Contact:
Christian Guilbault, SFU French, 778.782.6783 (office), 604.754.9575 (cell); guilbaul@sfu.ca
Dixon Tam, SFU media relations, 778.782.8742, dixont@sfu.ca

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A Simon Fraser University researcher is collecting text messages to learn how people creatively use language to communicate using cellphones despite constraints such as cumbersome keyboards.

Text4Science is a collaborative project between SFU, the University of Ottawa, and the Université of Montréal. It is asking the public to submit text messages in the name of science by forwarding them to 202202 via cellphone and also complete a short online survey on www.text4science.ca.

“We hope to see how text messages change with languages and dialects,” says Christian Guilbault, an associate professor with SFU’s French department. “There are some differences between the French used in France and in Quebec, so we expect to see significant differences between different dialects of English.

“This corpus will allow us to argue that, contrary to popular belief, people who use abbreviations and shortcuts when writing text messages are not lazy or illiterate, but rather creative and imaginative in their use of language.”

The online survey asks questions like which languages they use when they text, why they text, how often they do it, and who do they send messages to regularly. Those who complete the survey will be entered to win prizes.

Researchers in Ottawa and Montreal who specialize in language translation and computing science will analyze the data from different angles. They will try to make sense of what seems like chaotic use of language – such as using abbreviations in text messages – or understand how texting changes our view of language.

According to Guilbault, text messaging is a unique way to communicate with each other. He says people are much more spontaneous, efficient, and use language in a very playful way, much the same way as when they speak.

“It’s also worth mentioning that young people have never written as much as they are now using this technology,” says Guilbault. “When I was young, I only had to write when doing homework or to send a letter to someone. Young people today write all day long using text messaging, email, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs.”

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