Download 1 CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 SMS Language

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CHAPTER 2
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1
SMS Language
Smith (2003:98) reports that “texting is being claimed to be more popular
than any other form of communication for everyday use”. It can be analyzed that
the average length of characters in sending an SMS is 160 characters. This
character limitation in using the media of text messaging slightly increases the
function of SMS Language. In particular, SMS language is represented by having
abbreviations that is used to shortening the words by deleting letters, vowels,
punctuation and capitalization, also putting emoticons (emotion-icon symbols used
to give a sense of emotions, e.g., :( that refers to a sad face) and also by having
acronyms.
Despite the matter of express typing in writing an SMS, the other facts that
make the SMS language more likely to be used on text message are the simplicity
of typing and the usage of symbolic items, which is called the emoticons. In order
to create a shorter word by deleting unnecessary words or vowels, it can be found
that some words are coded in simple phonetic form; for example, ‘because’
becomes ‘bcuz’ and ‘why’ becomes ‘y’. Therefore, it can be assumed that people’s
written language may begin to show different variation of other written language,
beside poetic language; literary written language; etc. This written language is
named as SMS Language.
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2.2
Abbreviation
According to Mattiello (2013), abbreviation is the term for shortening words
or phrase into another form of words, it is related to the three processes of
abbreviation mechanism: clippings, acronyms and initialisms.
2.2.1 Clippings
Clipping is the process of obtaining new words by shortening the lexeme to
one or two syllables. In other words, it eliminates letters, or syllables if it is
possible, to create a shorter one without changing the meaning of the word. For
example, the word jams (pajamas), ad (advertisement), gym (gymnastic), photo
(photograph), and info (information).
2.2.2 Acronyms and Initialisms
Mattiello (2013) analyzed that these two processes of abbreviation are using
the same mechanism by grouping the title, phrase or list into an initial letters. These
processes can be easily recognized in the use of SMS Language, for example in the
word TTYL (Talk To You Later), ASAP (As Soon As Possible) or LOL (Laughing
Out Loud).
2.3
Blending
Mattiello (2013) defined blending as the process of merging parts of existing
words, it might also created from a complete word combined with another part of
word and it becomes a new word. For example: the word advertorial
(advertisement and editorial), infotainment (information and entertainment) and
camcorder (camera and recorder).
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2.4
Relaxed Pronunciation
According to David Tulga (2012), on his web, relaxed pronunciation is a
natural process of words simplification in everyday speech that occur when the
speaker combine and reduce words or phrase to run together. For example: bout
(about), gotcha (got you), wassup (what is up), coulda (could have), d (the), wanna
(want to), or y’all (you all).
2.5
Capitalization Rules
Capitalization is the form of writing a word using a capital letter (upper-case
letter) in its first letter. According to Strauss (2011) on “The Blue Book of
Grammar and Punctuation”, there are 17 rules of capitalization.
Rule 1: Capitalize the first word of a quoted sentence.
Examples: My father said, "Don’t you worry, child."
Rule 2: Capitalize a proper noun.
Example: The Great Wall of China
Rule 3: Capitalize a person's title when it precedes the name. Do not capitalize
when the title is acting as a description following the name.
Examples: President Barack Obama
Mr. Obama, the president of United States, will come to Indonesia.
Rule 4: Capitalize the person's title when it follows the name on the address or
signature line.
Example: Mrs. Trump, Vice President.
Rule 5: Capitalize the titles of high-ranking government officials when used before
their names.
Examples: The Detective O’hara.
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Rule 6: Capitalize any title when used as a direct address.
Example: May I ask about my schedule, Sir?
Rule 7: Capitalize points of the compass only when they refer to specific regions.
Examples: You have another visitor from the South.
Five blocks to south and then turn left.
Rule 8: Always capitalize the first and last words of titles of publications
regardless of their parts of speech. Capitalize other words within titles, including
the short verb forms Is, Are, and Be.
Examples: The Last Samurai
Traditional Dance Is a Compulsory Course: Yes or No?
Rule 9: Capitalize federal or state when used as part of an official agency name or
in government documents where these terms represent an official name.
Examples: She visited every state during her vacation.
It is the new obligation from U.S Department of State.
Rule 10: You may capitalize words such as department, bureau, and office if you
have prepared your text in the following way:
Example: The Department of Commerce has bringing the confirmation regarding
the case. The Department has started the press conference.
Rule 11: Do not capitalize names of seasons.
Example: I love the colors of spring and summer.
Rule 12: Capitalize the first word of a salutation and the first word of a
complimentary close.
Examples: Dear Ms. Lassiter:
Rule 13: Capitalize words derived from proper nouns.
Example: I must take English and physics.
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English is capitalized because it comes from the proper noun England.
Rule 14: Capitalize the names of specific course titles.
Example: I took math and Literary Criticism 2.
Rule 15: Do not capitalize the first word if it begins a list.
Example: I need to buy: sugar, flour, eggs, butter and baking powder.
Rule 16: Do not capitalize when only one sentence follows a sentence ending with
a colon.
Example: I like J.K. Rowling’s writing: her book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s
Stone, was very interesting.
Rule 17: Capitalize when two or more sentences follow a sentence ending with a
colon.
Example: I like J.K. Rowling’s writing: Her book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s
Stone, was very interesting. Also, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
were marvelous.
2.6
Punctuation Rules
According to Strauss (2011), each type of punctuation has its own rule. There
are 10 punctuation rules in particular: apostrophes, colon, comma, dashes,
exclamation point, hyphens, parentheses, period, question mark and semicolon.
More specific details are discussed below.
2.6.1 Apostrophes
Rule 1: Use the apostrophe with contractions. The apostrophe is always placed at
the spot where the letter(s) has been removed.
Example:
Don't, isn't, you're right.
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She's a great teacher.
Rule 2: Use the apostrophe to show possessions.
Example:
in singular
One woman’s hat
One girl’s bag
in plural
The students’ book
The teachers’ job
2.6.2 Colon
Rule 1: Use the colon to introduce a list of items.
Example:
I might need: a cork, a screw, a mallet and a hammer.
I need you to find: the definition, the example and the similarities.
Rule 2: Use a colon instead of a semicolon between two sentences when the
second sentence explains or illustrates the first sentence and no coordinating
conjunction is being used to connect the sentences.
Example:
The new obligation about the traditional dance as a compulsory course
has not been approved yet: it gained various comments.
2.6.3 Comma
Rule 1: To separate the word or group of words with a series of three or more.
Example:
I like the black, blue, red and yellow skirt.
Rule 2: To separate two sentences, in order to avoid confusions.
Example:
Although this new concept has not been approved yet, however it
seems that it is unnecessary for implementing this obligation in Indonesia’s
education system.
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2.6.4 Exclamation Mark
Use exclamation mark to show surprise or strong feeling. Do not use it on a formal
sentence.
Example:
You cannot do this!
2.6.5 Hyphens
Rule 1: To use in a compound verbs that appear as one word.
Example:
It costs me more when I have to air-condition the room.
Rule 2: Hyphenated the compound numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine.
Example:
A fifty-three year old man has been sentenced to prison for raping a 9
year old girl.
2.6.6 Parentheses
Rule 1: Use parentheses to enclose numbers or letters used for lists.
Example:
Please bring your own (1) CV, (2) passport photo, (3) certificate, and
(4) medical report.
Rule 2: Use parentheses to enclose words that clarify the sentence.
Example:
He finally signed the contract (after taking few minutes to discuss
with the manager) for the job that he never even like since born.
2.6.7 Period
Use a period to end a complete sentence as a statement.
Example:
It is hard for me to find a better job.
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2.6.8 Question Mark
Rule 1: To end a direct question sentence.
Example:
Where will you go?
Rule 2: When the sentence is half question and half statement.
Example:
You forgot about it, don’t you?
2.6.9 Semicolon
Use a semicolon in place of period to separate two sentences where the conjunction
has been left out.
Example:
Visit the hospital tomorrow; I will introduce you to Doctor James.
2.6.10 Spacing with Punctuation
One space is required to be used following these punctuations: period, commas,
semicolon, colons, exclamation points, question marks and quotation marks.
2.7
Grammatical Error Analysis
The writer decides to analyze the data from the grammatical point of view.
There are terms of grammatical errors that can be explained briefly as follows.
2.7.1 Definition of Error
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, error can be defined as an
act or condition of ignorant or imprudent deviation from a code of behavior. In
addition, according to Amalia (2009:6), on her thesis for Binus University, she
stated that the frequent use of inappropriate form of English that applied by the
students who have English as their second language on their writing and this she
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stated that the occurrence of inappropriate use of English can be classified as
errors.
After identifying the definition of error from both sources, the writer
concludes that errors can be classified as an act of lack accuracy of applying the
appropriate or proper structure or function according to the standard.
2.7.2 Grammatical Classification
According to Teschner and Evans (2007), any English words can be
categorized based on which part of speech they belong to. Here there are nouns,
verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, determiners, prepositions and conjunctions.
The brief explanation about the part of speech as follows.
2.7.2.1 Noun
According to Teschner and Evans (2007), noun is about a person, place or
thing. They stated that one of the ways to define whether a word is a noun or not, is
by trying the possessive markers to the word, because only noun can go with
possessive, such as the boy’s hat, the girl’s happiness or the dog’s face.
2.7.2.2 Verb
Most of the verbs involve action, while some of them define states of being.
A way to know whether a word is a verb is by changing the tenses or the number of
the noun on the sentence, if it is changed, then it should be the verb. For example
the word sleep is a verb, because it changes into slept (past tense), sleeps (third
person singular) and sleeping (gerund). While, camera is not a verb, because it
cannot be changed into cameraed (past tense) or camering (gerund).
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2.7.2.3 Adjective
Teschner and Evans (2007) stated that adjective is the word that describe,
modify, limit, distinguish or characterize the noun they refer to. In this case,
adjective can limit the noun referred. For example, the blue pants, so that limits the
noun, pants, not the green, white, or red and so on.
2.7.2.4 Adverb
It describes, modifies, limits, distinguishes or characterizes the verb they
refer to. It is similar to the application on adjective to noun, while adverb to verb. It
is assigned as manner to the verb, for example: she walks slowly (in a slow
manner), he drives carefully (in a careful manner), or she cried loudly (in a loud
manner).
2.7.2.5 Pronoun
Pronoun is a word that replaces the noun or noun phrase. Pronoun can be
categorized into seven types, there are:
Personal such as I/me, they/them, he/him, she/her and so on.
Reflexive such as myself, themselves, himself, herself and so on.
Possessive pronoun such as mine, theirs, his, hers and so on.
Reciprocal such as each other.
Relative/interrogative such as who, which, what, when, where and so on.
Demonstrative such as this/these and that/those.
Indefinite such as anything, someone, no one, and so on.
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2.7.2.6 Determiner
Determiner is called as a determiner because, in a sentence, they were used
before the noun and they clarify by determining things about the noun itself. For
example, a determiner shows whether the speaker located near the object or not,
this sofa or that sofa. Also, shows belongings, my shoes or his shoes.
2.7.2.7 Preposition
Teschner and Evans (2007) stated that preposition is a “short” word that
used to connect the expression including space, time and degree. There are twenty
most frequent used of preposition: at, about, against, around, before, below,
between, by, for, from, in, of, on, over, through, to, towards, under and with.
2.7.2.8 Conjunction
There are two types of conjunction; first it is a word that coordinates words,
phrase and clauses, there are and, either/or, neither/nor, but, yet, and for. Second, it
is a word that subordinates the clauses, there are as, although, because, before,
even if, if, meanwhile, since, so, that, though, unless, when, while and so on.
2.8
Common Grammatical Error Types
Azar (2000) stated that there are four groups that classify grammatical
errors due to the measurement of the impact for the reader.
GROUP A
This group contains the errors that have big impact to the readers
and they are rule-based.
1.
Subject-Verb Agreement Errors
Incorrect
: He feel so bad about it.
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Correct
2.
: He feels so bad about it.
Verb Tense Errors
Incorrect
: She was there since this morning.
Correct
: She has been there since this morning.
3.
Verb Form Errors
Incorrect
: She was nominate as the wealthiest celebrity on Forbes.
Correct
: She was nominated as the wealthiest celebrity on Forbes.
4.
Singular/Plural Noun Errors
Incorrect
: They both have many difference.
Correct
: They both have many differences.
5.
Word Form Errors
Incorrect
: It was the achievement that makes her difference.
Correct
: it was the achievement that makes her different.
GROUP B
This group contains the error with large impact to the reader, but
they may not rule-based.
1.
Sentence Structure Errors
Incorrect
: Bakrie and Soeharto are entrepreneurs, they are rich.
Correct
: Both Bakrie and Soeharto are entrepreneurs and rich.
Incorrect
: In conclusion both Rossi and Pedrosa they are very amazing
world class racers.
Correct
: In conclusion, both Ross and Pedrossa are very amazing world-
class racers.
2.
Word Choice Errors
Incorrect
: Which one is true?
Correct
: Which one is correct?
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GROUP C
This group contains the error with less impact to the reader, but
they are rule-based.
1.
Articles
Incorrect
: She has a ugly face.
Correct
: She has an ugly face.
2.
Preposition of Location, Time and Direction
Incorrect
: See you at ten minutes.
Correct
: See you in ten minutes.
3.
Phrasal Verbs
Incorrect
: He has cut out of smoking.
Correct
: He has cut down the smoking.
GROUP D
This group contains the error with less impact to the reader and
they may unlikely to be rule-based.
1.
Idioms
2.
Cultural References
3.
More Complicated Lexical Questions
4.
Exceptions to Rules
2.9
Previous Research
The writer has found two studies with similar topic of research. The first
study is Abbreviation in SMS Used by English Department Students of Binus
University by Ely Ernawati from Binus University. The aim of the study is to
identify the abbreviations type found in Binus University students’ SMS as well to
find the difference between the female and male abbreviations.
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The result of the study showed that it is verified that in SMS used one word
can be made into various abbreviations, moreover according to the research that
both male and female respondent have similar patterns in writing SMS text and
they were using clipping in most of SMS text.
The data were collected and analyzed by using quantitative method. This
research took 70 respondents, 46 are female and 26 are male. She spread the
questionnaire directly to the respondents during the break time. She then analyzed
the data collected using word-formation process theory by Yule.
The second study with similar topic is from Kristy Freudenberg at
Stellenboch University, with the title, Investigating the Impact of SMS Speak on
the Written Work of English First Language and English Second Language High
School Learners. This study analyzed the influence of SMS speak on the written
school work of high school students, which divided into two categories the first
category is the students with English as their first language and
the second
category is the students with English as their second language. The aims of the
study were to find out of how common the SMS language was used among the
high school student and to assess whether there is any indication of SMS speak
characteristic used in the English written work of these students.
The results of this study showed that the respondents had known and used
the SMS speak. Moreover, many participants confirmed to use SMS speak in some
of their written work. However it did not contain a great number of incidences. In
other word, it can be concluded that the students seems able to assess when it is
and is not appropriate to use a certain variety of language. Even though the learners
are capable to use the SMS speak when chatting to friends, but they still can
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produce a formal and standard written work that has been approved in written high
school English.
The researcher took 88 participants from the English-Afrikaans dual
medium school in a middle class neighborhood in the Western Cape. There are 51
participants who were having English as their mother tongue, while 37 participants
were having English as their second language. There are 43 grade 8s and 45 grade
11s.
The data were collected by giving them questionnaires to know the
frequency and volume of their SMS used while texting in SMS. While the samples
of the students’ English written work were taken to be examined the characters of
SMS speak.