Millennial Texting is Sophisticated

From the Wired Campus blog at the Chronicle of Higher Education comes a report that Millennials' use of language in text messaging is actually a sophisticated hybrid form of communication, using both text message slang and formal grammar.

OMG, Teens' Online Chatting Is Linguistically Sophisticated

Despite the worries of their parents (and professors), teenagers’ use of language online is surprisingly sophisticated.

That’s the conclusion of two researchers from the University of Toronto, who looked at spoken and IM communications of 72 people ages 15 to 20. Instant messaging represented, they said, “an expansive new linguistic renaissance.”

The research will appear in a future issue of American Speech, and was reported first by New Scientist.

Sali A. Tagliamonte, a professor of linguistics, and Derek Denis, her student, found that instant messages mix up colloquial with formal language, creating a complex hybrid.

What’s more, teenagers are more likely to say “He was like, ‘What’s up?’” than to IM it. Online, their parents may be relieved to know, they tend to type “He said, ‘What’s up?’”—Lila Guterman

Recent studies estimate that Millennials spend as much as 6 hours a day communicating with peers in writing through text messaging, IM'ing and e-mailing. I can't help but think that this builds neural pathways in their brains that will make easier the transition to the types of formal writing they need to do in law school. Obviously, they should be taught that incorporating IM slang into their law school writing is inappropriate for something that will be turned in, but surely this new ability to communicate quickly with an abbreviated language makes at least note-taking easier