The features of english sms lexical units in pragmatic aspect (based on corpus NUS SMS)

Abstract

A new form of communication such as the electronic one has been rapidly developed in the modern world which is implemented in cyberspace and consists of communication processes. SMS communication, being an intermediate type (between spoken and written) communication, is currently becoming the subject of a large number of linguistic studies, because there is a dual attitude to text messages in modern society. On the one hand, the great advantages of using SMS services are that through this type of communication channel one can receive news information, reminders about meetings, but at the same time it is not necessary to respond or the response does not necessarily have to be prompt. On the other hand, the mass media claim that the use of this service negatively affects the literacy of the population, especially children. This article deals with the problem of short messages on the basis of NUS SMS corpus, elaborated by the National University of Singapore. The main goal of the article is to study lexical features of SMS written in Singapore English. Pragmatic particles and interjections are presented in English SMS vocabulary, which contribute to the author’s emotional state transference. Pragmatic particles are observed in SMS of 2004, which are not typical for texts of 2012. Moreover, there are interjections that demonstrate author’s emotional-evaluative attitude to the situation. Besides, numerous abbreviations are observed in the addressees’ forms of lexical units, classified by the type of abbreviations and the year of sending the text. As a result, it was concluded that the positive impact of the SGEM movement aimed at improving the level of English among the Singapore population, reflected in the texts of 2012, marked by the similarity of texts with the writing format of the British English.