Respelling in Short Messaging Systems (SMS): patterns and Implications for Oral English Proficiency in Nigeria

摘要

Interest in the use of Short Messaging Systems (SMS) has been growing steadily during the last decade. However, less attention is given to the influence of respelling on phonological proficiency of its users, hence the need for this study. The paper examines respelling patterns in randomly selected text messages from mobile phones of students through a questionnaire method. The texts were analyzed to identify the patterns of SMS respelling within Nigerian socio-cultural environment and to assess possible implications of these patterns on the oral proficiency skill of English speakers in a Second Language (L2) environment as Nigeria. Findings reveal that about 60% of educated Speakers of English in Nigeria do not recognize the vast difference that exists between the representation of digraphs such as "th" and "er" in SMS texts and their standard pronunciation forms. The work further discovers the negative impact of respondents' assumptions about homophones on pronunciation proficiency. The study concludes that Nigeria, as an example of English as a Second language environment does have a lot to benefit from SMS respelling pattern which is often sound-spelling compliant, if properly harnessed.