English Language Butchered: A Study of the Correlational Relationship Between Text Messaging Frequency and the Instance of Jargon in Formal Writing

<p>The rapidly evolving text messaging phenomenon among teenagers and young adults is noteworthy. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between text messaging frequency and use of text messaging jargon in formal writing. The sample consisted of 152 Year 11-13 secondary school students (68 males and 84 females) ranging from ages 14 to 18. The participants were taken from three Secondary Schools and Colleges in the greater Wellington area. This study used a non-experimental quantitative design; specifically, a correlational research design. A ten- item questionnaire was used to assess general text messaging behaviours and text messaging frequency. The participants‘ formal writing pieces were also assessed and text messaging jargon forms such as alternative phonetic spelling, vowel deletion and alphanumerisms were identified. The participants‘ language ability (represented by their NCEA scores for the previous year) was also assessed. The results revealed that the participants sent an average of 95 text messages per day with girls averaging about 126 messages per day while the boys averaged 64 messages per day. Overall, the research revealed that there was a weak negative correlational relationship (-0.01; p=.986) between frequency of text messaging and instance of text jargon in formal writing. Therefore, the principal conclusion of the study was that the two variables, frequency of text messaging and instance of jargon in formal writing were not statistically related.</p>

English Language Butchered: A Study of the Correlational Relationship Between Text Messaging Frequency and the Instance of Jargon in Formal Writing

<p>The rapidly evolving text messaging phenomenon among teenagers and young adults is noteworthy. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between text messaging frequency and use of text messaging jargon in formal writing. The sample consisted of 152 Year 11-13 secondary school students (68 males and 84 females) ranging from ages 14 to 18. The participants were taken from three Secondary Schools and Colleges in the greater Wellington area. This study used a non-experimental quantitative design; specifically, a correlational research design. A ten- item questionnaire was used to assess general text messaging behaviours and text messaging frequency. The participants‘ formal writing pieces were also assessed and text messaging jargon forms such as alternative phonetic spelling, vowel deletion and alphanumerisms were identified. The participants‘ language ability (represented by their NCEA scores for the previous year) was also assessed. The results revealed that the participants sent an average of 95 text messages per day with girls averaging about 126 messages per day while the boys averaged 64 messages per day. Overall, the research revealed that there was a weak negative correlational relationship (-0.01; p=.986) between frequency of text messaging and instance of text jargon in formal writing. Therefore, the principal conclusion of the study was that the two variables, frequency of text messaging and instance of jargon in formal writing were not statistically related.</p>

Lagos' Bus Stop Names and their Pronunciations by Danfo Bus Conductors

Danfo Buses are one of the main means of transportation in Lagos. For commuters to move from one location to another, it is highly essential that they know their bus stops and how the Danfo bus conductors pronounce them. This is because an inability to understand how these bus stops are pronounced will make it difficult for commuters to locate their destination. This paper aims to classify Lagos bus stop names based on their languages and sources of origin and demystify their pronunciation by Danfo bus conductors. Data was gathered through audio recordings of the speeches of the Danfo bus conductors. Data shows that bus stops in Lagos were named using both the local and English languages. Data also reveals that the names of these bus stops were derived from several ancient landmarks, including religious landmarks, commercial activities, agro-related landmarks, ancient edifices, and long-standing handiwork practices around these bus stops either now or in time past. The data further shows that the Danfo bus conductors employ various phonological processes such as vowel deletion, nasal deletion, vowel lengthening, consonant deletion, and word deletion in the pronunciation of bus stop names. The public is urged to take cognisance of these pronunciations in order not to miss their locations.

A phonological reanalysis of morphological segment deletion and de-affrication in Ik

Ik presents a widespread pattern of allomorphy characterised by morpheme-specific segment-zero alternations (deletions) and de-affrication. Part of the process is clearly phonological because it applies to every item in the language. Final vowels are devoiced into oblivion, though they are always recoverable in Non-Domain-Final context. Case allomorphy shows various item-specific patterns, some affixes overwrite the final-vowels of roots, others do not, and others yet exhibit consonant-zero alternations. Meanwhile, interestingly, there is (ostensibly) morphologically-sensitive consonant deletion that is fully complementary with what is clearly phonological vowel deletion. In fact, an entirely phonological analysis is possible if the consonant-zero alternations are modelled by floating consonants belonging to the exponents of certain morphemes. Therefore, the item/morpheme-specific aspect of the process is actually specific to the exponent of that morpheme. This locates the whole analysis in the phonology and provides a straightforward account of the complementarity of the two deletion processes. The formal analysis is very close to what has been proposed for French, with its floating consonants and its irregular hiatus-driven vowel deletion. The analysis will then be extended to the item-specific idiosyncratic process of de-affrication that is blocked, not by coincidence, precisely in morphologically overwriting environments. In the end, all the phenomena can be accounted for in a modular analysis, provided one gets the representations right.

Convergence of SMS language in Formal Writing by ESL Learners at Higher Secondary Level

The acquaintance of teenagers with the advent of time-economical and an advancedinteraction mode has threatened the English language's standard form.This research explores the phenomenon of mixing SMS language in ESL learners' writing skills regarding the choices of lexical and morpho-syntactic items and the presence and absence of SMS features at higher secondary level in Bahawalpur.Two questionnaires have been administered to collect data for quantitative analysis. The data has been collected from 80 ESL learners and 50 ESL teachersat the Intermediate level in private and government colleges sectors in Bahawalpur. Content analysis of 15-20 recently sent SMS has been conducted through text dictionaryof 80 ESL learners.The study shows the violation of standard norms of the English language, i.e., contractions, vowel deletion, punctuation mistakes, use of letters and symbols observed in SMS, and written assignments collected from ESL learnersof both sectors. Although SMS has its radicaleffects in the form oflearners' negligence, carelessness, syntactic ignorance, and absence of teachers' guidance, teaching methodology, and educational context are also the cause of learners'inept written work.

Matching overtly headed syntactic phrases in Italian

In this paper, I develop an analysis of the Italian syntax–prosody interface in Match Theory, revisiting three φ-diagnostics from previous work: word-final vowel deletion, stress retraction and final lengthening. I show that these processes sometimes diverge in their distribution, supporting the existence of two phrasal domains in Italian. These domains are analysed using prosodic recursion. I then develop a novel formulation of MatchXP, according to which only syntactic XPs with phonologically overt heads, whether lexical or functional, are visible to the syntax–prosody mapping. This formulation is argued to be superior to versions of MatchXP that only match lexical XPs or that attempt to match all XPs, at least in Italian, suggesting that implementation of syntax–prosody mapping constraints may be subject to cross-linguistic variation.

What motivates high vowel deletion in Québec French: foot structure or tonal profile?

Previous studies have argued that high vowel deletion (HVD) in Québec French is constrained by iterative iambic footing (Guzzo, Goad &amp; Garcia 2016, Garcia, Goad &amp; Guzzo 2017; see also Verluyten 1982), since it preferentially applies in even-numbered syllables from the right edge of the word. In this paper, we compare this hypothesis with an alternative hypothesis: HVD is constrained by the optionally-realized phrase-initial H tone (Jun &amp; Fougeron 2000, Thibault &amp; Ouellet 1996). We report on a judgement task in which two- and four-syllable nouns with HVD in the initial syllable are placed in phrases of different profiles (No determiner, Determiner + noun, Determiner + adjective + noun). If tonal profile plays a role in HVD, HVD in four-syllable nouns in phrases where the noun is in isolation or preceded by a determiner alone should be dispreferred, since the initial syllable of the noun is assigned the optional H tone in these contexts. Our results do not confirm this: HVD is favored in four-syllable nouns over two-syllable nouns, regardless of phrase type. We explain this finding by expanding our previous proposal: HVD is regulated by foot structure, but is dispreferred when it targets the head foot (where the obligatory phrase-final prominence is realized).

L2 acquisition of high vowel deletion in Quebec French

In languages with lexical stress, stress is computed in the phonological word (PWd) and realized in the foot. In some of these languages, feet are constructed iteratively, yielding multiple stressed syllables in a PWd. English has this profile. In French, by contrast, the only position of obligatory prominence is the right-edge of the phonological phrase (PPh), regardless of how many lexical words it contains (Dell 1984). This has led some to analyze French "stress" as intonational prominence and French, in contrast to most languages, as foot-less (Jun &amp; Fougeron 2000). In earlier work, we argued that high vowel deletion (HVD) motivates iterative iambic footing in Quebec French (QF), although the typical signatures of word-level stress are absent. In this paper, we examine the L2 acquisition of HVD and the prosodic constraints that govern it. We show that L2ers can acquire subtle aspects of the phonology of a second language, even at intermediate levels of proficiency.

Footing is not always about stress: formalizing variable high vowel deletion in Québec French

The existence of foot structure in (Québec) French is disputed, since the only position of obligatory prominence in the language is the right edge of the phonological phrase. In this paper, we propose that a segmental process, namely, high vowel deletion (HVD), supports the existence of iterative iambic footing in Québec French. We report on a judgement task with auditorily-presented stimuli in which native speakers judged whether words with and without HVD sounded natural. The results show that (i) HVD is preferred in even-numbered syllables from the right word edge, (ii) HVD is preferred when the resulting consonantal cluster mirrors an ill-formed branching onset, and (iii) although non-deletion is overall preferred to deletion, deletion is preferred in one context: when the target vowel is at a suffix boundary and in foot-dependent positions.