Abstract:
The present research adapted Crystal’s (2008) analytical model to investigate the
language of WhatsApp used among students of St. Martin’s Senior High School,
Adoagyri-Nsawam. Through documentation and semi-structured interviews, the
informants who comprised of 35 students with 10 males and 25 females, helped collect
115 chats out of which 100 were sampled for the analysis. The results revealed
hybridized language permeated into the linguistic continuum of the students’ mode of
WhatsApp chatting, meaning students’ WhatsApp language choice is characterized by
informal linguistic features; thus, reactive tokens, paralinguistic and prosodic features,
acronyms/initialisms, contractions, clippings, letter/number homophone, punctuations
and capitalizations, emoticons/similey, phonetic/misspellings, syntactic reduction,
pidgin and code-mixing. Among the features, contractions, clippings and letter/number
homophone were the most preferred choice of the students whilst the least popular
features were acronyms/initialisms and paralinguistic/prosodic features. The present
study is, therefore, significant as it may attract lexicographers and other researchers
who wish to undertake related study. Also, the findings may help individuals pursuing
courses in English language studies. Finally, it offers both teachers and students a
premise of awareness of WhatsApp language and its repercussions when used in a
formal setting.
Keywords: WhatsApp, Chats, Computer Mediated Communication and Language
features
Description:
A THESIS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION, FACULTY OF
FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND COMMUNICATION, SUBMITTED TO THE
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR AWARD OF THE
MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY (ENGLISH LANGUAGE) DEGREE
OCTOBER, 2017
