Txtng: The Gr8 Db8

by David Crystal

Book Overview

Text messaging has spread like wildfire. Indeed texting is so widespread that many parents, teachers, and media pundits have been outspoken in their criticism of it. Does texting spell the end of western civilization?

In this humorous, level-headed and insightful book, David Crystal argues that the panic over texting is misplaced. Crystal, a world renowned linguist and prolific author on the uses and abuses of English, here looks at every aspect...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199571333
• ISBN13: 9780199571338
• Release Date: October 2009
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.0" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

txtng4evr

Not exactly your typical digerati, David Crystal is honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Wales. Which makes sense, because "txtng: the gr8 db8" isn't your typical hip its-a-wonderful-new-digital-world send-up. Instead, Crystal parses texting in true academic fashion: locating antecedents (pictogramatic writing systems, rebuses, etc), examining technological limitations, and judging various examples of texting as literature (yup). There is also a glossary of terms, an appendix of various texting abbreviations, AND an appendix of abbreviations in ELEVEN OTHER LANGUAGES. Just in case I haven't been convincing, David Crystal has done his homework. As impressive as the book is as analysis, "txtng" is not simply breakdown and description. Its core is a passionate argument delivered against an academic establishment (yours, mine, everyone's) that decries texting as impoverished English, a sign of mental laziness and short attention spans, and a catalyst for poor reading and writing skills. As you can imagine, Crystal demolishes these arguments with a variety of facts and an entertaining lack of grace. In place of the high-brow hand wringing, Crystal proposes a developmental theory of texting (and language) based on a principle of ludic (playful) activity. Basically, texting is a game that transforms normal letters and other keyboard characters into coy experiments with meaning. Rather than dulling literacy, Crystal believes that playing the game of texting REQUIRES a high level of literacy combined with other cognitive skills. Countering shortsighted, goal-based dogma with an expanded notion of human creativity as goal-free innovation is difficult under the best of circumstances. In this case, at this time, Crystal's argument stands as a deeply subversive act of imagination. tx Dvd, way 2 t+.

I txt - there4 I M.

I hear the noise of a text message coming in to my phone, and I don't think "Wow, this signifies the end of written language as we know it..." - quite the contrary. I feel elated when I receive a text message, as do thousands upon thousands of other people. David Crystal's novel dives into the worldwide phenomenon of text messaging. He samples texts from other languages, discusses how it came about in such a short time, why people text at all, what they text about, and does his best to allay any fears that texting is causing the destruction of language. From the start, it's clear that David Crystal is no hack - he's studied linguistics for many years, authored and co-authored several books, and is even a proponent of a new field of study, "internet linguistics". There is no one better to discuss the global impact of texting. The writing style of this book weighs heavily on the side of research; there are several annotations and references to websites and other research papers. Some of the chapters only get a cursory glance, such as "the hype about texting" while others, such as "what makes texting distinctive" go into much more detail and give examples of how texting uses at least six combinations of features designed to provoke emotions, shorten words, omit letters, and so forth. To widen our understanding, David Crystal mentions several non-conventional uses for text messaging: Amber Alerts, texting championships, texting poetry competitions, mobile phone books, and several others. He talks about the usage of texting in several countries, and even discusses how it meshes/clashes with cultural folkways and mores. But is it out to destroy language? It doesn't seem like it. Since texting requires sophisticated abilities in reading, writing and comprehension, people who lack these skills aren't likely to adopt texting as their preferred method of communication. Using his singular wit, David Crystal poses that if texting was proposed with the pitch below, it would never have existed at all: "I have this great idea. A new way of person-to-person communication, using your phone. The users won't have a familiar keyboard. Their fingers will have trouble finding the keys. They will be able to send messages, but with no more than 160 characters at a time. The writing on the screens will be small and difficult to read, especially if you have a visual handicap. The messages will arrive at any time, interrupting your daily routine or your sleep. Oh, and every now and again you won't be able to send or receive anything because your battery will run out." After the 8 chapters are finished, there are 2 appendices. The first discusses English text abbreviations, and the other shows text abbreviations from 11 different languages. If you're interested in linguistics, or if you've ever sent a text message, this book will definitely entertain and educate you.

The gr8 db8 revealed!

The younger generation can't stop texting, the older generation hates it and hates that anyone even does it. Some feel the English language is being destroyed. This great little book explains texting, what it is, how it came about and who is doing it. You will learn how texting affects people, society and language. If you are new to texting you can learn how to text, the shorthand of texting and how it is interpreted. This book is very eye opening and interesting, it really sheds some much needed light on the world of texting.

A Linguist Looks at Word Play and Linguistic Creativity

This is an easy to read serious study about language and word play in the text messaging world. For example, I didn't know that there were text message poetry competitions (poems limited to 160 characters), and in some countries there are "novels" available on text messaging. The book is chock full of examples and data and addresses text messaging in countries around the world. For example, it talks about gender differences in message content, abbreviations used in various languages, the migration of English words and abbreviations into other text messages in other languages (e.g. using "now" instead of "maintenant" in French text messages). He discusses the origins of trends in text message content (abbreviations, rebus, alternate spellings, etc.) and considers the effect of texting on reading and writing ability and education. At the back is a glossary and a number of dictionaries of texting abbrevations used in English, ten other European languages, and Chinese. Near the end of the book was a sentence that conveys the spirit of the book: "Texting is one of the most innovative linguistic phenomena of modern times ..." (pg. 172). This book does a good job making the case. I was expecting a book along the lines of "Text Messaging for Dummies" and was pleasantly surprised to find that someone has finally turned the lens of linguistic analysis on the phenomena.

4 Star Exposition

I wasn't sure what to expect w/ this book. I actually picked it based on its cover. (Good marketing?!) I found the book fascinating and it made me think about texting in ways that I had not really wanted to think about beforehand. While texting can be irritating for me when I'm trying to lecture. I don't text during my lectures, but some of my students do and I find that I get distracted by them, while they don't really pay attention. Nontheless, Crystal brings up good points about youth communication patterns. I am certainly not a tech luddite; but I still have some reservations about making more out of this phenonomena than it deserves. With the onslaught of texting I see more and more poorly worded emails, FB messages, and witness students who have a hard time talking face to face during office hours. I think educators and parents would learn lots from this book.