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It's safer and cheaper

Instant Messaging extends the range and richness of the English language

TALK TIME Instant Messaging has reshaped communication among the youth Photo: N. Sridharan

If you use instant messaging on your computer, you may be only too familiar with the acronym LOL (Laughing Out Loud). But what about BRB, TTYL or ROFL? Especially among teenagers, you're just as likely to encounter IM-speak in the real world as you are on your desktop.

When people think of instant messaging, most conjure up the image of teenagers gossiping, flirting and wasting time. They don't think of it as a killer appetite that's reshaping communications.

IM has exploded in popularity. In fact, over a billion messages traverse the Net each day.

AOL popularised Instant Messaging during its phenomenal rise in the 1990s. Now, it has spread to other systems such as Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger and Google Talk.

Instant messaging (IM) is a form of Internet communications that lets you talk in real time to individuals or groups of people. Users create contact lists of friends to chat with and can block people they don't know or don't want to communicate with. Linguistics professor Crystal thinks Instant Messaging has done more than just add to constructions of the English language and the roughly 200,000 words in common use today. IM extends the range of the language, the expressiveness and its richness. The phenomenon of written IM slang crossing over into speech is manna for linguists. Prof. Crystal, who has written extensively on language and the Internet, observes: "I see a brand new variety of language evolving, invented really by young people... within five years! It's extraordinary."

Anand Verma, a hearing impaired student, calls Instant Messaging a "godsend". IM is a great communication tool if you are shy or an introvert. It's a great tool for schoolwork. You can coordinate group projects, send homework files and get help in subjects from friends. IM makes it easier to arrange your social life with a whole group of people at the same time.

You can stay in touch with friends and family who live in another place without the long distance charges!

Parents using IM to talk to their kids is a new phenomenon. They report that the discussions with their teens are more constructive and less emotional when they take place with instant messaging. "As a lecturer of English Literature, I can be creative," says Andrew Bethrune. "I can simply translate a Shakespearean dialogue into an IM conversation — think Juliet talking to Romeo on instant messaging instead of from a balcony." If you only have people you know on your list, IM is a much safer environment for online communication than chat rooms.

LASYA VEMPARLA

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