Exploring SMS (Short Message Service) as Language Variations: A Reflection on English Language Users in Pakistan

    Authors:

    Qaisar Mahmood, Sumara Iqbal, Syeda Shaista Batool Zaidi, Muhammad Ahmad

    Citation:

    Mahmood, Q., Iqbal, S., Zaidi, S. S. B., & Ahmad, M. (2015). Exploring SMS (Short Message Service) as Language Variations: A Reflection on English Language Users in Pakistan. Journal of Policy Research, 1(1), 21-30.

    Abstract:

    Thisstudy was conducted to explore reflections on short messageservice(SMS) as language variation whichhasattractedattentionofcountless peopleintheglobal village.This studyfound out how language used in SMS bringing new set of written communication beingbeneficialintheir academicorsociallife,especially writing,orhowpeople arelearning language andusinghabits.Sample of the current studywere100universitygraduates(maleandfemale)whoweremobilephoneusersand were communicatingthrough SMSratherthanmakingtelephonecallsorsendingfulltexttotheir fellows, teachers and friends,toknowthattowhatextentSMSis improvingtheirsecondlanguage learninghabits. How they are using and creating new formats of writing for economy of space and time.Thequantitativedatawerequalitativelydescribedandwas foundoutthatshortmessageservicebrought a good deal of variationsforthe respondentsunconsciouslyinrespectoftheirtarget languageandproducinghabits. Thespelling, grammarandsyntacticsystemsofEnglishlanguagewere considered difficult but SMS habits facilitated the respondents because regular use of sending text messages through mobile.Hence,thestudysuggeststhat adultsstudyingatuniversitiesaresecondlanguagelearnersofEnglishlanguage shouldtryto avoidusing SMS language variety as this habit might distort the L2 structure and may affect their learning of L2 as pure language.

    Keywords:

    Short Message Service (SMS), English, linguistic systems

    Jel Code:

    Article Type:

    Research Article

    Pages:

    21-30

    Publisher:

    Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH)

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