August 17, 2004
more on mobile culture
Yo, kidda, nuOK
For anyone interested in the effects of mobile telephones on social and individual life, see Dr. Sadie Plant's 87 page work, on the mobile. In its conclusion Dr. Plant speaks of the use of numbers -- In Mandarin '521' means ' I love you' -- and how "when people from different linguistic backgrounds (non-English speakers) communicate by way of text, the search for the most dense and efficient texts often results in novel combinations of borrowed words and modified codes. Birmingham’s (England) Pakistani teenagers send messages using fusions of Caribbean, Punjabi, and SMS slang: Yo, kidda, nuOK? "Such mixed messages, “ Plant goes on to say, "are likely to become more common as texting spreads, and may even point to the emergence of localized hybrid languages: new textperantos for the mobile age.”
For an earlier post on Japanese use of mobile phones.
Posted by newradio at August 17, 2004 10:55 AM
