Popularity of Short Message Service (Sms) Usage & Its Effect on Written Language Deterioration

Communication technology is changing our way of life. Language is no exception. ab pop language researchers argue that compose language is deteriorating due to the increase use of electronic communicating. The present study investigated 50 mobile promise users selected willy-nilly using Short Messaging Service (SMS) as one of their cursory communication slits with the purpose to find out whether SMS language will exploit written language deterioration in Malaysia. SMS language is defined as using abbreviations, impudently created words, code-switching, code-mixing and emoticons in the messages.The findings indicated that the majority of the respondents agree that SMS language originators written language deterioration. This could be because messages are full of spoken-like spelling, unconventional use of punctuation mark and abbreviations, and ungrammatical sentence in order to conform to the conditions of electronic communication to reduce space, time and effort. Although the language change due to the advancements in electronic communication technology is inevitable, we have to bear in mind that the minus impact on the written language has to do with the technology users non the technology itself. IntroductionWhat is communication? Communication is a process of transferring entropy whereby information is enclosed in a package and is channe lead and imparted by a sender to a receiver using a channel (Wikipedia). In recent years, mobile earpiece has been viewed as an important communication tool and has become an integral part of the Malaysian society. Nowadays, it is very common to go through Malaysians chatting or texting on their mobile phones in the streets, in the shopping malls, era waiting for public transportations to the point that the mobile phone has become an inseparable item to some people especially the younger generation.The mobile phone first appeared in Malaysia in 1998 and was mainly used by professionals. It was bulky, expens ive, and make with basic features such as vocalization call. Today, mobile phones are equipt with other hi-tech features that allow faster communication and entertainment such as Short Message Service (SMS), MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) player, games, net and videos. These additional features attracted people from all walks of life including the younger generation, and consequently led to the increase in the number of mobile phone users in Malaysia. harmonise to the survey conducted by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), on that point were 24,253,000 mobile phone subscribers in Malaysia at end March 2008. It was withal reported that as many as 50. 7% mobile phone users send out an average of five (5) SMSes a day. Compared to 2004 which recorded a percentage of 31. 7%, the number of mobile phone users sending out an average of five (5) SMSes per day has increased by 19% (Hand phone Users Survey, 2008).The factors which have contributed to the popularity of SMS usage could be due to its widespread usage, mobility, low represent and convenience. For example, sending a message via text to a family or relay link across the country or even living abroad, would be cheaper than the address of roaming and long distance phone charges. SMS is extensively used not exclusively for communication purposes, but also as a major trade tool due to its low cost. Besides that, it is also very at rest for mobile phone users.A message can be slow and quickly transmitted just by pressing a a few(prenominal) buttons instead of the conventional method of waiting for the telephone call to be put through or waiting to leave a voice message after a lengthy and annoying answering implement message. Due to character limitations and restrictions in a SMS message, it is a common perform for SMS users to maximize the contents of the messages sent by using abbreviations, newly created words, code-switching, code-mixing and emoticons in their SMS messages .How has this increasingly popular practice affect our written language accordingly? As most Malaysians are multi-lingual, will the widespread use of SMS cause language deterioration? This research aims to investigate and analyze the relationship betwixt SMS usage and whether it causes language deterioration in Malaysia by using abbreviations, newly created words, code-switching, code-mixing and emoticons in the messages.