Texting versus talking: An exploration in telecommunication language

Prior research on text messaging has focused on its elliptical nature (e.g., acronyms, etc.). In contrast, the purpose of this research was to conduct an investigation of the type of words that tend to occur in text messages. Participants (N = 224) retrieved their most recent text messages which were then analyzed with the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program ( Pennebaker et al., 2007a and Pennebaker et al., 2007b) and compared with parallel analyses of randomly selected telephone conversations (N = 214). The results indicated numerous linguistic differences between text messages and telephone conversations. The former were linguistically simpler, more personal and more affective than the latter. Overall, the results further our understanding of the linguistic dimensions of this relatively new form of communication.

► Conducted computerized corpus analyses of the language of text messages and phone calls.
► Texting participants (N = 224) retrieved their most recent text messages.
► Texts and randomly selected telephone conversations were analyzed with the LIWC program.
► Text messages were linguistically simpler, more personal and more affective.