At their most abbreviated and cryptic, Instant Messenger chats may look like harbingers of the death of written language. But IM and its ilk aren’t actually destroying syntax and grammar, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto.
The study—titled "LOL for Real!—Instant Messaging and Teen Language," according to the Toronto Star—was presented this week at a meeting of the Linguistics Association of Canada and the United States. It found that most teenage IM users mix surpisingly sophisticated written passages in with shorthand like "OMG" and "BRB." In fact, the researchers say, online chat sessions often show participants shifting from informal language to more precise prose with surprising acumen.
"Everybody thinks kids are ruining their language by using instant messaging, but these teens’ messaging shows them expressing themselves flexibly through all registers," said Sali Tagliamonte, a linguist at the university, in a news release on the study. "They actually show an extremely lucid command of the language. We shouldn’t worry." —Brock Read
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