We have come to a new era where conversation can be instantaneous over long distances through text. The way we talk has evolved overtime by the way we text. While we text we use specific words and abbreviations to make typing more efficient, some of these words are now used in everyday speech. But do people text the same as they speak?
Having a text conversation is much slower than having a face to face conversation. In fact, typing is 26% slower than speaking and a result of slower tying, people are now using shortcuts like contractions and initialisms to get their point across faster during a text conversation. Contractions are a condensed version of a word that is easier to type and say. A commonly used contraction in text used is ‘ik’ it means ‘I know’ and is used often within text conversation for efficiency in reading and typing. Because communication like this is widely used the contraction ‘ik’ will most likely be understood by the receiver as ‘I know’. In contrary to that, some people will not understand as they may not text for efficiency or maybe haven’t been exposed to contractions like this. People who do not understand texting contractions will not end up using them in text, this does mean that they will not be using them in speech either.
Contractions are a commonly used feature in spoken conversation and have been used since the first contraction ‘don’t’ in the 1630’s. Contractions are just words that have been shortened to make easier and faster to say. ‘They’re” is an example of a contraction used on a day to day basis, it is a shortened version of ‘they are’. People would use this in informal text and spoken conversation. Using this contraction indicates the person is trying to be brief or informal. In a spoken transcript “they’re” was said, the conversation was between some friends, it was an informal situation and was a fast moving conversation. I said “they’re changing it this year”, “they’re is informal and fast to say and that is why it was used.
People will use slang for a few reasons, maybe because they use it all the time when they speak or people will use it for efficiency. While having a spoken conversation people will use slang terms to find ‘common ground’ in their language, different slang terms will be used between different people, you will find age, location and even ethnicity will effect what slang terms a person will use. But a common reason for using these slang terms is for efficiency, because slang existed before text messaging there will be some older slang terms used from speech. But now as our language is evolving around our texting new slang word will have been invented for efficiency in typing and then been used in speech out of habit. The word ‘yea’ is used a lot in speech and text, this term proves that the way we text is influenced by the way we speak because ‘yea’ is no faster to type than ‘yes’. The ‘a’ key is beside the ‘s’ key so therefore if you use this particular slang word in your speech the only reason you will use it in text is because you are so used to using the word ‘yea’ that you just end up texting it.
While having spoken conversations some words are used for efficiency, sometimes when we speak we use certain words to make conversations more fluent. But because texting has become a big part of our lives, some words crossover and are now used in face-to-face conversation as well as text. The abbreviation ‘cos’ is used by some people, it is short for ‘because’ and is used frequently in text and speech. Most people who use this abbreviation in text will find they also use it in their speech. When a word can be shortened to make typing quicker people will find that they will use it in text and then subconsciously start using it in their speech. In a text transcript I text “cos they are going” the abbreviation ‘cos’ was used for efficiency. In a spoken conversation I said “cos they’re changing it this year”, ‘cos’ was used again for efficiency and out of habit. Spoken conversation is influenced by the way we text.
In conclusion, slang, contractions and abbreviation are all used throughout spoken and text conversations for efficiency and out of habit. People do text the same as they speak.
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