Cell Phone Language Analysis

An average high school English teacher works tirelessly to prove to his or her students the value of formal language. Countless weeks are spent reading and interpreting the world's most revered writers. A whole day may be devoted to teaching students why Shakespeare's characters attempt to define love by saying, “Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes; Being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears. What is it else? A madness most discreet, a choking gall, and a preserving sweet” (romeo juliet.) Yet, to the teacher’s disappointment, the entirety of the lesson can be lost when a young girl receives a text from her admirer saying, “u wanna d8???” Over the past decade, within the United

Without this physical contact there is a need to compensate for the emotions normally exchanged through tone of voice and body language. Text messages integrate a unique set of abbreviations and “textisms” that can be interpreted subconsciously as emotions, which allows texting to fulfill the role of a new language apart from face-to-face communication. While evaluating the abbreviation LOL, John McWhorter, an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University, states, “Instead of having a literal meaning, it does something — conveying an attitude — just like the -ed ending coveys past tense rather than ‘meaning’ anything.” Such abbreviations take on multiple roles in the new texting language that allow the communication of emotions rather than only the literal meanings of the words. This conceptual idea is similar to the connotation and denotation of words, where a single word can have a literal meaning, but, when used in certain situations, can have a completely different meaning that is sometimes not related to the dictionary definition of the word. McWhorter demonstrates this when he states, “Jocelyn texts ‘Where have you been?’ and Annabelle texts back ‘LOL at the library studying for two hours.’ LOL signals basic empathy between texters, easing tension and creating a sense of equality.” As McWhorter shows, LOL can convey attitude and emotion rather than just meaning “laughing out loud.” The ability of these abbreviations to take on multiple roles allows people to express themselves through the subconscious interpretations of text messages, even without being able to see another’s body language or interpret their tone of voice as traditional face-to-face