Txtng: The gr8 db8. David Crystal. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 2008.

p 52 Texting is typically between people who know each other well. Language “intimate and local,” and make[s] assumptions about prior knowledge.”

“It is a basic principle of discourse analysis that the meaning of words cannot be grasped in isolation, but must take into account the whole situation in which the words are used.”

p 53 His premise: texting isn’t new or comprehensible or a threat to this (or other) languages. “Texting takes further some of the processes used in the past” like abbreviations.

There’s a field called ‘forensic linguistics.’

p 62: He thinks that “Text dialectology is going to be a big subject one day.” also “The English language (…) is often a major influence on the way texting conventions develop in other languages.”

96 “… the linguistic hand-shaking that is needed in traditional face-to-face or voice telephone conversations — what has been called ‘phatic communion’ in linguistics.”

97 “Directness has become normal and everyday in English texting. You can send me a text which gets to the point immediately, and I won’t feel you have been impolite.”

156 “There is a rather curious ambivalence around. Complaints are made about children’s poor literacy, and then, when a technology arrives that provides fresh and motivating opportunities to read and write, such as email, chat, blogging, and texting, complaints are made about that.”

158 “I believe that any form of writing exercise is good for you. I also believe that any form of tuition which helps develop your awareness of different properties, styles, and effects of writing is good for you. It helps you become a better reader, more sensitive to nuance, and a better writer, more sensitive to audience. Texting language is no different from other innovative forms of written expression that have emerged in the past. It is a type of language whose communicative strengths and weaknesses need to be appreciated. If it were to take its place alongside other kinds of writing in school curricula, students would soon develop a strong sense of when it is appropriate to use it and when it is not.”

160–161 “And research is slowly beginning to show that texting actually benefits literacy skills. The studies are few, with small numbers of children, so we must be cautious; but a picture is emerging that texting does not harm writing ability and may even help it.”

p 162 he talks about the literacy awareness required for texting. “Before you can write abbreviated forms effectively and play with them, you need to have a sense of how the sounds of your language relate to the letters. You need to know that there are such things as alternative spellings. You need to have a good visual memory and good motor skills. If you are aware that your texting behavior is different, you must have already intuited that there is such a thing as a standard. If you are using abbreviations as lol (‘laughing out loud’) and brb (‘be right back’), you must have developed a sensitivity to the communicative needs of your textees…”

164 He talks about how it is important with any kind of specialized language — scientific, journalistic, poetic, regional, literary—that the speaker or writer understand how and when it is appropriate to use it. That’s no different with texting language. “The aim of language education is to put all these literacies under the confident control of the student, so that when they leave school they are able to cope with the linguistic demands made upon them.

“Texting is just another variety of language, which has arisen as a result of a particular technology. It takes its place alongside the other mediums of electronic communication which have resulted from the internet revolution. Texting is not alone, and many of its linguistic properties are shared by other kinds of computer-mediated communication.”

167 He didn’t say this but I thought it while reading this page: Texting can even be the source for some good writing exercises. Like have people describe something in texting form, and then in full form, or the other way around.

170 “Several teachers have stories of reserved, introverted, or nervous pupils who have had their expressive confidence boosted by their use of texting. The point has long been appreciated with reference to the use of the internet to provide chat forums in distance learning.”

p 171 Sometimes the value isn’t necessarily the content. “Little content may be exchanged but personal connections are made.”