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Article published In:
Language, discourse and identities: Snapshot from Greek contexts
Edited by Alexandra Georgakopoulou and Vally Lytra
[Pragmatics 19:3] 2009
► pp. 393–412

Graphemic representation of text-messaging

Alphabet-choice and code-switches in Greek SMS

The aim of this study is to investigate the choice of alphabetical encoding in Greek text-messaging (or Short Message Service, SMS). The analysis will be based on a corpus of 447 text-messages exchanged among participants who belong to the age group of ‘youth’ (15-25 years old) and live in Athens (Greece). The data analysis will show that the standard practice of writing with Greek characters represents the norm in Greek SMS. The script norm will be discussed in relation to the medium’s technological affordances and the participants’ stance towards new media. The analysis will then focus on non-standard graphemic choices, such as the use of both, Greek and Roman, alphabets in the encoding of single messages. It will be demonstrated that such marked choices are employed as a means of indexing the participants’ affiliation with global popular cultures and enhancing expressivity in a medium of reduced paralinguistic cues.
Keywords: Graphemic practices, Computer-mediated communication research, Text-messaging, Global-local, Writing norms
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 1 September 2009
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.19.3.05spi
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