The full question is ‘Are you going to bike to school today?’ It can now be inferred that the two participants of this text conversation bike to school regularly, and the same question has come up many times. When the receiver gets the text they know the full question, and only need a word to remember it. Text messaging is a very regular thing for many people, as shown in the number of texts sent. The text ‘Biking?’ is far quicker and easier to type than the full question, and makes the conversation near-instantaneous. Omission has helped text messaging become quicker and more efficient making it similar to a spoken conversation.
Text messaging has dramatically changed since the first text and has become more and more akin to the spoken language than the formal written language. Emojis have been invented to aid the expression of emotion and tone to a text. Slang and informal language are used often in texts, imitating a spoken conversation. Omission is used to make texting efficient and more instantaneous like speech, removing unnecessary parts. These spoken language features that have been brought into the text language make texting very similar to the spoken language and less like the formal written language.
