Slangs in the instant messaging are damaging the linguistics. The English language is under attack. The blame is to be put on the new technology. In a two-way conversation, that is the instant messaging, whether it is the real time environment conversation; using the text messaging on the cell phones, or the online messengers like MSN messenger and Skype, the individuals are involved in a written communication. The participants totally disregard the standard English conventions. The only requirement of using the instant messaging is that the users have to use the alpha-numerics. This means that the users discard the usage of the formal English language. This further threatens the literacy of the youth who are exposed to this technology as they use slangs, which damages their ability to interpret the regular English besides damaging their reading and writing abilities. In an interview, Mr. Haroon Tariq, CC division team leader at Financial services department and an ex-Marketing head at Telenor telecommunications mentioned that the excessive use of instant messaging is damaging the linguistics. According to Mr. Haroon Tariq "In Pakistan, the roman Urdu is most commonly practiced in the text messages. Even Telenor is sending the information/ promotional text messages in Roman Urdu to the customers". This is something that is invading both the English and the Urdu language. Words are borrowed from both the languages and replaced in one another which disrupts both the discourses.
In an interview with the affectee of the user of the instant messaging, Ms Sidra Zia, a student of Lahore School of Economics, she agreed with the statement of Mr. Haroon Tariq that Urdu is being "Romanized". According to her, the languages are replacing one another. She mentioned that rather than thinking of the word in the same language, users borrow the word from another language to use it. This explains the constant code switching and code mixing in an instant messaging conversation. The invasion of the English language by the usage of slangs is definitely damaging the grammatical structures of the language. The prescribed language is being tormented by the users of the instant messages.
The slangs of the English language are the jargons of the instant messaging. If properly studied and observed, what the defenders of the English language mentions as the slangs of the language are actually the major characteristic of the language of instant messaging. In today's world instant messaging has established itself as a separate language. So in a brief way if put together, the slangs are the major linguistic features of the instant messaging. Every user is familiar with these slangs. This language was adopted from the chat rooms(MIRC), and now it is a common practice in the instant messaging. If the debate continues on whether the slangs are damaging the writing skills of the users or not, some believe it is, and for others it is not. Ms Sidra Zia, an interviewee, mentioned that the use of abbreviations, text short-hands is not affecting her formal writing skills. The observation relevant to the research showed that people who frequently use the instant messaging as one of the means of communication, unintentionally used abbreviations in the formal writings, for example "u" instead of you, "ur" instead of you're and "ppl" instead of people.
Although instant messaging is establishing itself as a separate language, which also funds to the fact that the use of the slangs, known as the characteristics of the instant messaging, is damaging and overtaking the formal English language. Some believers think that this is valuable force in the development of the literacy. It encourages regular use of the written medium for the communication. This also means that the users are aware of the alternate literacy and are comfortable with the new language and its characteristics.
The key features of the instant messaging vernacular are ; the use of slangs, abbreviations, acronyms and emoticons. In an attempt to study this vernacular, the study of several text messaging conversations, and chat logs were included. This is kept confidential and the participants were not informed of the research. This observation unveiled a new dimension to the research. This showed the number of times, why and where the slangs were used instead of the formal language. This was solely done to be sure that the jargons do exist in this form of language especially for teenagers. According to the Wikipedia, there are four types of slangs used in the instant messages, these are; similar-sounding replacements, abbreviations, acronyms and senseless(inanities).
The major similar sounding replacements that are majorly used by the teenagers are replacing or shortening the words or phrases that sound the same, for example typing "ur" instead of your, writing luv instead of love, typing "C" instead of "see". The second type of slang is the acronyms, as the dictionary explains, words composed of the first letters of every word or phrase, for example using of LOL instead of laughing out loud, OMG for O My God!. Abbreviations or short-handing is also another slang most commonly used in services involving the instant messaging. The abbreviations vary person to person but there are some universal abbreviations that almost every participant uses, for example writing ppl instead of people, typing "bc" instead of because, coz instead of cause. The fourth set of slangs are the senseless, which have no affect on the message typed or perception of the message, for example users write "x" after typing "LOL". It has no affect and is senseless. The only pattern that was observed was when putting emphasis on something besides writing the word itself in block letters.
People of the 21st century prefer expressing themselves in an instant message rather than confronting or having a face to face conversation. Some feel that people are more communicative and straight forward in an instant messaging conversation rather than a face to face meeting. Some of the promoters of the instant messaging believe that the expressions are clearly visible in the language of the instant messaging. The research that is being carried out disagrees with this theory. The instant messaging is all about emoticons. It is very complicated to actually judge the emotions of another user through just words and phrases. The winks, animations and smiley faces, that are used now helps to understand the feeling of another user, but it is also very difficult to decode the sarcasm, anger and actual feeling. The ":-)" smiley face does not mean that the user is actually happy and smiling. This does not purely imply that the sender is happy and the receiver on the other side understands this. According to the survey conducted, thirty-seven out of forty respondents answered "yes" when they were asked whether they use the emoticons or not. According to the figure 11 in Appendix out of the 40 respondents, only four were able to comprehend the exact feeling of the sender every time, through the emoticons.
The major problem under this debate of the instant messaging vernacular that has been side-lined from the start is the privacy related to the instant messaging. This is a very important discussion under the linguistics of instant messaging. One of the many reasons why there is an increase in the use of the instant messaging services is that they are kept confidential. This mean of communication is reliable enough, not only to send the informal messages but it is believed that this is even reliable to send official messages, according to Mr. Haroon Tariq. Although all the corporations, companies, organizations that offer this facility also record the messages in case of any legal or complex problem arises. This does not mean that the users should feels insecure when using these facilities, but this is done to protect the participants against any problem in future, although exceptions are there , for example, interceptors and hackers in this case, who seize important and private information of a person. According to a blog, even the private messages are not kept private, think before you press the "enter" key, and do not let your fingers do the talking.
