Date of Award

5-20-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Specialization

Communication and Leadership

School or Department

School of Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Heather Crandall

Second Advisor

Dr. Cheryl Coan

Abstract

This study is focused on determining if textese (the acronyms, shortcuts, emoticons, etc., used in texting) is a definable genre. The study uses communication theory centered on understanding how people interact in the computer mediated communication space to manage and foster strong relationships and understand each other when there are little or no visual and verbal cues. Defining textese as a genre helps support social information processing as the study supports the position that textese can be used for close relationships. Using textese is shown to support social interactionism as textese is an indicator of how well people know each other and textese represents the symbols that have learned meaning in relationships. Finally, communication accommodation theory is supported as the use of textese as a genre is directly tied to the socio-historical context of the relationship where texting is happening. Research questions asked: if the relationship or audience, situation, and experience impact the use of textese, which aspect of the context impacts the use of textese the most, and does textese meet the qualifications needed to be a genre. Generic application was used to define textese as a genre and then surveys were sent to a population of 1000 users who had English as a primary language, were between the ages of 18 and 40, and had experience texting. Additionally, survey results showed strong negative correlation to the use of textese and the formality of the relationship and situation. The study shows support for the definition of textese as a genre as the respondents identified that certain situations provoke similar needs and expectations and thus a particular type of rhetoric. SIP, CAT, and SI are supported based on this new understanding of the socio-historical context and the primacy of interpretation of the texting situations.

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