Discourse of Text Messaging

Understanding the discourse of text messaging has

profound implications for society. SMS text messaging has impacted considerably

on how we communicate with others. Negative, sometimes alarmist media coverage

continues to fuel debate surrounding its 'damaging' effects on language and literacy,

yet these portrayals tend to be based on extreme or fictionalised accounts of

text messaging. What kind of language do people really use when they text?

 Drawing on a range of academic sources from various

fields, this book describes the language used in a corpus of over 11,000 text

messages, as yet the largest collection in the UK. In particular, the book shows

how the discourse of text messaging is shaped by users' often creative

responses to the functions and constraints of the medium.

 This is an essential book for upper level

undergraduates and postgraduates studying discourse analysis, as well as

educators wanting to understand this important new form of discourse.