Technology has brought new colors and tones to the global language sphere, making it the buzzword in communication circles. However, SMS language is now meeting the need for versatile language skills that can be universally understood. This emerging form of communication, made possible by widely used cellphones for social and business purposes, can both greatly benefit and harm foreign language learners.
Investigating the influence of SMS language on learners’ language proficiency is prompted by its prevalence in written work. The widespread use of abbreviated language is believed to have a negative effect on learners’ proficiency, making it necessary to assess its impact. This study aims to evaluate how SMS language affects learners’ proficiency and explore the potential role of dictionaries in improving their proficiency.
Technology, particularly cellphones and the Short Message Service (SMS), has greatly influenced language usage. This has led to the emergence of SMS language as a distinct form of communication. Proficiency in SMS language is now an important skill for many people. Lexicographers have recognized the popularity of SMS language and are including its words and abbreviations in dictionaries. This benefits learners and educators who can keep up with new forms of communication. Furthermore, advertisers have embraced SMS language to effectively reach their target audience. All these aspects fall under metalexicography.
INTRODUCTION
Technology has a crucial role in communication nowadays. The cellphone is a highly effective, convenient, and widely adopted technological device for global communication. It utilizes the short message service (SMS), which is comparatively inexpensive in terms of time and cost involved in the communication process.
Although SMS has several benefits for communication and global business, it also hinders language proficiency. Learners tend to incorporate SMS language, which is not formally taught in schools, into their formal writing leading to frequent errors like misspellings and ungrammatical sentences.
This paper has two main goals: first, to show how SMS affects learners’ English language skills, and secondly, to discuss the challenge it presents for educators and lexicographers. The impact of SMS language on learners’ English proficiency is clearly seen in their formal written work such as tests, assignments, and reports. Both educators and lexicographers must tackle this issue by assisting learners in mastering the English language while also developing an SMS dictionary.
The learners’ performance is affected by the use of this SMS language as it does not follow grammatical and syntactic rules of standard English. It is not an official or standard language. For instance, a test script from a tertiary learner in a Communication module says: “if we do get the money how shud it be used?” The learner used ‘SHUD’ instead of ‘SHOULD.’ The pronunciation of these two words is the same, and it is advantageous to use the first spelling from an SMS message as it saves space and time. It is also easier to write because it is spelled like it is spoken.
The English grammar rules do not accept the simplified spelling, including words like ‘WOULD and COULD’. Consequently, learners who use SMS language are punished for incorrect spelling and ultimately become victims of it.
SHORT MESSAGE SERVICE (SMS)
Cellphone service providers offer the SMS feature, which facilitates convenient communication between cellphone users. This service permits the utilization of symbols and abbreviations for words and sentences, leading to savings in space, time, and money.
The table below represents the SMS dictionary that Vodacom gives to customers when they buy a cellphone. Table 1. Vodacom SMS dictionary WORDS IN FULL:
As far as I remember: Love Thanks Today Before Have a nice day see you SWYP At Tears in my eyes Sealed with a kiss Keep it simple, stupid Such a laugh At a moment Parents are watching Random act of kindness Please reply Second You’re on your own
The text presents examples of Rak (SMS), which stands for random acts of kindness, in English and Afrikaans. In the tables below, various examples are given. However, it should be noted that some words like the SMS word ‘AFAIR,’ which means “as far as I remember,” are spelled differently from their corresponding English word. This discrepancy in spelling may cause confusion with the misspelled English word ‘AFFAIR,’ which refers to an event or situation, particularly a sexual relationship.
In the above table, there are acceptable English and Afrikaans words that are abbreviations from the SMS glossary. However, their explanations differ from those in the SMS glossary. These words may cause confusion among learners. The actual meanings of these words are provided from Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners.
On the programme ‘PLAY TV’ on SABC3, viewers were encouraged to phone-in or send an SMS greetings message for a prize. One of the messages displayed on TV read: “we luv u 2”. The learners enjoy watching television and consider the language used in the media as acceptable, official, and standard. This is particularly true because the language is seen and used nationally and sometimes internationally.
The SMS language is not only used on national television screens but also on cards and artifacts celebrating popular social events like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Valentine’s Day. A sample message from these artifacts would say: I LOVE MY MOM, with the word ‘love’ replaced by a red heart symbol. Furthermore, even academics are influenced by the SMS language, as they incorporate it into official documents like circulars and memoranda.
Users find it arduous to use and inconvenient, which does not save time or space and is expensive to execute. Unfortunately, learners read these circulars and think the language is suitable because educators also use it.
