This document analyzes the morpho-syntactic features of SMS text messages sent by GSM users in Nigeria. It finds that texters employ various abbreviations, contractions, word order changes, and other innovative language forms to maximize the limited character space available in text messages. The study examines a collection of 75 text messages from students at the University of Nigeria and identifies patterns in morphology, syntax, and conventions used by texters, such as omitting subjects, objects, and determiners or combining letters and numbers. The document concludes that texters prioritize brevity and convenience over formal English rules in crafting SMS texts.
Code-Mixing as a Marker of Gender Identity in SMS language in Pakistaniosrjce
This research deals with the gender based code-mixing in mobile phone SMS texting in Pakistani
society. It is generally observable fact that code-mixing is used by both males and females while sending
messages through their mobile phones. This research has explored the happening of code mixing i.e. mixing of
the two varieties or two different languages, which can mark the gender differences in using text messages. In
this research paper quantitative method is used to collect and analyze the data. One thousand non-forwarded
conversational SMS were collected through random sampling of 25 males and 25 females with an equal
quantity of sample from both counter parts. The findings of the study have shown that there are gender based
differences in SMS language used in Pakistan on the basis of Code-Mixing in term of frequency, nature and
topic & purpose of conversation. The findings are generalized for all males and females citizens of Pakistan.
Development of Bi-Directional English To Yoruba Translator for Real-Time Mobi...CSCJournals
Machine translation (MT) is a subfield of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another. Translating between English language and Yoruba language comes with some computational complexities such as syntactic and grammatical differences in the language pair. This paper aims at exploring a multi-layer hybridized language translation approach, which combines the Corpus-based and Rule-based approaches of machine translation to generate its outputs. A parallel corpus was built with texts from English and Yoruba languages and stored in My Structured Query Language (MySQL) database. One hundred and forty seven computational rules were manually formulated and also stored in MySQL database for generating sentences in both languages. A di-bilingual dictionary was developed, one of which stored words in English with their corresponding Yoruba counterparts and their equivalent parts of speech while the other dictionary stored words in Yoruba with their corresponding English counterparts and their equivalent parts of speech. A real time mobile chatting interface was developed for users’ interactions with themselves and the system. The research model was implemented using PHP for server-side scripting, JSON for data interchange and Java programming language for user interfaces accessible on users’ mobile phones. The Java programming language was coded in Android Studio 3.0 Integrated Development Environment. Two hundred and eleven sentences from Contemporary English Grammar were used for system testing and the result shows 95% accuracy compare with Google Translate.
This paper examined gender influence in the use of Mobile Phone Short Message Service (SMS) on note-taking and comprehension of materials presented through an audio system. Two research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The design of the study was quasi-experimental non-equivalent pretest and posttest. A sample of 400 subjects was drawn from the research population of 800 using stratified simple random sampling procedure. Two instruments were used for data collection. One of the instruments was the Audio- Taped Lecture (ATL) and the second was the Test for Assessing Comprehension (TAC). These instruments designed by the researcher were subjected to validate. Reliability coefficients of 0.88 and 0.81 were obtained for ATL and TAC respectively. Data for the study were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The results of the study included that SMS style of writing improved students’ note-taking competence as well as comprehension of the notes for both the male and female students and that there was no significant difference in performance based on gender. Recommendations included that students be encouraged to use SMS writing styles for note-taking during lectures and that the use of SMS for note-taking could be tailored towards correcting gender differences in achievement.
This paper examined gender influence in the use of Mobile Phone Short Message Service (SMS) on note-taking and comprehension of materials presented through an audio system. Two research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The design of the study was quasi-experimental non-equivalent pretest and posttest. A sample of 400 subjects was drawn from the research population of 800 using stratified simple random sampling procedure. Two instruments were used for data collection. One of the instruments was the Audio- Taped Lecture (ATL) and the second was the Test for Assessing Comprehension (TAC). These instruments designed by the researcher were subjected to validate. Reliability coefficients of 0.88 and 0.81 were obtained for ATL and TAC respectively. Data for the study were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The results of the study included that SMS style of writing improved students’ note-taking competence as well as comprehension of the notes for both the male and female students and that there was no significant difference in performance based on gender. Recommendations included that students be encouraged to use SMS writing styles for note-taking during lectures and that the use of SMS for note-taking could be tailored towards correcting gender differences in achievement.
Code-Mixing as a Marker of Gender Identity in SMS language in Pakistaniosrjce
This research deals with the gender based code-mixing in mobile phone SMS texting in Pakistani
society. It is generally observable fact that code-mixing is used by both males and females while sending
messages through their mobile phones. This research has explored the happening of code mixing i.e. mixing of
the two varieties or two different languages, which can mark the gender differences in using text messages. In
this research paper quantitative method is used to collect and analyze the data. One thousand non-forwarded
conversational SMS were collected through random sampling of 25 males and 25 females with an equal
quantity of sample from both counter parts. The findings of the study have shown that there are gender based
differences in SMS language used in Pakistan on the basis of Code-Mixing in term of frequency, nature and
topic & purpose of conversation. The findings are generalized for all males and females citizens of Pakistan.
Development of Bi-Directional English To Yoruba Translator for Real-Time Mobi...CSCJournals
Machine translation (MT) is a subfield of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another. Translating between English language and Yoruba language comes with some computational complexities such as syntactic and grammatical differences in the language pair. This paper aims at exploring a multi-layer hybridized language translation approach, which combines the Corpus-based and Rule-based approaches of machine translation to generate its outputs. A parallel corpus was built with texts from English and Yoruba languages and stored in My Structured Query Language (MySQL) database. One hundred and forty seven computational rules were manually formulated and also stored in MySQL database for generating sentences in both languages. A di-bilingual dictionary was developed, one of which stored words in English with their corresponding Yoruba counterparts and their equivalent parts of speech while the other dictionary stored words in Yoruba with their corresponding English counterparts and their equivalent parts of speech. A real time mobile chatting interface was developed for users’ interactions with themselves and the system. The research model was implemented using PHP for server-side scripting, JSON for data interchange and Java programming language for user interfaces accessible on users’ mobile phones. The Java programming language was coded in Android Studio 3.0 Integrated Development Environment. Two hundred and eleven sentences from Contemporary English Grammar were used for system testing and the result shows 95% accuracy compare with Google Translate.
This paper examined gender influence in the use of Mobile Phone Short Message Service (SMS) on note-taking and comprehension of materials presented through an audio system. Two research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The design of the study was quasi-experimental non-equivalent pretest and posttest. A sample of 400 subjects was drawn from the research population of 800 using stratified simple random sampling procedure. Two instruments were used for data collection. One of the instruments was the Audio- Taped Lecture (ATL) and the second was the Test for Assessing Comprehension (TAC). These instruments designed by the researcher were subjected to validate. Reliability coefficients of 0.88 and 0.81 were obtained for ATL and TAC respectively. Data for the study were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The results of the study included that SMS style of writing improved students’ note-taking competence as well as comprehension of the notes for both the male and female students and that there was no significant difference in performance based on gender. Recommendations included that students be encouraged to use SMS writing styles for note-taking during lectures and that the use of SMS for note-taking could be tailored towards correcting gender differences in achievement.
This paper examined gender influence in the use of Mobile Phone Short Message Service (SMS) on note-taking and comprehension of materials presented through an audio system. Two research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The design of the study was quasi-experimental non-equivalent pretest and posttest. A sample of 400 subjects was drawn from the research population of 800 using stratified simple random sampling procedure. Two instruments were used for data collection. One of the instruments was the Audio- Taped Lecture (ATL) and the second was the Test for Assessing Comprehension (TAC). These instruments designed by the researcher were subjected to validate. Reliability coefficients of 0.88 and 0.81 were obtained for ATL and TAC respectively. Data for the study were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The results of the study included that SMS style of writing improved students’ note-taking competence as well as comprehension of the notes for both the male and female students and that there was no significant difference in performance based on gender. Recommendations included that students be encouraged to use SMS writing styles for note-taking during lectures and that the use of SMS for note-taking could be tailored towards correcting gender differences in achievement.
This study sought to determine the potential place of Afrikaans and IsiXhosa as
indigenous languages to promote communication education in South African
Universities. This study examined the approaches and curriculum development of the
use of Afrikaans and IsiXhosa to teach journalism trainees in Rhodes and North-West
Universities. For the purpose of this study, uses and gratification theory was employed
to examine how communication and engineering instructors have adopted Afrikaans
and IsiXhosa to teach and train students in the field of engineering and journalism. The
method adopted for this study was a mixed method approach combining qualitative
content analysis, observation and interviews. Furthermore, a review of previous studies
on the adoption of Afrikaans and IsiXhosa for communication and engineering
education was examined. The result showed that many of communication and
engineering trainers believed that the use of Afrikaans for communication and
engineering education aids socio-cultural development among white South Africans.
From the findings, it was observed that the idea of integrating Afrikaans and IsiXhosa
to teach journalism was premised on promoting local identities. Interestingly, the result
A New Approach: Automatically Identify Proper Noun from Bengali Sentence for ...Syeful Islam
More than hundreds of millions of people of almost all levels of education and attitudes from different country communicate with
each other for different using various languages. Machine translation is highly demanding due to increasing the usage of web
based Communication. One of the major problem of Bengali translation is identified a naming word from a sentence, which is
relatively simple in English language, because such entities start with a capital letter. In Bangla we do not have concept of small
or capital letters and there is huge no. of different naming entity available in Bangla. Thus we find difficulties in understanding
whether a word is a proper noun or not. Here we have introduce a new approach to identify proper noun from a Bengali sentence
for UNL without storing huge no. of naming entity in word dictionary. The goal is to make possible Bangla sentence conversion
to UNL and vice versa with minimal storing word in dictionary.
Digital discourse markers in an ESL learning setting: The case of socialisati...James Cook University
Shakarami, A., Hajhashemi, K., & Caltabiano, N. (2016). International Journal of Instruction, 9(2), 167-182. doi: 10.12973/iji.2016.9212a
Analysis of the linguistic discourse plays an important role in the social, cultural, ethnographic, and comparative studies of languages. Discourse markers as indispensable parts of this analysis are reportedly more common in informal speech than in written language. They could be used at different levels, i.e. as „linking words‟, „linking phrases‟, or „sentence connectors‟ to bind together pieces of a text like „glue‟. The objective of the study is to ascertain the discourse markers employed in synchronous online interactions and networking through constant comparison of discourse markers used in the discussion forums (DF) with the discourse markers already reported in the literature. The study maintains discourse markers (DMs) used in the formal written discourse in order to identify any probable pragmatic, or discoursal level differences in the DMs used in the two modes of writing (formal writing and typing in online communication). The findings indicate that the written language that students use in their electronic posts is to a great extent similar to that of the process view of writing. Specifically, the written language used in a digital socialisation forum is at times, monitored, reviewed, revised, and corrected by the students themselves and their peers.
Language remains an integral part of man’s co-existence, particularly the natural language. This is because it is the most effective medium of communication among humans. Hence, no sphere of human endeavour can be sustained without language as it is the medium through which information, ideas and opinions are expressed.
This study is an assessment of teachersand pupils’perceptions use of digital pictures in teaching
reading fluency skills to primary three pupils in Sokoto metropolis, Sokoto state (Nigeria). The study employed
Mixed-design research method was employed where questionnaires and tests were administered only to both
teachers and pupils of experimental group. Two research questions were asked and answered using descriptive
statistics in form of frequency and mean. Questionnaires were used for data collection – one each for the
teacher and the pupils. The study found that both the teachers and the pupils were of the view that digital
pictures are recommendable tools for reading fluency instruction in the study area. Basedon these findings, the
study concluded that digital pictures are effective tools in teaching reading fluency skills to primary three pupils
in the study area. The study, therefore, recommends that, primary school teachers should be encouraged to use
digital pictures in their reading instructions.
BUILDING ONTOLOGIES TO UNDERSTAND SPOKEN TUNISIAN DIALECT IJCSEA Journal
This paper presents a method to understand spoken Tunisian dialect based on lexical semantic. This method takes into account the specificity of the Tunisian dialect which has no linguistic processing tools. This method is ontology-based which allows exploiting the ontological concepts for semantic annotation and ontological relations for speech interpretation. This combination increases the rate of comprehension and limits the dependence on linguistic resources. This paper also details the process of building the ontology used for annotation and interpretation of Tunisian dialect in the context of speech understanding in dialogue systems for restricted domain.
This study sought to determine the potential place of Afrikaans and IsiXhosa as
indigenous languages to promote communication education in South African
Universities. This study examined the approaches and curriculum development of the
use of Afrikaans and IsiXhosa to teach journalism trainees in Rhodes and North-West
Universities. For the purpose of this study, uses and gratification theory was employed
to examine how communication and engineering instructors have adopted Afrikaans
and IsiXhosa to teach and train students in the field of engineering and journalism. The
method adopted for this study was a mixed method approach combining qualitative
content analysis, observation and interviews. Furthermore, a review of previous studies
on the adoption of Afrikaans and IsiXhosa for communication and engineering
education was examined. The result showed that many of communication and
engineering trainers believed that the use of Afrikaans for communication and
engineering education aids socio-cultural development among white South Africans.
From the findings, it was observed that the idea of integrating Afrikaans and IsiXhosa
to teach journalism was premised on promoting local identities. Interestingly, the result
A New Approach: Automatically Identify Proper Noun from Bengali Sentence for ...Syeful Islam
More than hundreds of millions of people of almost all levels of education and attitudes from different country communicate with
each other for different using various languages. Machine translation is highly demanding due to increasing the usage of web
based Communication. One of the major problem of Bengali translation is identified a naming word from a sentence, which is
relatively simple in English language, because such entities start with a capital letter. In Bangla we do not have concept of small
or capital letters and there is huge no. of different naming entity available in Bangla. Thus we find difficulties in understanding
whether a word is a proper noun or not. Here we have introduce a new approach to identify proper noun from a Bengali sentence
for UNL without storing huge no. of naming entity in word dictionary. The goal is to make possible Bangla sentence conversion
to UNL and vice versa with minimal storing word in dictionary.
Digital discourse markers in an ESL learning setting: The case of socialisati...James Cook University
Shakarami, A., Hajhashemi, K., & Caltabiano, N. (2016). International Journal of Instruction, 9(2), 167-182. doi: 10.12973/iji.2016.9212a
Analysis of the linguistic discourse plays an important role in the social, cultural, ethnographic, and comparative studies of languages. Discourse markers as indispensable parts of this analysis are reportedly more common in informal speech than in written language. They could be used at different levels, i.e. as „linking words‟, „linking phrases‟, or „sentence connectors‟ to bind together pieces of a text like „glue‟. The objective of the study is to ascertain the discourse markers employed in synchronous online interactions and networking through constant comparison of discourse markers used in the discussion forums (DF) with the discourse markers already reported in the literature. The study maintains discourse markers (DMs) used in the formal written discourse in order to identify any probable pragmatic, or discoursal level differences in the DMs used in the two modes of writing (formal writing and typing in online communication). The findings indicate that the written language that students use in their electronic posts is to a great extent similar to that of the process view of writing. Specifically, the written language used in a digital socialisation forum is at times, monitored, reviewed, revised, and corrected by the students themselves and their peers.
Language remains an integral part of man’s co-existence, particularly the natural language. This is because it is the most effective medium of communication among humans. Hence, no sphere of human endeavour can be sustained without language as it is the medium through which information, ideas and opinions are expressed.
This study is an assessment of teachersand pupils’perceptions use of digital pictures in teaching
reading fluency skills to primary three pupils in Sokoto metropolis, Sokoto state (Nigeria). The study employed
Mixed-design research method was employed where questionnaires and tests were administered only to both
teachers and pupils of experimental group. Two research questions were asked and answered using descriptive
statistics in form of frequency and mean. Questionnaires were used for data collection – one each for the
teacher and the pupils. The study found that both the teachers and the pupils were of the view that digital
pictures are recommendable tools for reading fluency instruction in the study area. Basedon these findings, the
study concluded that digital pictures are effective tools in teaching reading fluency skills to primary three pupils
in the study area. The study, therefore, recommends that, primary school teachers should be encouraged to use
digital pictures in their reading instructions.
BUILDING ONTOLOGIES TO UNDERSTAND SPOKEN TUNISIAN DIALECT IJCSEA Journal
This paper presents a method to understand spoken Tunisian dialect based on lexical semantic. This method takes into account the specificity of the Tunisian dialect which has no linguistic processing tools. This method is ontology-based which allows exploiting the ontological concepts for semantic annotation and ontological relations for speech interpretation. This combination increases the rate of comprehension and limits the dependence on linguistic resources. This paper also details the process of building the ontology used for annotation and interpretation of Tunisian dialect in the context of speech understanding in dialogue systems for restricted domain.
This article examines the interdependence between English language and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and explores the role of ICT in boosting wealth creation. Nigeria is noted for her over-reliance on revenue from oil, a situation which has made even the government of Nigeria to ignore other sectors of the economy that can equally foster wealth creation. In this article, ICT provides that avenue and is seen as a good revenue base for government, for encouraging import and export, promoting self-reliance by creating jobs for the army of youths and paving way for competitive language education. The article decries the near absence of effective electricity supply in the country which is a major challenge of ICT and suggests that government should explore alternative sources of energy supply rather than depending on hydro-electricity. It also advocates for the subsidy of ICT facilities so as to pave way for the average Nigerian to purchase computer systems—a necessity in ICT.
A 1MENG 1020Date Oct 10, 2014Comparison between Texting.docxevonnehoggarth79783
A 1
M
ENG 1020
Date: Oct 10, 2014
Comparison between Texting and Academic Writing Language Features
Texting refers to the process of composing and sending short electronic messages through mobile phones and portable or fixed devices over a phone network. Texting has advanced over the years and attained additional features such as videos, images, and sound content known as MMS messages. Texting is used differently depending on the region that the sender and recipients are located. Regions such as North America, Australia, United Kingdom, and New Zealand simply refer the service as text, while in Asia, Middle East, and Africa, it is referred as SMS. Texting can be identified as a form of computer-mediated communication, although it is not computer based, but it is technologically mediated and based on texts; therefore, it shares many of the characteristics of other forms of computer-mediated communication such as email, instant messaging, and social network sites such as Twitter.
Automated systems can also apply text messages through participation in contests and ordering products and services. Service providers and advertisers use texting through direct text messaging, and send text messages to the users of mobile phones about dates of payment and promotions. Texting does not require the users to be online because it does not the Internet to transmit the messages. Twitter and email involve synchronous communication because the users are present online at the same time, and rapid response might be expected. Although immediate response is not obligatory the messages can be sent and responded quickly and enhance continuous flow the conversation.
Texting has gained massive popularity in the communication system over the years in many parts of the world. This form of communication, however, has technical restrictions such as limited space that has led to the development of non-standard language such as short forms (Bonelli 28). Texting allows the users to apply lexical and syntactic short forms that help to save the character space. SMS communication is an asynchronous text-based technologically mediated conversation, which follows the use of simple sentences structure for communication. The restriction in texting that limits the user to only 160 characters per message provides it with a unique feature. Texting, therefore, does not pursue the standard rules of English grammar as it is in academic writing. Additionally, texting mostly involves private conversations, which give the users the freedom to defy the standard rules of the English language.
Texting has been identified to be harmful for the formal English in the academic writings because of its influence on the use of literacy and Standard English. Many educators and linguists argue that text communication can be a permissible language especially due its grammatical breadth. It also involves semantics and syntax that enhances understanding of different language ideas in the text mess.
INTEGRATION OF PHONOTACTIC FEATURES FOR LANGUAGE IDENTIFICATION ON CODE-SWITC...kevig
In this paper, phoneme sequences are used as language information to perform code-switched language
identification (LID). With the one-pass recognition system, the spoken sounds are converted into
phonetically arranged sequences of sounds. The acoustic models are robust enough to handle multiple
languages when emulating multiple hidden Markov models (HMMs). To determine the phoneme similarity
among our target languages, we reported two methods of phoneme mapping. Statistical phoneme-based
bigram language models (LM) are integrated into speech decoding to eliminate possible phone
mismatches. The supervised support vector machine (SVM) is used to learn to recognize the phonetic
information of mixed-language speech based on recognized phone sequences. As the back-end decision is
taken by an SVM, the likelihood scores of segments with monolingual phone occurrence are used to
classify language identity. The speech corpus was tested on Sepedi and English languages that are often
mixed. Our system is evaluated by measuring both the ASR performance and the LID performance
separately. The systems have obtained a promising ASR accuracy with data-driven phone merging
approach modelled using 16 Gaussian mixtures per state. In code-switched speech and monolingual
speech segments respectively, the proposed systems achieved an acceptable ASR and LID accuracy.
INTEGRATION OF PHONOTACTIC FEATURES FOR LANGUAGE IDENTIFICATION ON CODE-SWITC...kevig
In this paper, phoneme sequences are used as language information to perform code-switched language identification (LID). With the one-pass recognition system, the spoken sounds are converted into phonetically arranged sequences of sounds. The acoustic models are robust enough to handle multiple languages when emulating multiple hidden Markov models (HMMs). To determine the phoneme similarity among our target languages, we reported two methods of phoneme mapping. Statistical phoneme-based bigram language models (LM) are integrated into speech decoding to eliminate possible phone mismatches. The supervised support vector machine (SVM) is used to learn to recognize the phonetic information of mixed-language speech based on recognized phone sequences. As the back-end decision is taken by an SVM, the likelihood scores of segments with monolingual phone occurrence are used to classify language identity. The speech corpus was tested on Sepedi and English languages that are often mixed. Our system is evaluated by measuring both the ASR performance and the LID performance separately. The systems have obtained a promising ASR accuracy with data-driven phone merging approach modelled using 16 Gaussian mixtures per state. In code-switched speech and monolingual speech segments respectively, the proposed systems achieved an acceptable ASR and LID accuracy.
BIDIRECTIONAL MACHINE TRANSLATION BETWEEN TURKISH AND TURKISH SIGN LANGUAGE: ...ijnlc
Communication is one of the first necessities for human beings to live and survive. There are many
different ways to communicate for centuries, yet there are mainly three ways for today's world: spoken,
written and sign languages. According to research on the language usage of deaf people, they commonly
prefer sign language over other ways. Most of the times they need helpers and/or interpreters on daily life
and they are accompanied by human helpers. We intend to make a bidirectional dynamic machine
translation system by using an example-based approach, and apply between Turkish and Turkish Sign
Language (TSL) glosses for the first time in literature with the belief of one day this novel work on Turkish
would help these people to live independently. Using BLEU and TER metrics for evaluation, we tested our
system considering many conditions, and got competitive results especially compared to previous work in
this field.
STRUCTURED AND QUANTITATIVE PROPERTIES OF ARABIC SMS-BASED CLASSIFIED ADS SUB...ijnlc
In this paper we will present our work in studying the sublanguage of Arabic SMS-based classified ads.
This study is presented from the developer's point of view. We will use the corpus collected from an
operational system, CATS. We also compare the SMS-based and the Web-based messages. We also discuss
some quantitative properties of the studied text.
Dictionary Entries for Bangla Consonant Ended Roots in Universal Networking L...Waqas Tariq
The Universal Networking Language (UNL) deals with the communication across nations of different languages and involves with many different related discipline such as linguistics, epistemology, computer science etc. It helps to overcome the language barrier among people of different nations to solve problems emerging from current globalization trends and geopolitical interdependence. We are working to include Bangla language in the UNL system so that Bangla language can be converted to UNL expressions. As a part of this process currently we are working on Bangla Consonant Ended Verb Roots and trying to develop lexical or dictionary entries for the Consonant Ended Verb Roots. In this paper, we have presented our work by describing Bangla verb, Verb root, Verbal Inflections and then finally showed the dictionary entries for the consonant ended roots.
While a hearing-impaired individual depends on sign language and gestures, non-hearing-impaired person uses verbal language. Thus, there is need for means of arbitration to forestall situation when a non-hearing-impaired individual who does not understand the sign language wants to communicate with a hearing-impaired person. This paper is concerned with the development of a PC-based sign language translator to facilitate effective communication between hearing-impaired and non-hearing-impaired persons. Database of hand gestures in American sign language (ASL) is created using Python scripts. TensorFlow (TF) is used in the creation of a pipeline configuration model for machine learning of annotated images of gestures in the database with the real time gestures. The implementation is done in Python software environment and it runs on a PC equipped with a web camera to capture real time gestures for comparison and interpretations. The developed sign language translator is able to translate ASL/gestures to written texts along with corresponding audio renderings at an average duration of about one second. In addition, the translator is able to match real time gestures with the equivalent gesture images stored in the database even at 44% similarity.
NEW TRENDS IN LESS-RESOURCED LANGUAGE PROCESSING: CASE OF AMAZIGH LANGUAGEkevig
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically changed lifestyles in much of the world. It forced
people to profoundly review their relationships and interactions with digital technologies. Nevertheless,
people prefer using these technologies in their favorite languages.
New Trends in Less-Resourced Language Processing: Case of Amazigh Languagekevig
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically changed lifestyles in much of the world. It forced people to profoundly review their relationships and interactions with digital technologies. Nevertheless, people prefer using these technologies in their favorite languages. Unfortunately, most languages are considered even as low or less-resourced, and they do not have the potential to keep up with the new needs. Therefore, this study explores how this kind of languages, mainly the Amazigh, will behave in the wholly digital environment, and what to expect for new trends. Contrary to last decades, the research gap of low and less-resourced languages is continually reducing. Nonetheless, the literature review exploration unveils the need for innovative research to review their informatization roadmap, while rethinking, in a valuable way, people’s behaviors in this increasingly changing environment. Through this work, we will try first to introduce the technology access challenges, and explain how natural language processing contributes to their overcoming. Then, we will give an overview of existing studies and research related to under and less-resourced languages’ informatization, with an emphasis on the Amazigh language. After, based on these studies and the agile revolution, a new roadmap will be presented.
American Standard Sign Language Representation Using Speech Recognitionpaperpublications3
Abstract: For many deaf people, sign language is the principle means of communication. This increases the isolation of hearing impaired people. This paper presents a system prototype that is able to automatically recognize speech which helps to communicate more effectively with the hearing or speech impaired people. This system recognizes speech signal . Recognized spoken words are represented using American standard sign language via a robotic arm and also on the computer using visual basic .In this project a software package is provided to convert the speech signal, (which does not have any meaning for the deaf and the dumb) into the sign language. The main purpose of this project is to bridge the communication and expression gap between the normal people who cannot understand the sign language, and the deaf and dumb who cannot understand the normal speech.
Similar to Sms texting among gsm users in nigeria a morpho-syntactic analysis (20)
A tale of scale & speed: How the US Navy is enabling software delivery from l...sonjaschweigert1
Rapid and secure feature delivery is a goal across every application team and every branch of the DoD. The Navy’s DevSecOps platform, Party Barge, has achieved:
- Reduction in onboarding time from 5 weeks to 1 day
- Improved developer experience and productivity through actionable findings and reduction of false positives
- Maintenance of superior security standards and inherent policy enforcement with Authorization to Operate (ATO)
Development teams can ship efficiently and ensure applications are cyber ready for Navy Authorizing Officials (AOs). In this webinar, Sigma Defense and Anchore will give attendees a look behind the scenes and demo secure pipeline automation and security artifacts that speed up application ATO and time to production.
We will cover:
- How to remove silos in DevSecOps
- How to build efficient development pipeline roles and component templates
- How to deliver security artifacts that matter for ATO’s (SBOMs, vulnerability reports, and policy evidence)
- How to streamline operations with automated policy checks on container images
Alt. GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using ...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
In his public lecture, Christian Timmerer provides insights into the fascinating history of video streaming, starting from its humble beginnings before YouTube to the groundbreaking technologies that now dominate platforms like Netflix and ORF ON. Timmerer also presents provocative contributions of his own that have significantly influenced the industry. He concludes by looking at future challenges and invites the audience to join in a discussion.
Welcome to the first live UiPath Community Day Dubai! Join us for this unique occasion to meet our local and global UiPath Community and leaders. You will get a full view of the MEA region's automation landscape and the AI Powered automation technology capabilities of UiPath. Also, hosted by our local partners Marc Ellis, you will enjoy a half-day packed with industry insights and automation peers networking.
📕 Curious on our agenda? Wait no more!
10:00 Welcome note - UiPath Community in Dubai
Lovely Sinha, UiPath Community Chapter Leader, UiPath MVPx3, Hyper-automation Consultant, First Abu Dhabi Bank
10:20 A UiPath cross-region MEA overview
Ashraf El Zarka, VP and Managing Director MEA, UiPath
10:35: Customer Success Journey
Deepthi Deepak, Head of Intelligent Automation CoE, First Abu Dhabi Bank
11:15 The UiPath approach to GenAI with our three principles: improve accuracy, supercharge productivity, and automate more
Boris Krumrey, Global VP, Automation Innovation, UiPath
12:15 To discover how Marc Ellis leverages tech-driven solutions in recruitment and managed services.
Brendan Lingam, Director of Sales and Business Development, Marc Ellis
Accelerate your Kubernetes clusters with Varnish CachingThijs Feryn
A presentation about the usage and availability of Varnish on Kubernetes. This talk explores the capabilities of Varnish caching and shows how to use the Varnish Helm chart to deploy it to Kubernetes.
This presentation was delivered at K8SUG Singapore. See https://feryn.eu/presentations/accelerate-your-kubernetes-clusters-with-varnish-caching-k8sug-singapore-28-2024 for more details.
Enhancing Performance with Globus and the Science DMZGlobus
ESnet has led the way in helping national facilities—and many other institutions in the research community—configure Science DMZs and troubleshoot network issues to maximize data transfer performance. In this talk we will present a summary of approaches and tips for getting the most out of your network infrastructure using Globus Connect Server.
Elevating Tactical DDD Patterns Through Object CalisthenicsDorra BARTAGUIZ
After immersing yourself in the blue book and its red counterpart, attending DDD-focused conferences, and applying tactical patterns, you're left with a crucial question: How do I ensure my design is effective? Tactical patterns within Domain-Driven Design (DDD) serve as guiding principles for creating clear and manageable domain models. However, achieving success with these patterns requires additional guidance. Interestingly, we've observed that a set of constraints initially designed for training purposes remarkably aligns with effective pattern implementation, offering a more ‘mechanical’ approach. Let's explore together how Object Calisthenics can elevate the design of your tactical DDD patterns, offering concrete help for those venturing into DDD for the first time!
PHP Frameworks: I want to break free (IPC Berlin 2024)Ralf Eggert
In this presentation, we examine the challenges and limitations of relying too heavily on PHP frameworks in web development. We discuss the history of PHP and its frameworks to understand how this dependence has evolved. The focus will be on providing concrete tips and strategies to reduce reliance on these frameworks, based on real-world examples and practical considerations. The goal is to equip developers with the skills and knowledge to create more flexible and future-proof web applications. We'll explore the importance of maintaining autonomy in a rapidly changing tech landscape and how to make informed decisions in PHP development.
This talk is aimed at encouraging a more independent approach to using PHP frameworks, moving towards a more flexible and future-proof approach to PHP development.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Pushing the limits of ePRTC: 100ns holdover for 100 daysAdtran
At WSTS 2024, Alon Stern explored the topic of parametric holdover and explained how recent research findings can be implemented in real-world PNT networks to achieve 100 nanoseconds of accuracy for up to 100 days.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !
Sms texting among gsm users in nigeria a morpho-syntactic analysis
1. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences
ISSN 2222-1719 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2863 (Online)
Vol.3, No.15, 2013
www.iiste.org
SMS Texting among GSM Users in Nigeria: A morpho-Syntactic
Analysis
Ifeoma M. Nweze
Department of Languages/ Linguistics/ Literary Studies/Visual Arts, Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwo,
Nigeria.
Email: ifynweze@rocketmail.com
Abstract
The gradual shift from the offline to online communication such as text messaging has given way to innovative
language-short forms whose morph-syntactic aspects have permeated the linguistic characters of the texters. For
about a decade now, there exist a growing body of research on mobile phone text messaging by linguists but
only very few have been done in the area of morpho-syntax. The work therefore, examines the aspects of
morphology and syntax found in SMS text messages. It adopts a combination of Chomsky (1957)
Transformational and Silverstein (1976) Meta pragmatic theories. Through the move-a rule and the pragmatic
method of analysis, the study discovers that there are morpho-syntactic variations among texters which are
problematic to formal English. It also reveals that movement of constituents from one slot to the other is a
common feature in text messages though some of such movements violates move-a rules. Other syntactic
differences are reflected in form of subject/agent, object, determiner, to-infinitive deletions/omissions. Wordorder violations, contractions, abbreviations, acronyms, compounding, blends and lack of punctuation also
characterize morpho-syntactic elements in SMS texts. Morphologically, there is no hard and fast rule with
regards to the users’ choice of letters in abbreviation. Texters use a combination of letters and numbers in their
text messages and in some cases they use only numerals. The texters obviously down-play the orthographic and
syntactic rules of the formal English language for their convenience.
Keywords: SMS texts, Nigeria, mobile phone, morpho-syntactic analysis.
1.0 Introduction
Language has been an integral part of communication and human beings being compulsive communicators
continue to find new ways of communication in an attempt to bridge the distance between individuals. Internet
technology has greatly influenced human life especially in the area of communication. Following the wave of the
technology, Wiki (2008) notes that there is an overwhelming access to different forms of media with an increase
in interconnectedness of peoples and races around the entire world. According to Adejub (2010:2), “the entire
world comprising six continents and many countries of about 6,881,800,000 (as the estimated population United
States Census Bureau) has been reduced to a global village through the dynamism of communication with the aid
of information technology (ICT).” ICT is a term used to refer to a range of technologies for gathering, storing,
retrieving, processing, analyzing and transmitting information. The SMS (short message service) which serves as
the latest way of quick communication since the invention of SMS texts came alongside with the global
technology Lexemes are used to facilitate the effectiveness of this device. The effectiveness of this medium of
communication depends on the appropriate combination of the words it carries, and in the combination of these
words lie what is known as the message. This communication technique is currently in use in all areas of lifeoffices, schools, markets, homes, advertisements, churches, etc. The component service (the phone) is unique for
its smallness and mobility. Due to the smallness, there is a limited space which leaves subscribers no choice
other than pursue simple sentence structures and other language short-forms to enable them exhaust their
message. Crystal (2008) contributing to the small character space of the mobile phone contends that subscribers
have created new linguistic forms to enable them maximize the available space and at the same time, make sure
they say all that is to be said to the understanding of the receiver. Supporting this view, Rafi (2010) observes that
through the new written conventions, texters have developed a written form of sounds that replaces the ability to
hear spoken utterances. The study therefore, seeks to examine the morpho-syntactic analysis of the innovative
language-form (Text messaging).
1.1 Methodology
The sources of data for our analysis comprise the text messages sent and received by the students of the
University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Our choice of area of study is guided by the fact that University of Nigeria,
Nsukka is a federal university where the students comprise peoples from different tribes of the nation. Data was
collected from fifty University students comprising both male and female. A total of seventy-five messages
(consisting of educational, seasonal, love, religious and other messages that express well wishes) were collected
from the participants whose messages were taken in confidence. This guarantees the researcher’s permission to
analyze the messages. The samples of the data are found in the Appendix.
84
2. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences
ISSN 2222-1719 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2863 (Online)
Vol.3, No.15, 2013
www.iiste.org
2. SMS Text Messaging: An Overview
The Short Message Service (SMS) is the part of a phone, web or mobile communication system used globally for
the exchange of short text messages between discussants. SMS according to Oladoye (2011:16) was first used in
December 1992 by a 22-year old named Neil Papworth. He says that the concept of SMS was developed by
Friedhelm Hillebrand, Bernard Ghillebaert and Oculy Silaban in 1984, in the Franco-German GSM cooperation.
Since the invention, the mobile telephone has been the latest way to communicate quickly. Text messaging is a
general term that is used to refer to the short written messages usually sent through phone and other portable
devices over a network. Ong’onda (2011:1) observes that the terms ‘text messaging’ or just ‘texting’ refers to the
brief typed messages sent using the Short Message Service (SMS) of mobile/cell phones, personal digital
assistants (PDAs), smart phones or web browsers. Uhunmwangho (2009:27) defined a text message as “any
linguistic event, usually a written form of speech that is imbued with meaning”. Doring (2002:7) notes that
“SMS communication allows for a reasonable use of syntactic and lexical short forms, which save character
space, or touches of the handset keys, as compared with using the full forms of words”. In the words of Rafi
(2010:3) it pursues simple sentence structures for communication. They also make use of written sound of words
and in other cases bring code mixing into it. Rafi further observes that SMS syntactic and lexical choices by the
texters are not so different from a child language; for instance a child expresses his feelings through simple
present progressive tense e.g. mom eating for ‘Mom is eating’ and Eating for ‘I am eating’
The equipment in its uniqueness affords most texters a much economized means of communication (Habluetzel
2007), (Thurlow 2003) and (Thurlow and Poff 2011). The Short message Service gives the subscriber the
advantage of choosing a specific number of words that would communicate comprehensively, but briefly, with
minimum cost- Chiluwa (2007:96). Due to the inconveniences caused by the limitation in the time and space that
comes along with the Short Message Service, texters are forced to find new ways for sending text messages.
Letters and numbers are also often combined (or used alone) for compression and convenience. Discussing on
the brevity of the electronic discourse, (Crystal 2001), (Hard af Sagerstad 2002) and (Thurlow 2003) note that
the technical restrictions of text messaging have led to the development of language short forms in SMS
communication.
The sender of a text message is known as a texter. SMS text service itself has different colloquialisms depending
on the region in that it may simply be referred to as a text in North America, India, Australia, Nigeria etc. Our
area of study geographically is therefore, morpho-syntactic analysis of SMS text messaging in Nigeria.
2.1 Nigeria and the SMS Texts
The global technology for Mobile communication notes Alabi (2010a) was introduced in Nigeria in the year
2001 and following the inception, he observes that SMS text messaging has become a major medium of passing
across information from one person to another irrespective of the distance between the ‘sender’ and ‘receiver’.
MTN, which happened to be the first GSM Company in Nigeria, commenced its commercial services in August
2001. In the words of Bodomo (2010:110) mobile phone in Nigeria was introduced in 2001 with the evolution of
Global System for Mobile Communication which two people or more exchange messages by coding and
decoding texts received and sent from their cell phones”. Oladoye writes that the commencement brought the
Short Message Service (SMS) to limelight in the Nigerian communication system; ever since then, text
messaging has taken different turns. SMS text messaging as used by modern handsets is a part of the Global
System for Mobile communication (GSM), as a means of sending messages of more than 160 characters to and
from GSM mobile handsets. In Nigeria, most SMS messages are mobile - to - mobile text messages, although the
standard supports other types of broadcast messaging as well. Linguists and scholars of related fields have
conducted researches on the general use of SMS text messaging since it became a part of the Global System of
communication in Nigeria. Such scholars include: Chiluwa (2007), Egbe (2009), Uhunmwangho (2009), Alabi
(2010ab), Adejub (2010) Oladoye (2011), etc. Chiluwa focused on the effects of the limited interface allowed by
the SMS to the users and the Nigerianess of SMS messages in English. Egbe spoke elaborately on the varying
possibilities offered by text messages and acknowledges that many users sending greetings at Christmas, Easter,
Sallah, anniversaries, wedding ceremonies or events are no longer by the use of cards but through text messages
by the mobile handset. Even invitations to events, meetings and high powered gatherings are sent through the
mobile discourse. Oladoye (2011:46) discussing on the importance of the SMS as a means of communication in
Nigeria comments as follows:
SMS text messaging has become a vital part of our communication system in Nigeria. It serves as a cheaper
alternative for many Nigerians today, in which they pay less, as against the higher costs on oral phone calls. It
has found a place for itself and it has come to stay. Various new devices are now developed to promote its usage
e.g. Blackberries and I-phones. In Nigeria today, people receive invitations to employment interviews, warnings,
announcements, etc via text messages. SMS text messaging is moving fast on a wide range in the Nigerian
communication system and even in the whole of Africa
From the foregoing, there seem to exist a growing body of research on mobile phone texts messaging by
85
3. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences
ISSN 2222-1719 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2863 (Online)
Vol.3, No.15, 2013
www.iiste.org
linguists but only very few have been done on the area of morpho-syntax. Nevertheless, we shall review them as
they constitute our base.
2.2 Empirical studies
Nwankwo (2011) examines the syntactic errors among GSM users and discovers such dominant features as
omissions of punctuation marks, incorrect phrasal combinations, spellings and the use of abbreviations. She
warns that the users of this innovative language should be conscious of these deviations not to transfer the habit
in writing to the formal English. Iloelunachi (2011) studies the relationship between the syntax of the SMS
language style and the language of media. Comparing their syntactic structures, his result reveals that SMS
language format are structured differently from that of formal writing. He therefore, strongly suggests that
learners should be taught on how best to apply the forms with due recognition for formal and informal contexts
while writing. Oladoye (2011) investigates the syntactic and lexico-semantic analyses of selected SMS text
messages among the university of Ilorin students. The result shows that among the word classes, the most
frequently occurring element is the noun with 39.22%. It discovers that all the text messages had noun elements
in them. The most prominent word sequence was the clause which had 20.5%. Ogbonna (2012) made a
sociolinguistic study of the local colouration in mobile phone text messaging in Nigeria. Adopting Hymes’ (1962)
Ethnography of Speaking, she discovers that young Nigerian text composers blend their knowledge of Nigeria
social, linguistic, cultural, political and economic settings with their knowledge of conventions of organization of
SMS messaging within Nigerian context to create different types of messages that are meaningful. The study
reveals that for most Nigerian youths, the major purpose of texts is social bonding and in expressions that are
Nigeria specific. However, the present study examines the morpho-syntactic aspects of text messages as
contained in the messages sent or received by the students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
2.3 Morpho-Syntax
2.3.1 Morphology and morphological processes
Morphology studies the internal structure of words. It is the way the speech sounds are stringed together to form
words. Morphological processes are those processes employed in linguistics to form new words in a language.
Sanmi (2010) identified eight ways by which words are formed. They include: affixation, compounding
reduplication, acronym, blends, conversion, back-formation, clipping etc. We shall only discuss the
morphological processes of Compounding, Blending and Acronyms
2.3.2 Compounding is neither inflection nor derivation; it is a combination of two or more independent words.
The product of the words formed stands as a free morpheme. According to Lyons (1868), Zwicky (1985) and
Sanmi (2010:59), the compound formed is a morphological complex unit in linguistics; it is unquestionable
among linguists. It can be formed by adding a noun to another noun as in star lights, noun to a verb as in
kickback etc.
2.3.3 Blending
It is a process in morphology where new words are formed by combining the initial and the final segments of
two or more already existing words in a language. Adams (1973) says that blends words made of parts of
morphemes usually formed by joining the parts of two diff’ words together. Sanmi (2010:65) observes there are
two types of blends; the first cannot be analysed into constituents but contains elements which may remind us of
other words similar to them. For instance smog tells us of smoke and fog. Quirk (1986) contends that the second
type of blend consists of words seen as contracted forms of compounds, that is, words in which one element is
fragmentary when compared to its corresponding uncompounded form. Example, Breakfast + Launch → brunch,
carpet + cafetaria → capetaria
2.3.4 Acronyms
They are new words formed from joining the first letters of two sets of words. Oladoye (2011:36) writes that
“when the initial letters are pronounced with the name of the letters of the alphabet, they are called
‘alphabetisms’ but when they are pronounced like individual words, they are called acronyms”. Examples
include: WHO, NEPA, YES (Youth Empowerment Scheme), AIDS etc. The morphological style is languagespecific, that is, the word formation rule differs across languages. However, in this study we are specifically
concerned with the formation rule in English language
2.4. Syntax
It is the related area of linguistics which studies the patterns that governs the way in which words are combined
to form phrases, sentences or clauses (word-order topologies). It can be seen as constructive rules according to
which words are combined into sentences using the rules of the grammar of that language. The study anchors on
Chomsky’s (1965) syntactic component of grammar. He argues for the innate ability of every normal child in
acquiring a grammar of a language that can generate infinite number of grammatical structures using syntactic
rules and at the same time detects the ungrammaticality in constructions. We shall also apply Chomsky’s (1957)
rules of transformation which was advanced by Baker (19780), Radford (1981) etc. Ndimele (2003:160) holds
that a transformation is a grammatical operation which enables two levels of structural representation (Deep and
86
4. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences
ISSN 2222-1719 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2863 (Online)
Vol.3, No.15, 2013
www.iiste.org
surface structure) to be placed in correspondence. The rule responsible for such operations in syntax is known as
move-alpha. The transformational operations we shall discuss here are movement and deletion.
2.5. Meta Pragmatic Theory: An overview
Metapragmatic theory was propounded by silvestein (1976) and his associates. Leech (1983) says that the theory
involves metapragmatic reasoning and reasonability. He observes that the reasonability of the metapragmatic
denotes ‘user reasonability’. By ‘user reasonability’, he means that it is the users that deem the rules of text
composition reasonable. This contention implies that it is the sender and the receiver of text messages that deem
the content of the text reasonable for the understanding of the intended messages. The key principles of Meta
pragmatic theory include the principles of economy and efficiency. Though this theory seems to belong to the
area of sociolinguistics, but the reason for using it in the analysis of the selected text messages is its ability in
capturing the reasonability and the economy of the texters.
Having made a review of both theoretical and empirical data, we shall examine the morpho-syntactic aspects
of the data on the text messages collected just as the way the words, phrases, sentences and clauses are formed
by the texters in this work. The analysis is based on the standard norms of the structure of a sentence (English
language). It will be discussed under the following headings: movement transformation, Deletion, Word-order
violation, omissions, contractions, abbreviations, acronyms, etc.
3. Morpho-syntactic Analysis
3.1 Movement
From the data, we observe that some messages received or sent by texters in SMS messages (M) show evidence
of moved constituents from their syntactic positions to a landing site. See Mgs 12, 23, 64 and 65. In M64 ‘Your
account’ which is the NP of the sentence moved from its original slot as the pr-verbal NP to a landing site of
post-verbal NP of the verb ‘debited’. This type of transformation is barred because a constituent is not allowed to
move across more than one bounding node. In M.12, the embedded clause was moved to the subject slot and the
complementiser ‘for’ functions as the subject. The structure should be ‘John is tough for one to beat’. In M23,
the subject ‘we’ has been inverted leading to syntactic variation. The variation created by move-a may be a
device by the writer to achieve focus or even a stylistic device.
3.2. Deletion/Omission
Deletion is a syntactic operation that removes constituent in a construction and therefore cause it not to appear in
the surface structure. Many sentences in SMS texts involve discourse ellipsis, that is, contextually determined
omission where the subjects/agents and objects are intentionally deleted or omitted because they are either
implicit in the verb or are known by the interlocutors in the discourse. The elements seen as omissions are
deleted at the surface structure for purposes of economy and user’s reasonability in understanding the rules of
text composition. The data reflected the following types of deletion: subjects/agents, objects, etc. In ‘Ms.1, 3, 5,
9, 20, 2I, 22, 24-30’ there are deletions of the subjects in the text messages of the discussants. From the data, the
subjects deleted are mostly pronouns such as we, he, she especially the personal pronoun ‘I’. M2 shows evidence
of deletion of the agent to the action of the verb ‘transfer’. Texters sometimes omit the object of a sentence
which constitutes an obligatory part of a sentence. For instance, in ‘M36 the object of ‘forge’ is omitted. The
verb ‘forge’ needs an object to complete the sense of the verb yet its object has been deleted. It is natural in
many discourse situations that the discussants under a particular context limit some information to underlying
structure yet they understand themselves. The omission shows that there is a shared context or background
between the interlocutors about the object in question. This also bears out Ong’onda’s (2011:4) postulation that
the stylistic feature of syntactic omissions in SMS discourse relies on the fact that communications with close
friends, partners and family members allows one to organize messages pragmatically as a common background
exists. Articles and determiners are also omitted in texts of SMS users. In Ms2, 32 and 33’ the determiner ‘the’
are omitted while the article ‘a’ is omitted in ‘M34’.
3.3 Contractions
Contraction is a term used for words or group of words whose orthographic letters are not fully represented; they
are shortened for want of time or space. SMS communication makes use of contractions. The words are
contracted by cutting the middle of a word or by attaching the first letter of the first word to the second word and
removing the rest of the letters of the first word. In ‘M.31, 37, 40, 42, 50’ respectively ‘the phrase what is up’ is
contracted as follows: ‘wassup’, birthday as ‘bday’, somebody as ‘sbody’, breakfast as ‘bfast’ fdom as freedom,
gmourning for good mourning. The contracted forms which are derived from two or three sets of self standing
words do not lose their property of a fully independent word. However, if the practice continues overtime, the
fear is that the novice language created by texters may cause some words to lose their property of a fully
independent word and acquire the properties of a morphological affix.
3.4 Violations in Word-ordering
Some sentences found in SMS texts when placed in line with the English word-order, rebel against the standard
87
5. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences
ISSN 2222-1719 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2863 (Online)
Vol.3, No.15, 2013
www.iiste.org
format of subject-verb-object (SVO). Consider Mgs ‘5 and 9’, in ‘5’ the syntactic ordering of the constituents is
‘VOV’ (verb object verb). In ‘9’ the ordering is ‘VSVO’ However, Ong’onda (2011) notes that in an attempt to
say all that is needed to be said to achieve effective communication, users tend to rebel against word-ordering; in
such cases, ‘to infinitive’ the auxiliary, verbs, prepositions or adverbs may therefore come first. Rafi (2010),
comments that inversion of normal English word order seems to be motivated by lack of paralinguistic cues. It is
important to note that the structural representation of syntactic variant is based on the assumption that variants
have an identical underlying structure. Messages (M) ‘4, 12 and 23’ show that subjects of the sentences are
implied. In M4, ‘to infinitive is topicalised for the sake of emphasis; it then occupies the subject slot though it is
a pseudo-subject. The surface structure reads ‘it is human to err’.
3.5. Compounding, Acronyms and Blends
The words merigoround carryova and emotionpach in Ms 24, 36 and 38 are compound words used in the data.
The texters overlooked the use of hyphen that connects the word sets as in meri-go-round etc. Acronyms are
commonly used as found in the data. Example, C.W.O, UK, UNN, NFCS, NEPA, AIDS, FUNAI in Ms
26,28,37,43, 57 and 72 respectively. Blends are also used in the messages, motel in M56 and telecast in ‘74’ are
instances used by texters.
3.6. Abreviations
The use of abbreviations in words and phrases is one of the most features that characterizes the messages of the
texters. In M.35, 39, 41, 43-49 respectively, the following words: ‘sumtin stands for something’, ‘wnt for want’,
‘cos for because’, ‘fyn for fine’, ‘hw for how’, ‘liten for lighten’,‘d for the’, ‘wz for was’, ‘apy for happy’, broda
for brother’, plz for please’. From the data, there is no hard and fast rule morphologically with regards to the
users’ choice of letters in abbreviation. This gave rise to morphological variation in lexical forms such that while
some texters use phonectic forms as in M.53- ‘gud’ which ignores the orthographic form of the vowel ‘o’ and
adopts the graphemic usage ‘u’ in its place. Thurtlow (2007) discussing abbreviations in text discourse notes that
texters also take the advantage of different phonetic spellings in order to create different types of verbal effects in
their messages such that SMS language reflects abbreviations, capitalization and punctuation. Others who
adopt the written framework while abbreviating still vary in their choices of orthographic combination. For
instance, ‘cos’ in M.41’ is written ‘cuz’ in M51’, ‘plz in ‘50’ is written ‘plse’ in ‘57’ etc. Some writers use a
combination of letters and numbers in their text messages. Example: ‘2morow and b4’as used in M.56. Some
others use only numbers for compression. For instance, the numeral ‘8’ is used for ‘eight and ate’ in M. 52 and
54, 2 for ‘to, two and too’ in Ms. ‘58, 59 and 60’ respectively. We observe that most often the letters ‘ion’ in the
end of words or phrases is abbreviated to be ‘n’. There are also two or three words shortened and merged to
become one as in ‘wassup’ and ‘gmourning’ above; they can be termed abbreviated phrases. An abbreviated
construction is the one that has two or three words compressed by omission of letters and merging of the words
involved. Few text messages use abbreviated phrases. Abbreviated phrases seem to be prompted by the challenge
of small screen and the limited character space-Doring (2002). Moreover abbreviations are easily understood by
SMS users as Leech’s (1983) metagragmatic user’s reasonability deems such combinations reasonable to both
the sender and the receiver.
4. Summary and conclusion
The paper examined the text messages of the students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka taking focus on
the morpho-syntactic aspects that underlie the linguistic characters of the writers. From the data, our findings are
as follows:
Syntactically, SMS texts employ transformation rules such as the move-a and deletion rules in some
constructions. It is noted too, that some of such movements violates move-a rules. There are many deviations by
the online interactive media on the formal English format in such areas as word-ordering, lexical and phrasal
contractions and omissions.
Morphologically, there is no hard and fast rule with regards to the users’ choice of letters in abbreviation.
Texters use a combination of letters and numbers in their text messages and in some cases they use only
numerals. The data shows that morphological processes of word formation such as compounding, acronyms and
blends are common features that are found in messages of the interlocutors. The analysis also reveals that the
SMS text is seriously controlled by socio-linguistic variables as shared background knowledge, the
metapragmatic principles of economy, user’s reasonability and efficiency.
In conclusion, the stylistic device in SMS texts captured in word modifications, phrasal and clausal
manipulations and excessive liberty afforded to the subscribers have given rise to novice language which affects
the morpho-syntactic aspects of the Standard English format.
References
Adejub,EE, S. (2010). Syntax of SMS: A gb approach. A paper presented at the 23rd annual conference of the
88
6. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences
ISSN 2222-1719 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2863 (Online)
Vol.3, No.15, 2013
www.iiste.org
Linguistic association of Nigeria at the University of Port-Harcourt, Nigeria. November 2010.
Alabi, V.A. (2010a). Problems of the emergent written language of the global system for
mobile
communication (GSM) in Nigeria. Marang: Journal of language and literature.20, 35-46.
Alabi, V.A.(2010b). Stylistic creativity via schemes, tropes, lexical cohesion and descriptive adjectives in
SMS text messaging among Nigerian graduates. In SMS text messaging among Nigerian graduates. In
D.D. Kuupolie & I. Bariki, (Eds), Applied social dimensions of language use in West Africa, (pp.
133-142). University of Cape Coast: University Press.
Baker, C. L. (1978). Introduction to generative- transformational syntax. Prentice-Hall
Bodomo, A. B. (2010). Computer mediated communication for Linguistics and literacy: Technology and natural
language education. New York: Information Science Reference
Chiluwa, I. (2007). The Nigerianness of SMS text messages in English. In I. Udofot, (Eds), Journal of the
Nigerian English studies association. Vol 3 (1): 95-109.
Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic structures. Mouton: MIT Press.
Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of Syntax. MIT Press
Crystal, D. (2001). Language and the internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, D. (2004). The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language.UK: Cambridge University Press.
Egbe, G.B.& Ekpe, I.S. (2009). New literacy, new English: Aspects of the grammar of SMS text messages. In
W. Adegbite & B, Olajide, (Eds), English in the Nigerian environment: Emerging patterns and new
challenges. Vol 24 (pp.38-50). Lagos : Olivetree Publishing Ventures.
Döring, N. (2002) Abbreviations and acronyms in SMS communication. http://www,nicola-doering.de/. Retrieved
August 17, 2010.
Habluetzel, C. (2007). The remediation of love: text messaging as Writing. Avenue Journal, 1(1).
http://www.avenuejournal.ca/index.php/avenue/article/view/3. Retrieved September 12, 2007.
Hard af Segertad, Y. H. (2002). Uses and adaptation of written language to the conditions of computer-mediated
communication. Unpublished PhD dissertation. University of Gothen.
Iloelunachi, R. K. (2011). “The syntax of short message service (SMS)”. An unpublished B.A. project,
Department of linguistics, Igbo and other Nigerian languages, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Lyons, J. (1968). Introduction to theoretical linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ndimele, O. (2003) Morphology and Syntax. Port Harcourt: Emhai Press.
Nwankwo, J. C. (2011). “Error analysis of the language of the Global system for mobile communication
(GSM): A Morpho-syntactic approach “. An unpublished B.A. project, Department of linguistics,
Igbo and other Nigerian languages, University of Nigeria,Nsukka.
Ogbonna, J. E. (2012). Local colouration in mobile phone text messaging in Nigeria: A sociolinguistic study.
A Ph.D. seminar presented to the Department of linguistics, Igbo and other Nigerian languages,
University of Nigeria,Nsukka.
Oladoye, O. (2011). Syntactic and lexico-semantic analysis of selected SMS text messages among the
University of Ilorin students. An unpublished B. A. Project, Department of English, Faculty of Arts,
University of Ilorin, Ilorin
Ong’onda, N. A , Matu, P. M and Oloo P. A.(2011). Syntactic Aspects in Text Messaging. World Journal of
English Language. Vol. 1, No. 1;42-47 . Sciedu Press
Quirk, R., & Greenbaum, S. (2000). A University grammar of English. Delhi: Longman.
Radford, A. (1981). Transformational syntax: A student’s guide to Chomsk’s Extended standard theory.
Cambridge University Press.
Rafi, M. S. (2010). SMS text analysis: Language, Gender and current practices. http:// -1-pdf adobe reader
Retrieved August 17, 2010.
Sanmi, O. B. (2010). Morphology: Its Basics and Application. Nsukka: Paschal Communications.
Silverstein, J. (1976) Metapragmatic discourse and metapragmatic function. In J.A.Lucy (ed.), reflexive language:
Reported speech and metapragmatics, 33-58. CUP.
Uhunmwangho, A. (2009). Is there Nigerian English? SMS text messaging and the use of English language in
Nigeria. In W. Adegbite & B. Olajide, (Eds) English in the Nigerian enviroment: Emerging
patterns and New challenges, Vol 24 (pp.26-37). Lagos: Olivetree publishing ventures.
Thurlow, C. (2007). Fabricating youth: New-media discourse and the technologization ofyoung people. In
Language in the media: Representations, identities, ideologies. In S. Johnson and A. Ensslin, (Eds.),
Ed.213 - 233. London: Continuum.
Thurlow, C., & Poff, M. (2011). Text-messaging. In S. C. Herring, D. Stein & T. Virtanen (Eds.). Handbook of the
pragmatics of CMC. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Wiki (2008). Blogs, wikis and text messaging: What are the implications for students with learning Disabilities.
Center for Implementing Technology in Education:(CITEd) (2008)
89
7. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences
ISSN 2222-1719 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2863 (Online)
Vol.3, No.15, 2013
www.iiste.org
Zwicky, A. M. (1985). ‘Heads’. Journal of linguistics. 21 pp1-29
Appendix
M1. Saw ur cal.Whats gwan?
M2 Transferred 2 dept of soil science 4 gud
M3. Sure wil be there 2 conzol u. Get on wit ur laif
M4. To err is human; just overlook dat animalistik behaviour in me
M5. Love the card, tanks
M9. Tanks, I love the card
M12. For one to beat John is tough
M20. Left for Aba yestade
M21. Will cloz 20th Aug.
M22. Hope u enjoyed the meal
M23. For this purpose we are born.
M24. Called but no picking join the merigoround @ d freedom square
M25. Pd in.30k jus now .tex me d make of d laptop. is it fairly used or new
M26. Invited u 2 an interview wit d diosecan C.W.O @ 3pm on September 8.
M27. Avail bal.10,077
M28. Won 1m naira UK NOKIA award. Payment No:NK-015. 4 claim send ur name, num & country 2 US via
e-mail: nokiawins1@live.co.uk
M29 Hi,gud monin, sori if sounded rude 2dy. Didn’t mean any harm. sori bt pls i dnt tlk 2 guys on d road even
if u must tlk 2 me on d way, u do dat politely.sori
M30. feeling so happy, so kul, so high. Do u know why? cuz i m so lucky, do u know how? cuz God loves
me.Do u know how? cuz he gave me a gift. Do u know what? its YOU my love.
M31. wassup? I de house
M32 Ngozi ‘ll wed 15th Dec. Hope u’ll bring wedin gown.
M33. Beyond Ur fears and visions lay unfallable hand of the unfallable lord. It’s a nw hope,liv wit it & enjoy nw
month!
M34. There is new prinspl of Ph.D defens in UNN now, extnal examiners’ CV & articles on screening,
HORRIBLE, DISGUSTING! ‘ve ur examiner gotn approval?
M35. Dili had an accident,she wnt 2 buy sumtin n a bottle mistakenly fel on her leg n cut her vein.We jst cmin
4rm medical center.
M36. I didn’t forge as planned, the man kum disapoint Na carryova be dat
M37. G/evening sir & hw r u doin. Diz is 2 officialy invite u 2 my bday party wit Rotract club of UNN @
physics 3rd yr class carver building by 2 pm
plz kindly dress formal
M38 Its beta nt 2 dan 2 fall in luv wit 1 who doesn’t luv u in return. U ‘ve nt bn callin.. emotionpach is d most
chronic pach 1 can tink of. U said u luv me bt ur actns nor words doesn’t show it, nt even in tex, flashn or cals. I
said it @ d initial tym, tnk God 4 my kind of person.Ur wish is granted anyway.Wish u d best in life.
M39. Wnt 2 com Bac 2dey.I wil come 2morrow. Ope (hope) u r ok.
M40. D guy name apia for notice bod, they say he take exam 4 sbody. O boy don go bi dat oo
M41 Cos i was hurrying i forgot to giv u d meseg.
M42. I no eat 4 nite com de tek bfast 4 eleven o’ clock. Dis assignment de show me
M43
D NFCS final yr forum hold her semina dis sat 18/2/12.Time :10:30 am venue :seat of wisdom
hall ,speaker Nath Francis. Hp fyn
M44.
Dear hw is ur health,hope ur gettn beta plz reply. luv u dear
M45. Luv is d dream of nature giving 2 liten man’s burden, lv meks simple d imposible tins of lyf. It shyns n
neva fades Hapi val.
M46. You know wat? I read d txt wit ma frnd.
M47.
Fyno and u, hw wz ur day? ope kul
M48.
Imagin a wrld witout pipple & pipple witout love,luv is sometin dat al cherish, few understood. Let us
define it wit our lives. apy val.
M49.
Broda rejoice with me d battle is ova, my Supervisor has won DVC.
M50.
Plz am in d church ok
M51
If i were a tear in ur eye i wood roll down onto ur lips.But if u were a tear in my eye i wood never cry as
i wood be afraid 2 lose u!
M52. D outbreak of ur breaktru in dis new yr shall be faster dan speed of 8ty
rocket stars .God shall grant
u all ur effort wit gud sucsess.
90
8. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences
ISSN 2222-1719 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2863 (Online)
Vol.3, No.15, 2013
www.iiste.org
M53. Do u relate wt people well? Gud,u re invited 2 a shearing forum of d final forum on Etiquette in human
relationships dis Thursday immediately after d evin mass. NFCS Finalist...the lord is our strength.
M54
Am just wakin from sleep.I 8 heavli last nite I missed d church just bcos no one kia 2 wake me.
M55 Imilike undergraduate asso meetin holds as folos: date:11/2/12(sun) time:3pm venue:soc.sc quardranghte
agenda :rendering account and first year induct.
Plse be there.
M56 It’s ova b/w us. Caught her wit anoda boy at d motel along Benin express
M57 May u live long laik corruption in Nigeria, may ur generocity spread laik poverty and AIDS in naija, may
ur enemies fall laik naira value, may ur blessing increase laik fuel price in naija, may ur happiness rise laik
unemployment, may u nt fail laik NEPA in Nigeria nd may God fight ur enemies more powerful than Boko
Haram in Nigeria. Api new month!
M58
Cheers.Big Tony. I dnt evn knw hw to tel u ths bt i have 2.D truth is dt av nt ben paid.De promise to pay
me on Wednesday unfailnly. I knw its goin 2b like abmb.plz bea wt me
M59 No airtym to reply ystrday,the credit exprd 2 days ago. D nxt cash i get ‘ll com ur way.i had a serious
crash wit d car bt i won’t repair it until we’r got dat laptop.
M60
Wishing you the best in ur exams. bles you as u join our felo/ship. Be on fire 4 christ & ur blessn is
assured. Me 2 is already in flames 4 dis purpose
M61
Life ends wen you stop drimin, hop ends wen you stop believing and luv ends wen you stop caring.
So drim hope and love...Makes Life Beautiful
M62
God has givn u d opportunity to rule & reign ova life’s circmstances.’ve a nice de!
M63
Ist time i saw u i was scared 2 touch u.1st time i touched u i was scared 2 kiss u.1st time i kiss u i was
scared to luv u.but now dat i luv u im scared 2 lose u!
M64
NGN8,000 has been debited with your account on 30-Aug- 2013 by cash W/D self. Bal
NGN20,000.32CR
M65 NGN600.00 credit was transferred frm my SIM 2 ur phone. enjoy
M67 conventn hold at Nathan Ejiogu Buildin by 10am prompt. NFCS secretariat
M68 Need a gud job!, text AVNSUB073 to 33070 start receiving job vacancies alert daily.
M69 Tanx 4 giving, u’l av more in return
M70 Av dominion ova laif struggles. U’r an ovacomer
M71 Strike is total no teachin, gona go swimin
M72 Movment frm d VC’s lodge 2 Lagos sat Aug 24th 4 wedin of Emma Nzeako-Pol Science Dept. FUNAI
M73 Just 2 let u know he survived tank God
M74 breakin news check telecast by 7pm 2day
M75 Call me when u hv free period b/4 noon I’l be there b/w 8 &12am.
91
9. This academic article was published by The International Institute for Science,
Technology and Education (IISTE). The IISTE is a pioneer in the Open Access
Publishing service based in the U.S. and Europe. The aim of the institute is
Accelerating Global Knowledge Sharing.
More information about the publisher can be found in the IISTE’s homepage:
http://www.iiste.org
CALL FOR JOURNAL PAPERS
The IISTE is currently hosting more than 30 peer-reviewed academic journals and
collaborating with academic institutions around the world. There’s no deadline for
submission. Prospective authors of IISTE journals can find the submission
instruction on the following page: http://www.iiste.org/journals/
The IISTE
editorial team promises to the review and publish all the qualified submissions in a
fast manner. All the journals articles are available online to the readers all over the
world without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from
gaining access to the internet itself. Printed version of the journals is also available
upon request of readers and authors.
MORE RESOURCES
Book publication information: http://www.iiste.org/book/
Recent conferences: http://www.iiste.org/conference/
IISTE Knowledge Sharing Partners
EBSCO, Index Copernicus, Ulrich's Periodicals Directory, JournalTOCS, PKP Open
Archives Harvester, Bielefeld Academic Search Engine, Elektronische
Zeitschriftenbibliothek EZB, Open J-Gate, OCLC WorldCat, Universe Digtial
Library , NewJour, Google Scholar