Nigerian students and the use of sms

SMS use communication protocol that permits small pieces of information called data packets or messages, to be delivered between devices. It was designed in such a way to avoid overloading systems as at the time of its invention and make use of little bandwidth and storage capacities. The creators of SMS designed it to accommodate a maximum size of 160 characters for each message. Later, mobile operators adopted the standard of a maximum of 140 characters for users, and 20 characters for internal control (message routing, packet header information). Unfortunately, Sms abbreviation has greatly distorted the use of correct English grammatical tenses.

This chapter begins with an overview of SMS abbreviation, and then with the gamut of sub themes such as, origin of SMS, Factors that induce Students’ use of SMS abbreviation, SMS abbreviations and acceptable grammatical convention, SMS abbreviation usage: Pros and Cons, Students and the Culture of SMS Abbreviations, What number of undergraduate students in south east Nigeria use SMS abbreviation? , Studies on The new communication convention (SMS abbreviation), SMS abbreviation: Industry and the Economic perspective, SMS abbreviation in china and in Norway, and rounds off with Theoretical Frame Work and statement of Research hypothesis.

2.1 SMS Abbreviation: An Overview

SMS abbreviation has become a part of the multilingual world communication language in the recent years. SMS messaging aims at communicating by means of simple structures. Moreover, it is similar to a rebus in which the word is created via using single letters or numbers. For example: the letter u replaces you, "i <3 u" creates a pictogram for expressing love. For terms and words that do not have common abbreviations, users usually eliminate the vowels from the statement and the person who reads it, "builds" the word by adding missing vowels (e.g. keyboard becomes kybrd and dictionary becomes dctnry). The reader always has to interpret the extended and short forms of terminology according to the situation and context in which they are used, because there are a lot of examples of phrases or words that use similar abbreviations. Over the past few years, the use of SMS abbreviation is on the increase. This form of SMS abbreviation has become a current form of communication among students and a times such abbreviations is used in industries warning label such as the use of ‘FAQ’(frequently ask questions) and even in communication among industrial workers.

2.2   0rigin of SMS

SMS messages originated from New York in 1933 when RCA Communications, New York introduced the first "telex"service.  The first messages over RCA transatlantic circuits were sent between New York and London. Also the concept of the SMS (Short Messaging Service) was created by Friedhelm Hillebrand, while he was working for Deutsche Telekom. Sitting at a typewriter at home, Hillebrand typed out random sentences and counted every letter, number, punctuation, and space. Almost every time, the messages amounted to 160 characters, thus being the basis for the limit one could type via text. With Bernard Ghillebaert of France Telecom, he developed a proposal for the GSM SMS. Letter SMS was created in the late '80s by a Finnish engineer named Matti Makkonen, to support digital technology called GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications). The idea arose in 1984 during a conversation with two colleagues at a pizzeria in Copenhagen. Makkonen aimed to develop a very simple messaging system that would work even when the receiving device was switched off or was out of its coverage area. The first SMS message was sent in December 1992 from a personal computer to a cellular phone on the Vodafone GSM network in the UK (Shannon & Victoria., 2007; Snowden & Collette., 2006).

2.3 Factors that induce Students’ use of SMS abbreviation

Most people use SMS messages because they are fast and inexpensive when compared to the per-enable quicker communication on the small keyboards of cell phones, and minute price of voice calls. With the widespread usage, teenagers have created a unique language, with short words and clever abbreviations which allows the students to efficiently write all their thoughts within the limit of 140 characters. SMS has many advantages. Between two personal devices, it can be more discreet than other types of media, making it an ideal form of communication when one want his or her conversations to be private. Most of all, it takes less time to send a text message than to make a phone call or send an e-mail. SMS abbreviation makes it cheaper than any other communication vehicle. It can be sent and received at any time, and anywhere.

Several reasons have been adduced to justify the use of abbreviations in text messages. While some say they do it to save cost since the ultimate cost of a message is determined by its length, others believe that the tendency and preference of man for short-cut and quick fixes gave rise to the evolution of abbreviations as standard form of communication via SMS. Again, there is a school of thought that believes that many prefer to use abbreviations to shy away from their inadequacies and inefficiency vis-à-vis proper spellings and correct application of the rules of grammar. After all, there is no way of knowing whether one knows the correct spelling of a word or not, given the fad of abbreviations and leading to the creative destruction of language tenses when the tenses becomes sense.