Instant messaging: A new language?

Instant messaging may still seem incoherent to many, but it's the new language for a generation of technologically savvy young adults, claims a new study. "Instant messaging is not just bad grammar or a bunch of mistakes.

IM is a separate language from formal English and has a common set of language features and standards," said lead researcher Pamela Takayoshi of Kent State University. In their study, Takayoshi and his colleagues examined the language of instant messaging.

Using IM conversations by students, the group analysed and identified nonstandard features of the language, or the places where writers had used language features which varied from standard written English. The researchers found that what looked like nonstandard features of written language were, actually, the standardised features within the IM language.

The language of instant messaging was found to be informal, explicit, playful, both abbreviated and elaborated, and to emphasise meaning over form and social relationships over content.

"When we look at the kinds of technology young people are using today, we see that many of those technologies -- IM, blogs and Facebook -- are writing technologies. Even the phone is used for writing now," co-researcher Christina Haas was quoted by the ScienceDaily as saying.

Currently, the Kent State team is extending their analysis of IM to the popular Web site Facebook.com to find out whether the site's language is similar or different to instant messaging standards.