The abbreviations used in text
message and on the internet
by group 1
The motivation of our research
• Nowadays, mobile phones and the Internet are so
popular that almost every culture has created its own
specific language. The youth play the main role of that
creation. It’s interesting to discover how words are
associated with each other in the native speakers’ eyes.
For example, ‘how are you’ can be put on the screen as
‘how R U?’ Abbreviations become very popular when
young people communicate through text message or on
the internet. We do this research to study the origin, the
development, the features and the strong points, weak
points of abbreviations.
We do this research to solve
these two questions:
• I How widely are shortening
words are used in text
message and the internet?
• II What’s the development of
abbreviations?
The significance of our research
•
•
Keeping pace with time. We are English language
learners and we should be aware of the newest
English language. We have to read as much as
materials to gain a great many new words, which can
also help our reading skills.
Understanding English culture better. From Americans
like shortening words, we can easily notice their
culture. As we all know, all the new language usages
are created by the native speakers, which will help us
know the development process of English. We can
learn how to create a new word, and why a language
needs to develop.
• Getting to know the youth’s condition. The youth is a
country’s future. Text message and the Internet receive
so much popularity from the youth, and it’s a good way
to get to know them by learning about their specific
language.
• Helping us in note taking. Many times in daily life, we
need to take notes quickly. However, it is difficult for us
to take what has been said completely, just because the
speaking speed is so fast. Thus, we need to know more
and more about the youth language like some
abbreviations or substitutes, both of which can improve
the writing speed.
• I How widely are shortening words are
used in text message and the internet?
• We use a questionnaire to solve this
question.
Questionnaire about the shortening words in text
messages and on the Internet
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Thank you for your precious five minutes to do this questionnaire. We are
sophomores majoring in English in Soochow University, China. Now we are
doing some research about how widely shortening words are used in text
messages and the Internet, which will help us to prepare for our final paper of
lexicology. Your help will do us a great favor.
1 please select your age group.
A below 15
B 16—19
C 19—21
D above 21
2 how many text messages do you send on average every day?
A below 10
B 11—20
C 20—30
D above 30
• 3 how many hours do you spend in chatting online on average
every day?
• A below 1 hour
• B 1—2
• C 2—3
• D above 3
• 4 how often do you use shortening words in text messages
and on the Internet?
• A never
• B few times
• C often
• 5 how many of your friends use shortening words in text
messages and on the Internet?
• A below 5
• B 5--10
• C 11—15
• D above 16
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
6 please list Top Five shortening words which you often use
(1) ____
(2) ____
(3) ____
(4) ____
(5) ____
7 please write the full words below
(1) CU ____
(2) PLZ ____
(3) ASAP ____
(4) 3Q ____
(5) TTYL ____
8 why people prefer to use shortening words? Please give some
reasons.
9 do you think shortening words is a kind of progress in English
usage? Why or why not?
The end
We appreciate your help very much. Thank you again!
• The target people of our research are
American students and Chinese students
majoring in English. There are 50
American students from three different
universities, including Ohio State
University, Florida State University and
Utah State University, 20 students in
Melbourne University and 30 Chinese
students in foreign language departments
involved in this research.
• Statistic:
• 1 Since we mainly aim to college students, only 1 out of
100 are below 15, ten percent is 16—19, half of the
students are from 19 to 21, 39% are above 21.
• 2 20% of students send messages below 10, 30% are
below 20, 30% are below 30, 20% are above 30.
• 3 20% of students spend in chatting online on average
every day less than 1 hour, 40% less than 2 hours, 20%
are below 3 hours, 20% are above 3 hours.
• 4 1% never use shortening words in text messages and
the Internet, 20% choose B few times, 70% choose often.
• 5 none choose A below 5 about the question how many
of your friends use shortening words in text messages
and the Internet, 10% choose below 10, 20% choose
below 15 and 70% choose above 16.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
6. please list Top Five shortening words which you often use
U you 90%
C see 80%
CU see you 80%
ASAP as soon as possible 70%
3Q thank you 65%
AFK away from keyboard 60%
7. 98% write the full words correctly.
8. why people prefer to use shortening words?
Saving time and easy
90%
Popular and fashionable 75%
Convenient
70%
Funny and humorous
68%
9. do you think shortening words are kind of progress in
English usage?
• Yes
80%
• No
20%
Analysis:
• Almost every student can understand
shortening words and use them
everyday no matter online or sending a
text messages, which play a very
important role in our daily life now. No
matter whether shortening words are
progress of English usage or not, it has
already become a part of English.
•II What is the
development of
abbreviations?
The development of
abbreviations
• Abbreviations are regularly used in our
daily life. When we send short messages
or e-mails, we use abbreviations. When
we read newspapers or watch TV, we can
find abbreviations. Therefore,
abbreviations influenced our life quite a lot.
• All abbreviations and acronyms are now using
standard code instead of the nested span hack
for Internet Explorer. This has meant the
functionality of the site is reduced in Internet
Explorer but this is due to the browser omitting
parts of the markup standards. The pages
degrade gracefully in this device, so the pages
remain accessible. The primary benefit of these
elements is for the users screen readers, which
handle this important element correctly.
history
• Alphabetic abbreviation became possible
around 1000 BC and was common in the
classical world: the Greek letters and as a
result of their use the fish became a
Christian symbol; the Latin letters SPQR
stood for Senatus Populusque Romanus
(the Senate and the Roman people). In
addition, short forms such as IMP CAES
(Imperator Caesar Emperor Caesar) were
common on inscriptions and coins.
• Although present-day abbreviation in English
descends from such forms, its more
immediate origin was in the practices of
medieval scribes, among whom short forms
were mnemonic and a means of economizing
on parchment, effort, and time. As writing
extended from Latin into the European
vernacular languages, short forms went with
it, first as loans (such as AD for Anno Domini:
from the year of the Lord), then as native
creations (such as BC for Before Christ).
• All such devices combine economy (of
effort, space, and reference) with
repetition (of the familiar and formulaic);
although some are casual or temporary
creations, others have become over the
centuries so institutionalized that their
origins and natures are seldom considered:
as for example AD and BC, when used for
everyday secular purposes.
• Abbreviation------the minor
processes of word formation:
• Abbreviation or shortening 缩略法/截短法
– Abbreviations/clipping 截短词 (e.g. doc, porn, expo; cab, van;
flu, fridge; daily, pop)
– Initialism 首字母缩略词 (CIA, BBC, UFO, CD, IP, LCD, ID, Nbomb)
– Acronym 首字母拼音词 (UNESCO,laser, radar, SARS, AIDS,
NATO, DINK )
– Blend 拼缀词 (motel, brunch, smog, chunnel, sitcom, hifi,talkathon)
– Words from proper names: Eponyms (sandwich, robot, Watt）
• Back formation 逆生法
– Back formation (reversion): (beg, locate, lip-read, air-condition)
• Onomatopoeia 拟声法
– Onomatopoeia 拟声词 (clang, clik, giggle, roar, buzz)
• Nature
• Although abbreviations usually need to be concise,
convenient, and easy to remember, they do not need to
be fully understood to serve their purpose. People
literate in English can work successfully with such
formulas as e.g. and q.v. whether or not they know their
full Latin forms exempli gratia (for the sake of example)
and quod vide (which see). The more familiar and
successful the short form, the less need for the full form,
which may in course of time being forgotten. The full
forms of mob (Latin mobile vulgus the fickle crowd) and
radar (radio detection and ranging) have no functional
value in the 1990s, and many are entirely unaware that
these words are (or were) abbreviations. The members
of organizations usually have little difficulty with the
abbreviations they use, because of sheer familiarity, but
people who are not part of the in-group may regard their
use as (sometimes frustrating and provocative) jargon.
• However, abbreviations are not
always ready to be used properly.
In formal academic prose it is
considered bad form to
abbreviate words simply to save
space, time or energy.
The research methods
• In this research, we used some typical research
methods to study various aspects of
abbreviations and made our research more
specific and convincing.
• Ask some students to fill our questionnaires
( as we have mentioned)
• We made a questionnaire related to
abbreviations and sent them to some university
students. Then, we analysed the result and got
some useful information to our research.
SYMBOL
MEANING
EXAMPLE
w/
with (something)
A war was fought w/ NATO aid.
w/o
without
They fought w/o fear.
w/i
within
There are problems w/i the company.
i.e.
that is
A Siamese, i.e. a cat, is a fun pet.
e.g.
for example
Professionals, e.g. doctors and lawyers, met here.
etc.
et cetera, so forth
Cats, dogs, etc., make good pets.
b/c
because
We pay taxes b/c it's the law.
b/4
before
Chicken b/4 egg?
re:
regarding, about
I need to see you re: the sales figures.
esp.
especially
Tobacco, esp. cigarettes, causes cancer.
min.
minimum
The min. is $400.
max.
maximum
The max. number of people in an elevator is 10.
gov't.
government
The gov't. helped the people.
ASAP
as soon as possible
Finish your exam ASAP.
wrt
write
wrt #3 (write number 3)
rt
right
rt side
yr / yrs
year, years
She's 5 yrs old.
c.
circa, about, around, from the
year
This picture is c. 1900
vs
versus, as opposed to
Purple vs green
ch
chapter
Read ch 8.
Q
A
question
answer
Q: What is that?
A: I don't know!
ex
example
Look at ex 4.
The conclusion of the research
• The usage of Abbreviations has become very popular
among young people when they chat on the internet or
through text message. Most young people like new and
interesting thing, while abbreviations meet their demands.
When they communicate with their friends, using
abbreviations is very convenient and easy to understand.
Moreover, abbreviations reflect a trend of the
development of English in some aspects. However,
excessive use of abbreviations also brings some bad
points. Firstly, abbreviations are very informal, they can
be just used in some informal chatting and spoken
English. Besides, this is bad for young students to learn
English, it may unable students to spell and know some
words well. Above all, the development of abbreviations
is an issue which deserves our much more concerns.
• Through this research we know many aspects of
abbreviations, including the reasons they
appeared, typical examples of abbreviations,
their strong points and weak points, and their
important role in the daily life. The research on
abbreviations is very interesting and meaningful,
our research still has some shortcomings, for
example, the questionnaires are not complete,
the people we interviewed are not enough, and
we can not understand the communication
culture among westerners very well. The
research is so meaningful that we should
continue to study.
• The motivation and significance of the
research: 徐晶晶
• The development of abbreviations, the
typical examples: 张婷婷
• The research methods, the video found
on the internet: 吴迪
• The questionnaire and analysis，the
PPT: 朱岩
• The conclusion of the research, the
pictures, the combination of the whole
paper:孔珍