The linguistic status of text message abbreviations: An exploration using a Stroop task

The aim of this paper is to assess whether there is firm evidence for the informal observation that text message abbreviations have been absorbed into every day language use. Such abbreviations are most frequently used on mobile telephones and in electronic communication. We report data from a study investigating the linguistic status of text abbreviations. We tested this using a modified Stroop task. Participants were regular text message users. To-be-ignored stimuli of interest were text message abbreviations, chosen for high recognition rates among users (e.g. CUL8R for “See you later”). We also used real words, non-words (pronounceable and non-pronounceable) and non-alphanumeric symbol strings. Text abbreviations led to increased colour-naming latencies when compared to words and non-words, while all alphanumeric stimuli led to slower response times than non-alphanumeric symbol strings. The findings show that reading text message abbreviations is unavoidable to those who have adapted to their use. Therefore they are likely to have been absorbed into the language. We explore the possible reasons for the increased Stroop interference we observed with text message abbreviations. We also suggest that using text abbreviations in research can enhance understanding of word recognition processes.