2 b, or nt 2 b?

Txt spk is a fairly new "language", if it can be called that. Since the invention of the text message in the early 90’s, texting has slowly gained popularity and txt spk has developed with it. Instant Messaging using the internet has also helped txt spk become more and more common. The common teenager has used it at least once, whether online or using a mobile phone. Every generation has had its slang, but so far Txt Spk is highly unique because it is primarily written, or typed as it were. Because it’s such a unique form of slang or generational language there has been a large amount of controversy connected to txt spk. One of the major questions is whether or not it’s harming youth’s ability to use Standard English.

As a teenager who has grown up with computers, I’m intimately aware of txt spk. I’m part of the generation that developed this “language”, and I’m part of the generation that uses it. I honestly don’t feel that the use of txt spk has in anyway ruined anyone’s ability to use Standard English, let alone my own. Is it proof enough that I am in the PROW program? I’ve always enjoyed language: reading it, writing it, doing anything with it. Now this is not to say that I’m the rule, but a study, found here, done by three researchers in Great Britain has found that youth who use txt spk on a regular basis actually “tend to have a better grasp of [normal] word reading, vocabulary, and phonological awareness, even when controlled for age, memory, and how long they have owned a phone.(Cheng)” This only confirms what another study done by Canadian researchers found, that those who use txt spk in IM (instant messaging) have a higher than average grasp on the English language and how to use it properly.

Not only has research shown that txt spk is not negatively affecting youth, but that those who use it are actually above average when it comes to language and it’s conventions. I think the real problem is people being unaware of when txt spk is appropriate, and when it is not. As fellow student Sarah Maludzinski says in her blog post, “Txt Spk – Convenient or just sloppy?”, there is a time and a place for txt spk. People need to decide when it is an appropriate situation for txt spk, and it is possible that rules should be set down in English conventions to regulate the use of txt spk. After all, txt spk may be a form of slang, but it seems to be making itself quite at home in everyday language. The English Language develops everyday, maybe this is the direction it’s heading in now. No longer do we speak as Shakespeare once did, and students can even access Shakespeare in txt spk now. So as far as txt spk goes, is it 2 b, or nt 2 be? Well, dat iz d Q.

Txt Speak Assignment by Kayla Gaffney

Sicko Skater Released

A inline sk8in city m who groped a preggo wm walkin wit her tddler & threatened 2 stb her if she ddnt stp screamin wz let out on prbation yester.

Micheal Mathew Campbell, 21, wz hnded a 6-mnth jail trm on his guilty plea 2 sxual assult & spkin a death threat, h-ever, the sentnce has already been srved by the 3 1/2 mnthz he spent in cstdy.

Campbell wz also plcd on prbation 4 2 yrs wit conditions th@ he take sxual offender relpse prgramming & get counseling 4 angr mngmnt.

He mst alsoabide by a dly 10p.m. 2 6a.m. crfew & not b alone wit n-e-one  under the age of 16.

Campbell who has been diagnosed as shvong dpression, stood up in court yester & said he new  wht he had done waz "wrng" & accptd th@ he needs hlp.

Court hrd earlier th@ Campbell,  while on inline sk8s, had cnfrntd a 20-yr-old wm who wz 9 mnths preggo as she was wlkin eit her 1-&-a-1/2-yr-old son 2 their N.E. E-town home from a nearby Mac's store about 11:40 p.m. on June 4, 2008.

As the wm rched the xterior strway 2 her home, Campbell  uttrd an obscene st8ment, causing her 2 bcm fearful & bgin scrmin she wz preggers.

Campbell then told the wm 2 "Sht up & stp scrming or he would stb her," court hrd.

He then pshed her shldr, 4cing her against a wall, & grbbed 1 of her breasts.

The yung mom then sccessflly kicked Campbell in the groin & ran wit her son 2 a neighbors rez & clld 911.

The differences in these two types of speak are quite great. In re-reading the text-speak, I found it very hard to read. The severity of the situation was last when using text-speak. I found that I was making a joke out of a serious situation in converting the plain English into text-speak. Making anagrams and abbreviations was also hard for certain words. Text-speak changes the feel of the article too much to let text-speak become completely mainstream.

Lecture 5 assignment by Lauren Wozny

3 Hurt in Dwntwn Explshn.

It waz around 12 wen a wrkr @ the Cliff St. heating plnt nu sumthing had jst gone trribly wrng.
A boilr had jst explded @ the plnt that supplies heating 2 various bldings along Wellingston St. & on Parlimnt Hill.
“We hrd n explshn & off went the hydro & we nu we bttr get out of there quickly,” said a contractr ID-ed as Donny.
“We certnly ddnt no wat it waz all about, but we nu there had bn an explshn.”
Aftr he & othr wrkrs evac-ed, they went back in 2 hlp an njurd colleague.
“The 1 fellow, it waz jst a case of tryng to cmfrt him til hlp arrivd bcuz I ddnt feel vry qualified myslf 2 b able 2 hlp.”
3 ppl were njurd in the blast which also damagd the structr & vent systm.
Paramedics said 1 of the njurd waz a 51-yr-old wrkr who suffrd serious 2nd-degree steam brns 2 the uppr ½ of his body & a laceration 2 his head.
Ottawa Paramedics spksmn J.P. Trottier said the vctm likely waz hit in the head by a pipe or piece of metal, but had remaind conscious thru-out the ordeal.
The othr 2 men were also dscrbed as about 50 years old. 1 had 1st-dgree brns 2 his face and n arm, while the 3rd man sufferd only minr bumps and bruises.
Trottier said steam brns can be particularly dangrus bcuz they can develop in2 3rd-dgree brns withn hrs.
N nvstigation, which cud take a cupl of days 2 conclude, is undrway 2 assess the blding 4 stability. Those ntring the structure wore prtectiv msks aftr it waz cnfirmd the blding contained asbestos.

http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2009/10/19/11451676.html

I found my biggest goal writing in text speak was trying to make it comprehensible for the reader. There can be several ways to abbreviate a word, but how many of them will someone actually recognize? Everyone has their own way of thinking about things so there can be many differences in the translation of the article. I found it much more difficult to write in text speak, a form of communication that's supposed to be easier, for that reason. It's less stressful to write in traditional English; it's universal and you're guaranteed no mix ups and miscommunications that way.

Lecture 5: Article in "Txt Spk" by Murriel Mapa

The Toronto Star’s article, "Balloon boy bursts dad's bubble." Monday, October 19th, 2009

Bloon boi brsts dadz bbull

Fmus. Infmus. Da distnctn don’t matr n e mo’.

Da Heenez got wat they lustd 4: Wrldwyde TV face-time, a pathetic affmtion of their othrwiz insgnfcnt xistence, star billin in manufctrd melodrama. Mssn accomplshd. All it took wuz an alumn foyl bloon dat resmbulld a humgous hngovr i-bag, a cnsprcy o’ pretense 4ced on their kidz and da complcty o’ a crdlous meDa cntamnatd by infotainment prssrs.

+ PoPo 2, they wr in on da sham, alBt + allgdly sumwut Bltdly, mntng wat they now claim wuz a tit-4-tat stng in ordr 2 elct da tru.

“Dis was a hox,” Larimer Cnty Shrf Jim Alderden cnfrmd Sun dring a jaw-drpng press cnfrnce. “Weve snce lrnd, as mny o’ u hav, dat dese ppl r actrz.” Ind’d, da cpl now in da xhrs had met at a skool for thespians in Holwod. “They put on a vry good sho 4 us + we bot it.”

Lordy, da xtnt 2 wch sum fokz’ll go 4 a pce o’ dat relty TV axn, a 21^st cntry fnomenom dat is intrnscly un-rl in its concts, yet invstng celebs on da vapd.

“On da bizrr mtr, dis rates a 10,” Alderden obzrvd.

If so, da bndrs have just bn pshd even frthr out n2 da twilight zone o’ crftd mise-en-scene wer da waky r.

Iz ne1 prprd 2 bet dat da Heenez wont get their cvtd relty sho on sum shmless cbl chnl? Even if denied such an ofr, theyre clrly jst as cpbl o’ prdcng a do-it-urself onln verzn or straight-2-utube iballz mgnt.

The two styles are very different in the way that the "txt spk" form is very difficult to read and even to write, whereas the regular text is much more personal and informative to read. The "txt spk" version requires a lot more patience in deciphering the words, which can be a lot more time consuming than just reading an article at face value in the English language.

Lecture 5: "Txt Spk" Article by Cassidy Munro

Original Article: "Schoenborn thought children's deaths would be 'easy and clean': MD", The Province. Oct 19, 2009

KMLOOPS, B.C. — B.C. man chrgd w mrdrng his 3 kids thought da klls wud b "easy & cln," a psych tld @ his trial Mon.
Allan Dwayne Schoenborn, 41, is chrgd w mrdrng Kaitlynne, 10, Max, 8, and Cordon, 5. He has plded not-glty to 3 cnts 1-dgr mrdr aft da Aprl 08 slghtr in da B.C. comm of Merritt.
His lwyr tld da Kamloops, B.C., crtrm tht da dfnc wll focus on Schoenborn's mntl hlth.
Psych Dr. Ron Chale tld B.C. Sprme Crt Justc Robert Powers tht he met w Schoenborn @ Kamloops hsptl 2 wks aft da kids wr fnd ded in da fam's trler whr thy wr spnding da night w thr dad.
Chale tstifyd Schoenborn said he klld his kids bc he believd they wr bing assaultd & he could nt prtect them.
He said he decded to kill them da morn of da slayngs, addng it was more diff than he thought it wud be. Chale said Schoenborn admttd he was trbld by da pics of da kllngs in his head.
"He said he wud leave da diff issue to b wrkd out btwn hmslf and God," he said. "He said he thought it wud be easy & cln.
"I tk that to mn thr was rsistnc and it wsn't as easy to kll a hmn being as he thought it wud b," Chale told the court.
Schoenborn was arrstd aft a 10-day manhnt in da B.C. wild.
The Crwn clsed its case on Mon aft mre than a w33k of evdnc.

Wow, I thought this would be much easier than it actually was. A large amount of "txt spk" abbreviations and special little characters are for commonly texted phrases. Things like "gr8" or "ttfn" are texted pretty often, things like "it wasn't easy to kill a human being" are not as common (I hope) so it's a lot harder to condense it into something fairly understandable. "Txt spk" can definetely get your point across, but it doesn't lend itself well to complex sentences or uncommon words. It's also a lot harder to understand in large chunks than standard English is. I don't think I'd even bother reading a whole article in it unless I was really interested, or it was required despite the fact that in the long run there's less to read.

Txtspeak Artice – Lloyd, Jessica

Original article: “Arts Students Feel They're Second Class”, The Edmonton Journal. October 19, 2009.

@rts S2dents F33l They r 5econd Class

Cnstrction crAns hv b33n a cmmn site at da U of A in rcnt yrs. Thetr desgn mjr Nick Blais may b frtunat he cnt see ‘em frm his cramped s2dio in da FAB.

If the rm hd wndws, Blais mght dvlp a ca5e of fclty NV, snce da cr4nes crntly on cmps r B-ing used 2 dvlp giant new resrch palace5 fr sci and heal+h stdnts. In contrast 2 SOTA glass and steel struc.’s, Blais’s HB, the FAB, waz built in the rly 1970’s, wch is prbly y much of it resembles a CW bunker.

Instead 0f n4tural lite, FAB is m4nly bathed in a gloomi glow. Da color 5ch3m3 is gr-A and Brn, frm the t!les on da floor 2 the collection of rusted ‘r’t lining da ext. Itz 1 of the > buildings on cmps that doesn’t h4ve wirele$$ int akses.

3 dept – music, dr4m4 & 4rt – r crammed in2 a building bu!lt 4 2. Just 5 d3sks fit in2 Blais’s s2dio. Things g3t rly tight when stdntz start producing thetr mod3l3s of setz, light!ng and cos2ms.Round da crnr, mast s2dents r crammed in2 a back alcove form3rly occupied bi vending m4chines.

Acting mjrs have it evn worse, oftn arriving on cmps @ 5 a.m. 2 sign up 4 rehersal sp4ce. Dwadlers have 2 rehrs in hallw4ys and DRs. Hardly an env!ronment 2 in5pire cre8ive expression.

“On da 1 hand, Im blsd 2 have what I h4ve, because our s2dio has a gr8 env!ronment,” Blais saiz.

“On da other hand, Id love more sp4ce. Itz ez 2 get a lil jealous looking (ah-x cmps) @ those other buildings dat r nu, pristine & accessbl.

Although “txtspeak” allows us to quickly pass a message along, we have to decide whether the speed is worth the loss of proper English and punctuation. Are we breaking even? Abbreviated words tend to look like unintentional spelling mistakes to me; lets keep it clean before the mean streets of Txtville become overrun with superfluous vowels and inadequate syllables. Sounds like a new Facebook application if you ask me…

Lecture 5: "txt spk" News Article Rewrite by Brent Stempfle

For this assignment, I used the article "Man who beat store clerk doesn't want jail time" by Karen Kliess

Mn who beat store clerk dont want jail tm

an edm mn who beat a clthing store clerk w/ a hmmer n held a gun to his hed n thretnd 2 shoot his legs askd a jdge not 2 send him 2 prson.
omar househ plded gilty in may to unlwful confinment, assalt and pointng a firarm in conction w/ the may 6/07, incdnt that mad hedlins wen it endd w/ the deth of 38yo ola tinineh moses. nobody hs ben chargd w/ moses’s mrdr.
on mon, crwn prsector melanie hayes-richards n def lwyer paul moreau made a joint sub 4 a 3 yr prson sntnce in househ’s case.
hwevr, moreau ?ed the jdge to do sum legal math nd allow his client 2 serv a 90dy intrmittnt sntnce, wich means he wud go 2 jail on the wknds only. he said househ sufred a srs gnsht wund n Jan 2008 nd has hlth probs.
ths shud nt b consdrd a prcednt 4 ny othr case moreau said. in ths case, da offndrs sit is so xtrdnry ... hs hlth s xtrmly prcars, he reqs cnstnt med care moreau said.
moreau sd househ hs chngd hs lif snc th 2007 asslt nd ntd tht hs prob offcr blvs he s a gud cndt 4 com superv. he also argud househ’s hlth care wud likly b cmprmisd f he wer snt 2 prsn.
hayes-richards countrd tht edms max sec prsn hs a hsptl nd cn prvid trnsprt 2 othr hsptls wen nec. she sed th suprm cort f cnd hs mad it cler tht cndtnl sntncs r nt avlbl n cas lik ths.

"txt spk" News Article Rewrite (Lecture 5) by Andrew Heck

The article I chose to translate was from the Globe and Mail, "One in three Canadians won't shake hands due to flu: poll," from Monday, October 19, 2009. Here it is:

1/3 cdns wont shake hands due 2 flu: poll

with olympics on the way, n ppl gathering in big crowds,  cdns r afraid of getting swine flu. a recnt poll of 1000 cdns showed that 1/3 cdns r choosing not 2 shake hands cuz of h1n1. more than 1/2 of these ppl said that they had refused 2 shake hands or give hugs cuz they were paranoid about getting the flu. 2/3 ppl also said that they didnt touch others in the past cuz of similar illnesses. the poll creator, doug anderson, said that this kind of behavior is not uncommon around other such illnesses. it might seems weird that ppl r doing this, but most ppl said that they wouldnt b offended if others showed the same behavior towards them.

olympic officials r advising athletes 2 not shake hands or kiss n instead bump elbows out of respect. similar practices r being adopted in canada also. in churches and in youth sports events, ppl r finding new ways 2 show respect, in order 2 avoid physical contact.

first nations chief ron evans has shown some concern 4 these practices, as they r impacting the cultures of the native ppls. there was even a case when ppl didnt attend a funeral of a swine flu victim cuz they were 2 afraid of catching the illness.

watever the future holds, we will surely continue to experience the ramifications of this type of behavior.

"Txt Spk" News Paper Article by Shayna Fehr

The original article, "Men Who Buy Sex Feeding Brutal Human Trafficking Trade", The Edmonton Journal. October 19, 2009

Men Who By 6 Fding Brtl Humn Trffckng Trd

Edm - A legl crckdwn on men who by 6 is 1 way of rddng d wrld of d scrge of hmn trffckng, says CAD jrnlst & authr Victor Malarek.

Thr r lws tht deal w crms assctd w hmn trffcking, such as kdnppng, asslt, & rape, but d wrld is stll ptrrchl & mny blv wmn becm prstits b choice & men who by 6 r smply "boys being boys" or "sowng thr wild oats", Malarek said in an intrvw Sun.

"Thr is a lot of 'wnk, wnk, nudg, nudg' stll in our polc frcs, all d way up 2 d Crowns (prsectrs) & in2 d cuts. Tht hrsblinder thnkng has got 2 stp. We hve 2 strt lkng @ d realty tht is out thr, & d realty is tht ths wmn r bing prstitted wrdwd & thrghout NA and Can," he said.

"Thy r d vctms of a systm tht is in plc 4 men, so u hve 2 decrmnlzd wmn & crmnlze d men. Once u do tht, u send out d msg tht it is men who r respnsbl, & u wll see thngs strt 2 chng." Malarek, a snor reprter w CTV currnt affrs shw W-5 & the authr of 5 bks, incldng D Natashas and D Johns, was d kynt spker at a fndrsng event held by Mpl Leaf AB Projcts.

The Edm Anti-hmn trffckng grp, in partnrshp w d Sasktn-bsed actvst grp NASHI, is hlpng 2 bld a safe hous & trning cntr in d villg of Stoyanic, Ukraine.

D cntr will hous & trn @rsk yoth who r 2 old 4 orphnges so thy will b safe frm humn trffckrs. It is estmtd tht 500,000 wmn & yong grls hav been abdcted frm Ukraine since 1992 by humn trffckrs, most likly sold in2 prstittion.

The UN estmts hmn trffckng genrts $7 2 $10 blln annlly 4 orgnzed only by arms dealing.

Last mnth, dtctvs in d Edm Polc Srvc's vice unt, w assistnce frm d RCMP & CAD Brdr Srvces Agncy, raded a west-end masg prlor.

Polc rescd 3 wmn & chrgd 3 othrs w offncs asscted w hmn trffckng.

D wmn had prmannt resdnt stats in CAD & came 2 Edm thnkng thy wer coming 2 wrk in a legtmate masg spa. Instd, thy were allgdly frcd 2 provd 6 arnd d clck, 7 days a week, eating & slping in d rooms whr thy wrkd.

D incrse in NA 6 trsts trvllng 2 devlping cntrs, porngrphy & d Intrnt has made humn trffickng d gr8st humn rights prblm of d 21st centy, Malarek said.

Until lwmkrs & govnmnt ldrs in devlpd cntries strt tkng a tough stand, ths glbl crsis will only contnue 2 grow.

"We r in d 21st cntry & we r tlking abt d enslvmnt of yong wmn... U cnnt belev wht is going on out thr, & thr r no alrm bells going off abt ths situatn."

The differences between the two styles of writing are so numerous I'm not sure where to begin. "txt spk" takes so much more time to write and read I have no idea why someone would go through the trouble of writing in such a way. Writing the proper way with correct grammar and spelling makes what you're trying to get across to your readers that much clearer. The only benefit of writing in "txt spk", that I can come up with, would be to save room on your hard drive or to conserve the characters used to send a text message.

Lecture 5: Independent Clauses and Style Exercise

Pre-Writing Exercise
Review Chapter 5 and Chapter 7 in Correct Writing
Read More about Sentence Fragments: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/620/01/
Read More about Independent and Dependent Clauses: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/598/01/
In Word, list important words/ideas from your readings (at least 30)
Include a number beside each concept denoting its importance to you (1 least important, 10 most important)
Paste your list into Wordle.net
Add your Wordle to the class blog


Clause Review
A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb.
An independent clause expresses a complete thought and can stand by itself as a complete sentence.
A dependent clause, or subordinate clause, contains a subject and a verb but cannot stand alone as a sentence.
A dependent clause must always be combined with an independent clause.
A dependent clause begins with a subordinating conjunction (before, although, after, while, because, since, etc.)


Adverbial Clause
Adverbial clause: these function as adverbs in a sentence.
Adverbial clauses answer the questions how, why and to what extent.
They are introduced by a relative adverb (when, where, and why).
They function as an adverb, and are not separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma.


Coordinating Conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions include: and, or, but, for, nor.
These conjunctions connect words, phrases, and clauses of equal value.
Clauses of equal value are called independent clauses and can stand on their own as separate sentences.
Example: John is running in this race and I am carrying his water bottle.
(Each clause can stand alone: John is running in this race. I am carrying his water bottle.)



Subordinating Conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions introduce dependent clauses. Dependent clauses cannot stand alone as a single sentence. In fact, the clause is dependent on the rest of the sentence for its meaning.
Example: Since I will not be home, Tina will answer the phone.
"Since I will not be home" doesn't make sense by itself. It is dependent on the rest of the sentence for its meaning.
Most commonly used subordinating conjunctions include: although, because, as, while, until, whether, since, after, so that, when, before, if. 

Answer the Following Questions in the Comments Section here:
Find the conjunctions in the following sentences. Label them coordinating or subordinating.
1. He listened to the man’s story and reported it to the policeman on duty.   
2. I haven’t seen my brother since he left for college.                       
3. Your aunt or your uncle will pick you up from school today.           
4. Tom, Jane, Sue, and Tim will be going on the trip.          
5. I remember the old school book, for it was once mine.           
6. Sarah did not feel well, but she went to class anyway.                    
7. Although the old man was hungry, he never said a word to anyone.    
8. I think I heard that on the television or radio, although I am not sure.

Punctuation Rules
Independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet) are separated by a COMMA
Independent clauses joined without a coordinating conjunction require a SEMICOLON
If the sentence has a lot of commas, then even with a coordinating conjunction use a SEMICOLON
A series of elements (three or more) uses a COMMA


Style Activity: Due 20th October, 5:00pm

• Review “Thx for the IView!” Essay
• Read “2b or not 2b?” by David Crystal: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jul/05/saturdayreviewsfeatres.guardianreview
• Write a short paragraph response on some of the differences between standard and non-standard (txt) English usage. Please post this to the blog as a comment on Lecture 5.
• Choose a news report from the front page of any Canadian newspaper: http://broadcast-live.com/newspapers/canadian.html
• Rewrite the article in txt spk. If the article is long, choose a page (250-300 word) extract to rewrite.
• Post both a link to the original article AND your txt spk version in your own blog post.
• Include a comment on the differences between the two styles.

NB: Image from Writing Resources.