LICEUL TEORETIC NAGY MÓZES

TÂRGU SECUIESC
2009

LUCRARE DE ATESTAT

How the communication was chaged by

technology?
În ce direcţie a schimbat technologia
comunicaţia?

PROFESOR COORDONATOR:

ACZÉL KINGA

Absolvent:
Rákosi Adina
 Table of Contents

Introduction

New technology always brings changes and new additions to the language,
but the telecommunication revolution of the last few years has caused some of the
most rapid and widespread changes yet seen.
The focus of my paper is to talk about the importance of understanding what
motivates individuals toward acceptance of technology, and what compels them to
use it is becoming more essential due to the fact that organizations rely heavily on
information technology. There is no lack of research in the area of information
technology, but studies examining the effects of certain individual traits and training
on computer self-efficacy, and the resulting increase in usage behavior are limited.
Unless there is a clearer understanding of what motivates individuals to use
technology, there is likelihood that the technology will be under-used.
I study matters of the effects of technological inventions to interpersonal
communication, and in what way was it chaged. In the focus of my interest are the
new inventions such as mobile-phones, text messaging and instant messaging.
My paper consists of three chapters in which are presented: the development
of mobile phones, text messaging and instant messaging. In its subchapters I shall
describe the stages in which the technology passed in the recent century.
The first chapter consists the development of mobile phones and in its
subchapters I am writing about the history of the cellular phones, the applications
which we can use on them, how are they operating and the health risks of the use of
mobile phones. In my paper I fallow the history of the mobile phones from the first

2
prototype to the present in order to see how the meaning of the term was changed
through the history.
In the second chapter I deal with the idea of text messaging. In this chapter I
focus on the history of text messaging and the changes that this activity was causing.
In this way I present the history of the text messaging from the beginnings trough
the time. I also discuss the popularity of them and the impact of them on the social
life such as academic impacts, criminal and political impact. To scribe a lot of text
messages can also cause a health problems.
The focus of the last chapter is on the instant messaging, how it was
developed and the language that it is widespread on the internet (slangs,
abbreviations). The big question is: Was the language chaged in a wrong way by
these technologies or it has a bad effect on the developing of the language? In my
paper I will undertake these questions in order to respond to these.
These chapters serve to develope our knowledge about the technological
inventions which we use every day, but we know few about their bad sides.

3
 Chapter I.
Mobile phones

A mobile phone or mobile is a long-range, electronic device used for mobile

voice or data communication over a network of specialized base stations known as
cell sites. In addition to the standard voice function of a mobile phone, telephone,
current mobile phones may support many additional services, and accessories, such
as SMS for text messaging, email, packet switching for access to the Internet,
gaming, Bluetooth, infrared, camera with video recorder and MMS for sending and
receiving photos and video, MP3 player, radio and GPS. Most current mobile
phones connect to a cellular network of base stations (cell sites), which is in turn
interconnected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) ─ the exception is
satellite phones.
In 2008 there were 4,100 million mobile cellular subscriptions in the world.
A mobile phone proper typically has a telephone keypad, but more advanced devices
have a separate key for each letter. Some mobile phones have a touch screen.

Several examples of non-flip mobile phones

4
 1.1. History of mobile phones
1.1.1. Early years
Originally, mobile phones were permanently installed in vehicles, but later
versions such as the so-called transportable or “bag phones” were equipped with a
cigarette lighter plug so that they could also be carried, and thus could be used as
either mobile or as portable two-way radios.
During the early 1940s, Motorola developed a backpacked two-way radio,
the Walkie-Talkie and later developed a large hand-held two-way radio for the US
military. This battery powered “Handie-Talkie” (HT) was about the size of a man's
forearm.
In 1945, the zero generation (0G) of mobile telephones was introduced. 0G
mobile phones, such as Mobile Telephone Service, were not cellular, and so did not
feature handover from one base station to the next and reuse of radio frequency
channels. Like other technologies of the time, it involved a single, powerful base
station covering a wide area, and each telephone would effectively monopolize a
channel over that whole area while in use. The concept of frequency reuse is the first
embodiment of all the concepts that formed the basis of the next major step in
mobile telephony, the Analog cellular telephone.
Martin Cooper, a Motorola researcher and executive is widely considered to
be the inventor of the first practical mobile phone for handheld use in a non-vehicle
setting. The first commercial citywide cellular network was launched in Japan by
NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation) in 1979. Fully automatic
cellular networks were first introduced in the early mid 1980s.

Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems used in Japan between

1997-2003.

1.1.2. First generation

5
 In 1983, Motorola DynaTAC was the first approved mobile phone by FCC in
the United States. In 1984, Bell Labs developed modern commercial cellular
technology (based, to a large extent, on the Gladden, Parelman Patent), which
employed multiple, centrally controlled base stations (cell sites), each providing
service to a small area (a cell). The cell sites would be set up such that cells partially
overlapped.
In a cellular system, a signal between a base station (cell site) and a terminal (phone)
only need be strong enough to reach between the two, so the same channel can be
used simultaneously for separate conversations in different cells.
Cellular systems required several leaps of technology, including handover,
which allowed a conversation to continue as a mobile phone travelled from cell to
cell. This system included variable transmission power in both the base stations and
the telephones (controlled by the base stations), which allowed range and cell size to
vary.
As the system expanded and neared capacity, the ability to reduce transmission
power allowed new cells to be added, resulting in more, smaller cells and thus more
capacity. The evidence of this growth can still be seen in the many older, tall cell
site towers with no antennae on the upper parts of their towers. These sites originally
created large cells, and so had their antennae mounted atop high towers; the towers
were designed so that as the system expanded – and cell sizes shrank – the antennae
could be lowered on their original masts to reduce range.

1.1.3. Second generation

The first “modern” network technology on digital 2G (second generation)
cellular technology was launched by Radiolinja (now part of Elisa Group) in 1991 in
Finland on the GSM standard which also marked the introduction of competition in
mobile telecoms when Radiolinja challenged incumbent Telecom Finland (now part
of TeliaSonera) who ran a 1G NMT network.
The first data services appeared on mobile phones starting with person-to-
person SMS text messaging in Finland in 1993. First trial payments using a mobile
phone to pay for a Coca Cola vending machine were set in Finland in 1998.
The first commercial payments were mobile parking trialed in Sweden but
first commercially launched in Norway in 1999. The first commercial payment

6
system to mimic banks and credit cards was launched in the Philippines in 1999
simultaneously by mobile operators Globe and Smart.
The first content sold to mobile phones was the ringing tone, first launched
in 1998 in Finland. The first full internet service on mobile phones was I-Mode
introduced by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in 1999. Not long after the introduction of 2G
networks, projects began to develop third generation (3G) systems.
Inevitably there were many different standards with different contenders
pushing their own technologies. Quite differently from 2G systems, however, the
meaning of 3G has been standardized in the IMT-2000 standardization processing.
This process did not standardize on a technology, but rather on a set of requirements
(2 Mbit/s maximum data rate indoors, 384 kbit/s outdoors, for example).
At that point, the vision of a single unified worldwide standard broke down
and several different standards have been introduced. The first pre-commercial trial
network with 3G was launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in the Tokyo region in
May 2001.

1.1.4. Third generation

Not long after the introduction of 2G networks, projects began to develop
third generation (3G) systems. Inevitably there were many different standards with
different contenders pushing their own technologies. Quite differently from 2G
systems, however, the meaning of 3G has been standardized in the IMT-2000
standardization processing. This process did not standardize on a technology, but
rather on a set of requirements (2Mbit/s maximum data rate indoors, 384kbit/s
outdoors, for example).
At that point, the vision of a single unified worldwide standard broke down
and several different standards have been introduced.
During the development of 3G systems, 2.5G systems such as CDMA2000
1x and GPRS were developed as extensions to existing 2G networks. These provide
some of the features of 3G without fulfilling the promised high data rates or full
range of multimedia services. CDMA2000-1X delivers theoretical maximum data
speeds of up to 307kbit/s. Just beyond these is the EDGE system which in theory
covers the requirements for 3G system, but is so narrowly above these that any
practical system would be sure to fall short.

7
 By the end of 2007 there were 295 million subscribers on 3G networks
worldwide, which reflected 9% of the total worldwide subscriber base. About two
thirds of these are on the WCDMA standard and one third on the EV-DO standard.
The 3G telecoms services generated over 120 billion dollars of revenues during
2007 and at many markets the majority of new phones activated were 3G phones.
In Japan and South Korea the market no longer supplies phones of the second
generation. Earlier in the decade there were doubts about whether 3G might happen,
and also whether 3G might become a commercial success. By the end of 2007 it had
become clear that 3G was a reality and was clearly on the path to become a
profitable venture.
Live streaming of radio and television to 3G handsets is one future direction
for the industry, with companies from Real Networks and Disney recently
announcing services.

1.2. Applications
The most commonly used data application on mobile phones is SMS text
messaging, with 74% of all mobile phone users as active users (over 2.4 billion out
of 3.3 billion total subscribers at the end of 2007).
SMS text messaging was worth over 100 billion dollars in annual revenues in 2007
and the worldwide average of messaging use is 2.6 SMS sent per day per person
across the whole mobile phone subscriber base. (Source: Inform 2007).
The first SMS text message was sent from a computer to a mobile phone in 1992 in
the UK, while the first person-to-person SMS from phone to phone was sent in
Finland in 1993.
The other non-SMS data services used by mobile phones were worth 31
billion dollars in 2007, and were led by mobile music, downloadable logos and
pictures, gaming, gambling, adult entertainment and advertising.

8
 Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants 1997-2007

1.3. Power supply

Mobile phones generally obtain power from batteries, which can be
recharged from a USB port, from portable batteries, from mains power or a cigarette
lighter socket in a car using an adapter (often called battery charger or wall wart) or
from a solar panel or a dynamo (that can also use a USB port to plug the phone).
On 17 February 2009, the GSM Association announced that they had agreed
on a standard charger for mobile phones. The standard connector to be adopted by
17 manufacturers including Nokia, Motorola and Samsung is to be the micro-USB
connector (several media reports erroneously reported this as the mini-USB).
The new chargers will be much more efficient than existing chargers. Having a
standard charger for all phones, means that manufacturers will no longer have to
supply a charger with every new phone.

Mobile phone charging service in Uganda

1.4. SIM card

In addition to the battery, GSM mobile phones require a small microchip,
called a Subscriber Identity Module or SIM Card, to function. Approximately the

9
size of a small postage stamp, the SIM Card is usually placed underneath the battery
in the rear of the unit, and (when properly activated) stores the phone's configuration
data, and information about the phone itself, such as which calling plan the
subscriber is using. When the subscriber removes the SIM Card, it can be re-inserted
into another phone and used as normal.
Each SIM Card is activated by use of a unique numerical identifier; once
activated, the identifier is locked down and the card is permanently locked in to the
activating network. For this reason, most retailers refuse to accept the return of an
activated SIM Card. Those cell phones that do not use a SIM Card have the data
programmed in to their memory.

Typical mobile phone SIM card

1.5. Market

10
 In 2008, Nokia was the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones, with
a global device market share of 39.4%, followed by Samsung (17.3%), Sony
Ericsson (8.6%), Motorola (8.5%) and LG Electronics (7.7%).
These manufacturers accounted for over 80% of all mobile phones sold at that time.

1.6. Privacy
Cell phones have numerous privacy issues associated with them, and are
regularly used by governments to perform surveillance.
Law enforcement and intelligence services in the U.K. and the United States
possess technology to remotely activate the microphones in cell phones in order to
listen to conversations that take place nearby the person who holds the phone.
Mobile phones are also commonly used to collect location data. The
geographical location of a mobile phone can be determined easily (whether it is
being used or not), using a technique known multilateration to calculate the
differences in time for a signal to travel from the cell phone to each of several cell
towers near the owner of the phone.

1.7. Health risks

Because mobile phones emit electromagnetic radiation, concerns have been
raised about cancer risks they may pose when used for long periods of time. So far
studies have varied in their results and have proven inconclusive.
Some people appear to have an almost pathological emotional attachment to
their cell phones and there is a fascinating suggestion that cell radiation pulses might
actually be addictive to the human brain. We can't save those who would rather die
than switch. But ethics compelled us to ensure that all reasonable people have access
to the basic scientific facts.
Your cell phone is a microwave transmitter and it should bear a cancer
warning! Microwave energy oscillates at millions to billions of cycles per second.
The Journal of Cellular Biochemistry reports that these frequencies cause cancer and

11
other diseases by interfering with cellular DNA and its repair-mechanisms.
Microwave promotes rapid cell aging. Italian scientists have recently demonstrated
that cell phone radiation makes cancerous cells grow aggressively. Cordless phones
marked 900 megahertz or 2.4 gigahertz emit the same dangerous microwave
radiation as cell phones.
The connection between microwave exposure and cancer has been
documented for years. During the Cold War, the Soviets irradiated the U.S. Embassy
in Moscow, Russia, with low level, twin-beam microwave radiation. Two successive
ambassadors developed leukemia. Other staffers also developed cancer, or their
blood showed DNA damage, which precedes cancer.
Research by University of Washington professor Dr. Henry Lai shows brain
cells are clearly damaged by microwave levels far below the U.S. government's
“safety” guidelines. Dr. Lai notes that even tiny doses of radio frequency can
cumulate over time and lead to harmful effects. He warns that public exposure to
radiation from wireless transmitters “should be limited to minimal”.
Motorola advises consumers to avoid pointing a cellular antenna toward
exposed parts of the body. But independent tests show that cell phones can also leak
huge amounts of radiation from the keypad and mouthpiece. This radiation deeply
penetrates brain, ear and eye tissues, which are especially susceptible to microwave
damage. Belt clip cases allow cell phones to deliver radiation to the liver or kidney
areas when a wired, hands-free earpiece is used.
Recent studies confirm that cell and cordless phone microwave can:
o Damage nerves in the scalp
o Cause blood cells to leak hemoglobin
o Cause memory loss and mental confusion
o Cause headaches and induce extreme fatigue
o Create joint pain, muscle spasms and tremors
o Create burning sensation and rash on the skin
o Alter the brain's electrical activity during sleep
o Induce ringing in the ears, impair sense of smell
o Precipitate cataracts, retina damage and eye cancer
o Open the blood-brain barrier to viruses and toxins
o Reduce the number and efficiency of white blood cells

12
 o Stimulate asthma by producing histamine in mast cells
o Cause digestive problems and raise bad cholesterol levels
o Stress the endocrine system, especially pancreas, thyroid, ovaries,
testes.

Chapter II.
Text messaging

Before the new millennium, the English word text was just a noun, but these
days texting is one of Britain’s favorite activities. It’s short of text-messaging, the
everyday phrase for what mobile phone companies officially call SMS, or “short
messaging service”. The UK is the world’s texting champion, with 60 million
messages being sent each day, most of them by the 70% of teenagers who own a
mobile phone. Because texting is hard work on the thumbs, it has also developed its
own language of abbreviations, often incomprehensible to adults. And texters aren’t
limited to just words – nowadays they can add graphics, or even photos, to their
messages too.
Abbreviations used by texters are:
o Single letters can replace words: be becomes b or see becomes c;
o Single digits can replace words: ate becomes 8 or for becomes 4;

o Single letter or digit can replace a syllable: ex. ate becomes 8, so:
great becomes g8, mate becomes m8, tomorrow becomes 2mro, for
or fore becomes 4, so: before becomes (combining both of the above)
b4 and therefore becomes thr4.

2.1. History
Many companies have claimed to have sent the very first text message, but
according to a former employee of NASA, Edward Lantz, the first was sent via

13
7,000,000 simple 2015 Motorola beeper in 1989 by Raina Forteni from New York
City to Melbourne Beach, Florida using upside down numbers that could be read as
words and sounds. The first SMS typed on a GSM phone is claimed to have been
sent by Riku Pihkonen, an engineer student at Nokia, in 1993.
The initial growth of text messaging was slow, with customers in 1995
sending on average only 0.4 messages per GSM customer per month. SMS was
originally designed as part of GSM, but is now available on a wide range of
networks, including 3G networks.
Today text messaging is the most widely used mobile data service, with 35%
of all mobile phone users worldwide or 4.2 million out of 7.3 million phone
subscribers at end of 2003 being active users of the Short Message Service.
Text messaging was reported to have addictive tendencies by the Global
Messaging Survey by Nokia in 2001 and was confirmed to be addictive by the study
at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium in 2004. Since then the study at the
University of Queensland in Australia has found that text messaging is the most
addictive digital service on mobile or internet, and is equivalent in addictiveness to
cigarette smoking. In January 2009, a teenage girl set a record high of 14,528 text
messages in a one month period.

2.2. Popularity
Short message services are developing very rapidly throughout the world. In
2000, just 17 billion SMS messages were sent; in 2001, the number was up to 250
billion, and 500 billion SMS messages in 2004.
At an average cost of USD 0.10 per message, this generates revenues in
excess of $50 billion for mobile telephone operators and represents close to 100 text
messages for every person in the world.
SMS is particularly popular in Europe, Asia (excluding Japan), Australia and
New Zealand.

2.3. Social impact of SMS

Text messaging is often done in forms of shortened words. for example: I
love you is shortened to ily or ilu.

14
 The negative social implications of texting have been outlined; such as a
harmful change in student academia, colloquialisms that have been regarded as
normal language, (LOL, L8, and CYA) the disregard of face to face communication
and bullying that has taken place through text messaging.
There are many positive implications of text messaging. Text messaging is a
vehicle for participatory culture. It allows people to send texts to determine what is
shown in certain media outlets. The most current example is “Australian/American
Idol”. Viewers can actively make a choice of who they wish to see on the
programme. Furthermore, texting is a simple way of communicating and receiving
information on the move. Texting can also bring people together and create a sense
of community through Smart Mobs or Net Wars, which create people power.

2.3.1. Academic impact

Text messaging has had an impact on students’ academic performance, by
creating an easier way to cheat on exams. Highly publicized reports, beginning in
2002, of the use of text language in school assignments caused some to become
concerned that the quality of written communication is on the decline.
While some reports claim that teachers and professors are beginning to have
a hard time controlling the problem, the notion that text language is widespread or
harmful is refuted by research from linguistic experts. Professor David Crystal
argues that such condensed messages enhance and enrich language skills. He called
it an “urban myth” that school work was riddled with text speech, and said in fact
students knew when to use it in the right context.
The honorary professor of linguistics at Bangor University said texting was
widespread across all age groups.
Prof Crystal said that texting had had a bad press, and it was merely another
way to use language. Whilst researching his book - Txtng: the Gr8 Db8 - Prof
Crystal said the oldest example of texter he had found was an 86-year-old
grandmother in the United States.
It was also a misconception that text messages were all made up of
abbreviated words, he said: “If you collected a huge pile of messages and counted
all the whole words and the abbreviations, the fact of the matter is that less than 10%
would be shortened.”

15
 Even older people who claimed to be passed by, unable or unwilling to text
would have done something similar when they were young.

2.3.2. Criminal impact

Not only has text messaging had an impact in schools, but also on police
forces around the world. A British company developed, in June 2003, a programme
called Fortress SMS for Symbian phones.
Text messages can really help police stop crime because it is a secret way of
getting out an S.O.S., so if a person is attacked by a burglar or a thief he could send
an SMS to the police without the knowledge of the other person. Boston police are
now turning to text messaging to help stop crime. They have an anonymous
programme where you can text in a crime tip anonymously to help stop crime rates.

2.3.3. Political impact

Text messaging has had a major impact on the political world. American
campaigns find that text messaging is a much easier, cheaper way of getting to the
voters than the door to door approach.
For example Mexico's president-elect Felipe Calderón launched millions of
text messages in the days immediately preceding his narrow win over Andres
Manuel Lopez Obradór. In January 2001, Joseph Estrada was forced to resign from
the post of president of the Philippines. The popular campaign against him was
widely reported to have been co-ordinated with SMS chain letters.
A massive texting campaign was credited with boosting youth turnout in
Spain's 2004 parliamentary elections. Text messaging has been used to turn down
political leaders and others were helped by SMS by promoting campaigns.

2.4. Health
Texting boom could lead to “injuries”
The popularity of text messaging on mobile phones is continuing to rise, but
experts are warning that sending too many could lead to hand injuries.
However, the increase could lead to finger and wrist injuries from
repetitively pushing the tiny buttons on mobile phones, say medical experts.

16
 A safe text guide with exercises for avoiding injury, including shoulder
shrugs and neck-muscle stretches, has now been launched by Virgin Mobiles. The
guide is backed by the British Chiropractic Association and Repetitive Strain Injury
Association. A spokesman from the BCA said: “Text messaging regularly, over a
long period of time, could cause repetitive strain and lead o injuries in later life.”

Chapter III.
Instant messaging

Instant messaging (IM) are technologies that create the possibility of real-
time text-based communication between two or more participants over the internet
or some form of internal network/intranet. It is important to understand that what
separates chat and instant messaging from technologies such as e-mail is the
perceived synchronicity of the communication by the user – chat happens in real-
time.
Some systems allow the sending of messages to people not currently logged
on (offline messages), thus removing much of the difference between Instant
Messaging and e-mail.
IM allows effective and efficient communication, featuring immediate
receipt of acknowledgment or reply. In certain cases Instant Messaging involves
additional features, which make it even more popular, i.e. to see the other party, e.g.
by using web-cams, or to talk directly for free over the Internet.

17
 3.1. History
In early years in instant messaging programmes each character appeared
when it was typed. The UNIX “talk” command was popular in the 1980s and early
1990s.
Instant messaging actually predates the Internet, first appearing on multi-user
operating systems like CTSS and Multics in the mid-1960s. Initially, many of these
systems, such as CTSS'.SAVED, were used as notification systems for services like
printing, but quickly were used to facilitate communication with other users logged
in to the same machine.
In the last half of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, the Quantum Link
online service for Commodore 64 computers offered user-to-user messages between
currently connected customers which they called “On-Line Messages”. Quantum
Link's better known later incarnation, America Online, offers a similar product
under the name “AOL Instant Messenger”. Modern, Internet-wide, GUI-based
messaging clients began to take off in the mid 1990s.
In 2000 an open source application and open standards-based protocol called
Jabber was launched. Jabber servers could act as gateways to other IM protocols,

18
reducing the need to run multiple clients. Multi-protocol clients can use any of the
popular IM protocols by using additional local libraries for each protocol. IBM
Lotus Sametime's November 2007 release added IBM Lotus Sametime Gateway
support for XMPP.
Recently, many instant messaging services have begun to offer video
conferencing features, Voice Over IP (VoIP) and web conferencing services. Web
conferencing services integrate both video conferencing and instant messaging
capabilities. Some newer instant messaging companies are offering desktop sharing,
IP radio, and IPTV to the voice and video features.
The term instant messenger is a service mark of Time Warner and may not
be used in software, not affiliated with AOL in the United States. For this reason, the
instant messaging client formerly known as Gaim or gaim announced in April 2007
that they would be renamed Pidgin.

3.2. Friend-to-friend networks

Instant Messaging may be done in a Friend-to-friend network, in which each
node connects to the friends on the friends list. This allows communication with
friends of friends and the building of chat-rooms for instant messages with all
friends on that network.

3.3. IM language
Users sometimes make use of internet slang or text speak to abbreviate
common words or expressions in order to quicken conversations or to reduce
keystrokes. The language has become universal, with well known expressions such
as lol translated over to face to face language. Emotions are often expressed in
shorthand, such as the abbreviation LOL=laughing, BFN= bye for now, IMHO =in
my humble opinion.
Some, however, attempt to be more accurate with emotional expression over
IM. Real time reactions such as chortle, snort, guffaw or eye-roll are becoming more
popular. Also there are certain standards that are being introduced into mainstream
conversations including signs such as ‘#’, which indicates the use of sarcasm in a

19
statement and ‘*’ which indicates a spelling mistake and/or grammatical error in the
previous message, followed by a correction.

3.4. Practical use in enterprise

The popular embrace of IM technology for sharing information has quickly
led to organizations adopting IM solutions for the perceived advantages that can be
brought by it.
Typically, IM conversations tend to have a certain character; they are often
short and only cover one topic. Media-switching and multitasking are common
throughout, however IM might also be used between established coworkers and
friends for longer, more intermittent conversation

3.5. Internet slang

Internet slang (Internet language, netspeak, leetspeak or chatspeak) is slang
that Internet users have popularized and, in many cases, coined. Such terms often
originate with the purpose of saving keystrokes, and many people use the same
abbreviations in text messages and instant messaging. Acronyms, keyboard symbols,
and shortened words are often methods of abbreviation in Internet slang.
In other cases, new dialects of Internet slang such as leet or Lolspeak develop
as in group memes rather than time savers. In leet speak, letters may be replaced by
keystrokes of similar appearance.
3.5.1. Spread of internet slang beyond computer–mediated
communication
Many items of internet jargon cross from computer-mediated communication
to face-to-face communication. For example, the NY Times collected buzzwords of
2008 include FAIL, longphoto (a term coined by Flickr for videos less than 90
seconds long), and various terms starting with tw- inspired by the web service
Twitter.
Teenagers now sometimes use internet acronyms in spoken communication
as well as in written, for example, ROFL and LOL. David Crystal says that the
crossover from written slang to speech is “a brand new variety of language evolving,
invented really by young people, within five years”1.
1
Said by David Crystal

20
 Other commentators disagree, saying that these new words, being
abbreviations for existing, long-used, phrases, don't “enrich” anything; they just
shorten it. Furthermore, linguist Geoffrey K. Pullum of the University of Edinburgh
states that even if interjections such as LOL and ROTFL were to become very
common in spoken English, their “total effect on language” would be “utterly
trivial”.
Laccetti (professor of humanities at Stevens Institute of Technology) and
Molsk, in their essay entitled The Lost Art of Writing, are critical of the acronyms,
predicting reduced chances of employment for students who use such acronyms,
stating that, “Unfortunately for these students, their bosses will not be lol when they
read a report that lacks proper punctuation and grammar, has numerous
misspellings, various made-up words, and silly acronyms.”2 Fondiller and Nerone in
their style manual assert that “professional or business communication should never
be careless or poorly constructed” whether one is writing an electronic mail message
or an article for publication, and warn against the use of smileys and these
abbreviations, stating that they are “no more than e-mail slang and have no place in
business communication”.
Yunker and Barry in a study of online courses and how they can be improved
through podcasting have found that these acronyms, and emoticons as well, are
“often misunderstood” by students and are “difficult to decipher” unless their
meanings are explained in advance. They single out the example of ROFL as not
obviously being the abbreviation of rolling on the floor laughing. Haig singles out
LOL as one of the three most popular initialisms in Internet slang, alongside BFN
(bye for now) and IMHO (in my humble opinion). He describes these acronyms and
the various initialisms of Internet slang in general, as convenient, but warns that “as
ever more obscure acronyms emerge they can also be rather confusing”. Bidgoli
likewise states that these initialisms “save keystrokes for the sender but might make
comprehension of the message more difficult for the receiver” and that “slang may
hold different meanings and lead to misunderstandings especially in international
settings”; he advises that they be used “only when you are sure that the other person
knows the meaning”.
A 2003 study of college students by Naomi Baron found that the use of
initialisms even in computer-mediated communication (CMC), specifically in
2
Said by Laccetti a professor of humanities at Stevens Institute of Technology

21
instant messaging, was actually lower than she had expected. The students “used
few abbreviations, acronyms, and emoticons”. The spelling was “reasonably good”
and contractions were “not ubiquitous”. Out of 2,185 transmissions, there were 90
initializes in total, only 31 CMC-style abbreviations, and 49 emoticons. Out of the
90 initializes, 76 were occurrences of lol.

3.5.2. Linguistic analysis

Shortis observes that ROTFL is a means of “annotating text with stage
directions”. Hueng, in discussing these acronyms in the context of performative
utterances, points out the difference between telling someone that one is laughing
out loud and actually laughing out loud: “The latter response is a straightforward
action. The former is a self-reflexive representation of an action: I not only do
something but also show you that I am doing it. Or indeed, I may not actually laugh
out loud but may use the locution LOL to communicate my appreciation of your
attempt at humor.”
David Crystal notes that use of LOL is not necessarily genuine, just as the
use of smiley faces or grins is not necessarily genuine, posing the rhetorical question
“How many people are actually laughing out loud when they send LOL?”. Franzini
concurs, stating that there is as yet no research that has determined the percentage of
people who are actually laughing out loud when they write LOL.
Bonnie Ruberg, in an article concerning internet linguistics shares the
following insight. In a world of text communication where real-life facial
expressions and vocal intonations are impossible, abbreviations like ‘lol’ sacrifice
their real meaning in order to articulate our nuanced intentions.
Victoria Clarke, in her analysis of telnet talkers, states that capitalization is
important when people write LOL, and that “a user who types LOL may well be
laughing louder than one who types lol”3, and opines that “these standard
expressions of laughter are losing force through overuse”4. Egan describes LOL,
ROTFL, and other initialisms as helpful as long as they are not overused. He
recommends against their use in business correspondence because the recipient may
not be aware of their meanings, and because in general neither they nor emoticons
are (in his view) appropriate in such correspondence. June Hines Moore shares that

3
Said by Victoria Clarke
4
Said by Victoria Clarke

22
view. So, too, does Lindsell-Roberts, who gives the same advice of not using them
in business correspondence, “or you won't be LOL”.

Conclusion

We live in a fully technologised world where the terms cell-phone, text

messages or sms aren’t foreign to us, we use them every day. In this way everyone
can contribute to have an adequate language, and to use right words in right sense.
New words, such as webcast, are entering the language all the time to put a
name to concepts that haven’t existed before, and existing words are being used in a
new way. For example, the words access and text, previously used only as nouns,
are now commonly used as verbs in phrases such as to access the internet and to text
to someone. Other words, such as chat, which used to mean “casual verbal
communication” now means “live email communication”, have taken on entire new
meanings.
In addition, many of these English words have spread outside of the English-
speaking world and become part of global language of technology. Thanks to the
influence of the American computer industry, users of British English have
abandoned some British spellings in favour of their American equivalents, such as
program instead of programme and disk instead of disc.

23
 Finally, the style and tone of the language itself is changing. Although they
are written forms of communication, the immediacy of emails and text messages
means that their language is usually much more informal than a letter would be,
even in business context, and, to the concern of many people, spelling and
punctuation is becoming much more unconventional.
As a result of the technology of communication language is changing. For
example a person who uses a chat-programme or just texts with his friends to
shorten the long words he is using internet slangs or abbreviations of the words or
propositions.
I use all of them and I think that they can have positive and negative sides
too. In my opinion if we know how to use them and we know when is correct to use
abbreviations and when not, we will learn a lot from them and we can also enrich
our language.

Bibliography – Webliography

http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/Mobile_Phone_Adoption_in_Developing_Count
ries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_messaging
http://mobilistech.blogspot.com/2009/03/mobile-phone-history.html
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1269391
http://linguist.org/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7410201.stm
http://www.cam.net.uk/home/aaa315/eco/no-to-mobile-phones.htm
Across cultures by Elizabeth Sharman, published by Longman

24