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Text Messaging and IM

Linguistic Comparison of American College Data

Telenor R&D, Norway, and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Naomi S. Baron

American University, Washington DC, nbaron{at}american.edu

While instant messaging (IM) via computers is well entrenched in the United States, text messaging on mobile phones is a more recent technology in America. To investigate the emergence of American texting, this study compared text messages and IMs produced by American college students with respect to transmission length, emoticons and lexical shortenings, and sentential punctuation. We examine our findings in light of other statistical studies of texting and IM, and with respect to personal computer use in the United States that predates text messaging.

Key Words: instant messaging • IM • text messaging • texting • SMS • computer-mediated communication

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