Cover not available

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

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF

Graphemic representation of text-messaging

Alphabet-choice and code-switches in Greek SMS

Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 1 September 2009
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.19.3.05spi
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.
References (47)
Androutsopoulos, J. (2000) Latin-Greek orthography in electronic mails: Use and attitudes [Λατινο- ελληνική ορθογραφία στο ηλεκτρονικό ταχυδρομείο: χρήση και στάσεις]. In Studies on Greek language [Μελέτες για την ελληνική γλώσσα], 201. Thessaloniki: Kyriakidis, pp. 75-86.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2004) Non-native English and sub-cultural identities in media discourse. In H. Sandøy (ed.), The multilingual Internet [Den fleirspråklege utfordringa] Oslo: Novus, 83-98. Online [URL] Accessed on 25 September 2006.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2006) Introduction: Sociolinguistics and computer-mediated communication. Journal of sociolinguistics 10.4: 419-438. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anis, J. (2007) Neography: Unconventional spelling in French SMS text messages. In B. Danet & S. Herring (eds.), The multilingual Internet: Language, culture, and communication online.Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 87-115. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Auer, P. (1998) Introduction: Bilingual conversation revisited. In P. Auer (ed.), Code-switching in conversation. Language, interaction and identity.London: Routledge, pp. 1-24.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baron, N. (2000) Alphabet to email: How written English evolved and where it’s heading. London: Routledge.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barton, D. (1994) Literacy: An introduction to the ecology of written language. Oxford: Blackwell.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baynham, M. (2004) Ethnographies of literacy: Introduction. Language and education 18.4: 285-290.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Besnier, N. (1993) Literacy and feelings: The encoding of affect in Nukulaelae letters. In B. Street (ed.), Cross-cultural approaches to literacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 62-86.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biber, D. (1988) Variation across speech and writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bloomfield, L. (1933) Language. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coupland, N. (2003) Introduction: Sociolinguistics and globalisation. Journal of sociolinguistics 7.4: 465-472.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Danet, B. (2001) Cyberpl@y: communicating online. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Danet, B., and S. Herring (2003) Introduction: The multilingual Internet. Journal of computer-mediated communication 9.1. Online [URL] Accessed on 25 September 2006. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007) Introduction: Welcome to the multilingual Internet. In B. Danet & S. Herring (eds.), The multilingual Internet: Language, culture, and communication online.Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 3-39.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. (1964) Baby talk in six languages. American Anthropologist 66.6.2: 103-114.  BoP Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Georgakopoulou, A. (2001) Self-presentation and interactional alliances in e-mail discourse: The style-and code-switches of Greek messages. In A. Georgakopoulou & M. Spanaki (eds.), A reader in Greek sociolinguistics. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 303-332. [Re-printed from International journal of applied linguistics 7.2: 141-164, 1997.]  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2006) Postscript: Computer-mediated communication in sociolinguistics. Journal of sociolinguistics 10.4: 548-557. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giddens, A. (2002) Runaway world: How globalisation is reshaping our lives. London: Profile Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hutchby, I. (2001) Conversation and technology: From the telephone to the internet. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hutchby, I., and S. Barnett (2005) Aspects of the sequential organization of mobile phone conversation. Discourse studies 7.2: 147-171.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haugen, E. (1973) The analysis of linguistic borrowing. In E. Haugen (ed.), The ecology of language. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hawisher, G.E., and C.L. Selfe (eds.) (2000) Global literacies and the world-wide web. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jaffe, A. (2000) Introduction: Non-standard orthography and non-standard speech. Journal of sociolinguistics 4.4: 497-513.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kataoka, K. (1997) Affect and letter-writing: Unconventional conventions in casual writing by young Japanese women. Language in society 261: 103-136.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Κatz, J., and M. Aakhus (eds.) (2002) Perpetual contact: Mobile communication, private talk, public performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koutsogiannis, D., and B. Mitsikopoulou (2003) Greeklish and Greekness: Trends and discourses of “glocalness”. Journal of computer-mediated communication 9:1. Online [URL] Accessed on 25 September 2006. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kress, G. (2003) Literacy in the new media age. London: Routledge.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lambrinidi, A., and I. Depasta (2004) Greek language and mobile text-messaging (SMS). Undergraduate research paper. Department of Communication, Media and Culture, Panteion University, Athens. Online: [URL] Accessed on 25 September 2006.
Moschonas, S. (2001) Publications about language in the Greek press [Δημοσιεύματα του τύπου για τη γλώσσα]. Journalism and language (Conference proceedings, 15-16 April 2000) [ Δημοσιογραφία και γλώσσα. (Πρακτικά συνεδρίου, 15-16 Απριλίου 2000) ]. Athens: E.S.I.E.A, pp. 85-116.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Myers-Scotton, C. (1993) Duelling languages: Grammatical structure in codeswitching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1995) A lexically based model of code-switching. In L. Milroy & P. Muysken (eds), One speaker, two languages: Cross-disciplinary perspectives on code-switching.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 233-256. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Palfreyman, D., and M. al Khalil (2003) ‘A funky language for teenzz to use’: Representing Gulf Arabic in Instant Messaging. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 9:1. Online [URL] Accessed on September 2006. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paolillo, J. (1996) Language choice on soc.culture.punjab. Electronic journal of communication 6.3. Online [URL] Accessed on 25 September 2006.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pennycook, A. (2003) Global Englishes, rip slyme, and performativity. Journal of sociolinguistics 7.4: 513-533.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Poplack, S. (1981) Syntactic structure and social function in code-switching. In R. Duran (ed.), Latino language and communicative behavior. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, pp. 169-184.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reyes, R. (1976) Language mixing in Chicano bilingual speech. In J. Bowen & J. Ornstein (eds.), Studies in southwest Spanish. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House, pp. 182-188.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sankoff, G. (2002) Linguistic outcomes of language contact. In J.K. Chambers, P. Trudgill & N. Schilling-Estes (eds.), The handbook of language variation and change. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 638-668.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sebba, M. (2003) Spelling rebellion. In J. Androutsopoulos & A. Georgakopoulou (eds.), Discourse constructions of youth identities. Pragmatics & beyond new series 110.Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 151-172. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spilioti, T. (2004) New media and language attitudes: The case of text-messaging. Paper presented at The Logos Conference. Controlling language: The Greek experience. 9-11 September 2004, University of London.
Street, B. (1984) Literacy in theory and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1993) Introduction: The new literacy studies. In B. Street (ed.), Cross-cultural approaches to literacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-22.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tannen, D. (1982) The oral/literate continuum in discourse. In D. Tannen (ed.), Spoken and written language: Exploring orality and literacy.Norwood, NJ: Ablex, pp. 1-16.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thurlow, C. (2003) Generation txt? Exposing the sociolinguistics of young people’s text-messaging. Discourse analysis online 1:1. Online [URL] Accessed on 15 June 2005.  BoP
. (2006) From statistical panic to moral panic: The metadiscursive construction and popular exaggeration of new media language in the print media. Journal of computer-mediated communication 11:3. Online [URL] Accessed on 9 September 2009 Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tseliga, T. (2007) “It’s all Greeklish to me!” Linguistic and sociocultural perspectives on Roman-alphabeted Greek in asynchronous computer-mediated communication. In B. Danet & S. Herring (eds.), The multilingual Internet: Language, culture, and communication online.Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 116-141. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vrouzi, Ch., and I. Panzari (2002) Message sent: The language of email & mobile [Μήνυμα εστάλη: Η γλώσσα του email & του κινητού]. Unpublished undergraduate research paper. Department of communication and media studies, University of Athens.
Cited by (8)

Cited by eight other publications

Androutsopoulos, Jannis & Tereza Spilioti
2025. Scripts in interaction: fixity and fluidity in Greek trans-scripting practices. Sociolinguistica 39:2 ► pp. 327 ff. DOI logo
Cutler, Cecelia, Unn Røyneland & Zvjezdana Vrzić
2025. Introduction: multilingual, multilectal, and multiscriptal writing. Sociolinguistica 39:2 ► pp. 167 ff. DOI logo
Dickinson, Jennifer A.
2022. Introduction. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 507 ff. DOI logo
Theodoropoulou, Irene
2022. Politeness on Facebook. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 23 ff. DOI logo
Androutsopoulos, Jannis
2020. Trans-scripting as a multilingual practice: the case of Hellenised English. International Journal of Multilingualism 17:3 ► pp. 286 ff. DOI logo
Koutsogiannis, Dimitrios
2015. Translocalization in Digital Writing, Orders of Literacy, and Schooled Literacy. In Critical Perspectives on Technology and Education, ► pp. 183 ff. DOI logo
Morel, Etienne & Simona Pekarek Doehler
2013. Les ‘textos' plurilingues : l'alternance codique comme ressource d'affiliation à une communauté globalisée. Revue française de linguistique appliquée Vol. XVIII:2 ► pp. 29 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2018. Bibliographie. In Textos : assemblages hétérosémiotiques [Champs linguistiques, ], ► pp. 297 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 29 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue