2. register and audience
Formal or informal?
Texting is usually informal with a friendly chatty tone to the
conversation.
Young kids usually text to entertain the receiver.
Depending on the age of the person texting, if young kids are
texting their friends they will use informal language such as slang or
over exaggerated punctuation such as “omg shut up!!!!”
the other group of people who text are adults and this is usually to
inform someone, however the text itself can still be informal, just
with a better use of standard English.
Some teenagers may use vowel omission for example pls (please)
ppl (people.) using kisses at the end of a sentence rather than a full
stop is very common in texting giving a friendly informal register.
4. Phonology
Exaggeration is used within texting, some people may
use extra letters on words to express the way they
would say the word, reflecting their emotion to the
conversation, for example “Yayyyyyy” this could
mean the person is excited about the conversation or
even a sense of sarcasm. Acronymy can be used to
give the tone of the conversation for example “lol”
meaning laugh out loud.
