NEW research shows that the abbreviated and unpunctuated language commonly used in instant messaging and texting probably has no ill effect on children's spelling abilities, The Canadian Press has reported.
The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Alberta, Canada, suggested that teenagers who were good spellers remained good spellers whether they texted or wrote words out in full or not. Those who had trouble spelling normal English words also tended to mess up in the specialized lingo of text messaging.
Researchers identified several ways in which teens changed language while speaking online. They created short forms (prolly for probably), used acronyms (LOL for laughing out loud), spelled phonetically (wat for what), and interchanged numbers and letters (2day for today), among others. Professor Connie Varnhagen, who led the research, compared using this new type of language to a “little brain workout”, saying that it required more concentration and attention than simply reading English.
