SMS lingo in Spain

Language and Future

There are statistics and information about the effects of television and Internet on knowledge, brain development and reflexive capacity. But there are also theses on the relations between "digital codes" and the language. Why? Because SMS lingo is also getting more and more usual out of these hand-technologies


By ISABEL BENITEZ (isabel.benitez@wavemagazine.net)
from Seville, SPAIN


"Made by you and for you". This is the slogan of the first Spanish Short Message Services Dictionary; the first Spanish site based exclusively on SMS. A virtual space where those who usually surf the Internet (but, above all, those who daily use their mobile phones) can turn to if they have any doubts about how to employ this communication channel. There, SMS users can find a translator, a list of most common SMS language words and a place to collaborate, to insert new expressions and emoticons. But above all, it is the crucial point of a phenomenon which has completely revolutionized (it is happening while reading this text) communication and language, and has warned scholars of Spanish.

Experts on idioms and communication study since 2000 the new ways of expression created by SMS and other mobile phone services. Their possibilities are part and example of the influence of technologies on the social changes. There are statistics and information about the effects of television and Internet on knowledge, brain development and reflexive capacity. But there are also theses on the relations between "digital codes" and the language. Why? Because SMS lingo is also getting more and more usual out of these hand-technologies.

Features: an easy Spanish lesson

This language, a fruit of our thumbs agility, is frequently associated to young people, although it is common between mobile phone users independently of their age or gender. It is everywhere, it dominates communication and personal relationships. It is present on the Internet, in the media, at school and even in some literary competitions. What really defines SMS language is its brevity, due to speed and money.

- You have 160 characters and if you exceed it you have to pay for a new SMS. So you 'cut' words to tell as more as possible in the shortest space - says for WAVE magazine Alberto Villena, a 19-year-old veterinary student. He agrees with other youngsters' arguments. Patricia and Ana María, students too, insist on speed. They affirm that it is quicker and that's why they write in SMS lingo even when they chat or take notes at university.

This concision usually creates abbreviations, acronyms and contractions. Some languages like English have different forms with the same meaning. In English, you can contract an auxiliary verb and say don't instead of do not; isn't instead of is not. And it is correct. However, Spanish forbids these linguistic licenses - the usual contractions in Short Messages. So reaching briefness demands a super abbreviated vowel-free language, the absence of some consonants and new words.

For instance, Spanish word for the verb to finish is acabar. But when you write a mobile phone message, you can write acabr; the 'a' disappears as it would happen with the vowel 'i' in finish. In this case, you would get finsh.

In the same way, SMS text affects to consonants. 'H' in Spanish is often silent and SMS lingo forgets it: the 'h' is deleted in Hola (Hello) and it changes into Ola (think of Ello). Just combine these suppressions with the arbitrary - and "too much worrying", according to the experts - replacement of letters with phonetic coincidences, and you'll find not only a new manner of writing the same word, but also alterations which are simply serious mistakes, outlaw metamorphosis. The risks most users take.

In fact, their establishment out of technological machines is very quick. Patricia Luengo reminds us that the average age of the user of the first mobile phone is becoming lower. In Spain, parents generally buy it for their children when they are only 10 or 12 years old. "They learn abbreviations when most of them don't even know grammar rules".

"So we write worse and worse every day. We begin to doubt where we should employ some letters or accents", Ana María Terrazas adds.

Looking for good reasons

Many of these confusions appear in Short Message texts. There are spelling mistakes that experts consider alarming, above all when they are repeated in formal writing.

Mobile phone users remind that they employ SMS language depending on the addressee. But a huge amount of them, apart from teachers and professors, assures that it is invading the exams, compositions and essays.

There are conflicting opinions about SMS lingo; at least there were in the beginning. Many people considered that this way of expression had permitted the recovery of writing language, which had almost disappeared before the advent of the Internet. Most Spanish linguists agreed with this assessment.

- We thought e-mails were wonderful, especially for young people. We have not utilized written language for years; in Spain there is little culture of writing letters, for instance... - affirms Belén Moreno, the founder of the Center of Spanish Studies of the University of Antonio Nebrija. - However, when SMS appeared, our dreams vanished.

According to her, thumb language has become a separated code, which is significantly influencing Spanish. "It happens because we simplify. How easy is to write 'tb' instead of también (too)! It is shorter and has no accents! If the first one were always allowed, we would just have to learn that form. It is a problem of mental laziness".

Carmen Galán, a professor of Linguistics at the University of Extremadura, recalls her studies on SMS in 2000. She claims she wasn't so alarmist before. She thought it was a quick and even a nice way of communication. It had got interesting shortenings, but now it has crossed the border.

- A young person, who is not interested or informed, thinks that this is the way he can or should communicate; and that's the problem. When you find SMS mistakes in an exam, it proves our lack of linguistic awareness and our lack of love for the language.

Social responsibility

Both of them point to education. If somebody doesn't distinguish 'b' from 'v' in an SMS, he probably won't see the difference in a formal text. Belén Moreno confirms that Spanish educational system is in trouble. It has not managed to teach the language properly. But society is powerful, too.

On one hand, there are institutions which safeguard the language. The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) is in charge of conserving and enriching it. A year ago, this body announced it was working on a list of SMS abbreviations in order to adapt the knowledge of Academy to new technologies. Some people accepted it. Linguists thought it was dangerous: it would legitimate this emerging way of expression. On the other hand, there are families and media. They can also help protecting the Spanish language, looking for correct words, right expressions when they talk and write; looking for attention and interest of children and audience.

Miguel Pérez, president of the Internet Users Association and author of the Spanish SMS Dictionary, believes that the influence of mobile phone messages is clear.

- What we have to study is where it is going to and where it can reign. Languages are alive.

He asserts that young people don't really use this code out of technological context, SMS and Internet. "After all, when this generation joins job market, they will probably employ it, like they do now with their friends, and it would become a problem".

Some people think it is harmless but a great deal of society has realized that it could lead to a wrong use of Spanish. They all deem language is one of the most important tools human being has and he should look after it. It is men and women's most faithful 'identity card' and it deserves to be valued.


(Published: 11.11.2009.)