1. The abbreviations used in text message and on the internet
by group 1

2. The motivation of our research
Nowadays, mobile phones and the Internet are so popular that almost every culture has created its own specific language. The youth play the main role of that creation. It’s interesting to discover how words are associated with each other in the native speakers’ eyes. For example, ‘how are you’ can be put on the screen as ‘how R U?’ Abbreviations become very popular when young people communicate through text message or on the internet. We do this research to study the origin, the development, the features and the strong points, weak points of abbreviations.

3. We do this research to solve these two questions:
I How widely are shortening words are used in text message and the internet?
II What’s the development of abbreviations?

4. The significance of our research
Keeping pace with time. We are English language learners and we should be aware of the newest English language. We have to read as much as materials to gain a great many new words, which can also help our reading skills.
Understanding English culture better. From Americans like shortening words, we can easily notice their culture. As we all know, all the new language usages are created by the native speakers, which will help us know the development process of English. We can learn how to create a new word, and why a language needs to develop.

5. Getting to know the youth’s condition. The youth is a country’s future
Getting to know the youth’s condition. The youth is a country’s future. Text message and the Internet receive so much popularity from the youth, and it’s a good way to get to know them by learning about their specific language.
Helping us in note taking. Many times in daily life, we need to take notes quickly. However, it is difficult for us to take what has been said completely, just because the speaking speed is so fast. Thus, we need to know more and more about the youth language like some abbreviations or substitutes, both of which can improve the writing speed.

6. I How widely are shortening words are used in text message and the internet?
We use a questionnaire to solve this question.

7. Questionnaire about the shortening words in text messages and on the Internet
Thank you for your precious five minutes to do this questionnaire. We are sophomores majoring in English in Soochow University, China. Now we are doing some research about how widely shortening words are used in text messages and the Internet, which will help us to prepare for our final paper of lexicology. Your help will do us a great favor.
1 please select your age group.
A below 15
B 16—19
C 19—21
D above 21
2 how many text messages do you send on average every day?
A below 10
B 11—20
C 20—30
D above 30

8. 3 how many hours do you spend in chatting online on average every day?
A below 1 hour
B 1—2
C 2—3
D above 3
4 how often do you use shortening words in text messages and on the Internet?
A never
B few times
C often
5 how many of your friends use shortening words in text messages and on the Internet?
A below 5 B
C 11—15
D above 16

9. 6 please list Top Five shortening words which you often use
(1) ____
(2) ____
(3) ____
(4) ____
(5) ____
7 please write the full words below
(1) CU ____
(2) PLZ ____
(3) ASAP ____
(4) 3Q ____
(5) TTYL ____
8 why people prefer to use shortening words? Please give some reasons.
9 do you think shortening words is a kind of progress in English usage? Why or why not?
The end
We appreciate your help very much. Thank you again!

10. The target people of our research are American students and Chinese students majoring in English. There are 50 American students from three different universities, including Ohio State University, Florida State University and Utah State University, 20 students in Melbourne University and 30 Chinese students in foreign language departments involved in this research.

11. Statistic:
1 Since we mainly aim to college students, only 1 out of 100 are below 15, ten percent is 16—19, half of the students are from 19 to 21, 39% are above 21.
2 20% of students send messages below 10, 30% are below 20, 30% are below 30, 20% are above 30.
3 20% of students spend in chatting online on average every day less than 1 hour, 40% less than 2 hours, 20% are below 3 hours, 20% are above 3 hours.
4 1% never use shortening words in text messages and the Internet, 20% choose B few times, 70% choose often.
5 none choose A below 5 about the question how many of your friends use shortening words in text messages and the Internet, 10% choose below 10, 20% choose below 15 and 70% choose above 16.

12. 6. please list Top Five shortening words which you often use
U you 90%
C see 80%
CU see you 80%
ASAP as soon as possible 70%
3Q thank you 65%
AFK away from keyboard 60%
7. 98% write the full words correctly.
8. why people prefer to use shortening words?
Saving time and easy %
Popular and fashionable %
Convenient %
Funny and humorous %
9. do you think shortening words are kind of progress in English usage?
Yes %
No %

13. Analysis:
Almost every student can understand shortening words and use them everyday no matter online or sending a text messages, which play a very important role in our daily life now. No matter whether shortening words are progress of English usage or not, it has already become a part of English.

14. II What is the development of abbreviations?

15. The development of abbreviations
Abbreviations are regularly used in our daily life. When we send short messages or s, we use abbreviations. When we read newspapers or watch TV, we can find abbreviations. Therefore, abbreviations influenced our life quite a lot.

16. All abbreviations and acronyms are now using standard code instead of the nested span hack for Internet Explorer. This has meant the functionality of the site is reduced in Internet Explorer but this is due to the browser omitting parts of the markup standards. The pages degrade gracefully in this device, so the pages remain accessible. The primary benefit of these elements is for the users screen readers, which handle this important element correctly.

17. history
Alphabetic abbreviation became possible around 1000 BC and was common in the classical world: the Greek letters and as a result of their use the fish became a Christian symbol; the Latin letters SPQR stood for Senatus Populusque Romanus (the Senate and the Roman people). In addition, short forms such as IMP CAES (Imperator Caesar Emperor Caesar) were common on inscriptions and coins.

18. Although present-day abbreviation in English descends from such forms, its more immediate origin was in the practices of medieval scribes, among whom short forms were mnemonic and a means of economizing on parchment, effort, and time. As writing extended from Latin into the European vernacular languages, short forms went with it, first as loans (such as AD for Anno Domini: from the year of the Lord), then as native creations (such as BC for Before Christ).

19. All such devices combine economy (of effort, space, and reference) with repetition (of the familiar and formulaic); although some are casual or temporary creations, others have become over the centuries so institutionalized that their origins and natures are seldom considered: as for example AD and BC, when used for everyday secular purposes.

20. Abbreviation------the minor processes of word formation:
Abbreviation or shortening 缩略法/截短法
Abbreviations/clipping 截短词 (e.g. doc, porn, expo; cab, van; flu, fridge; daily, pop)
Initialism 首字母缩略词 (CIA, BBC, UFO, CD, IP, LCD, ID, N-bomb)
Acronym 首字母拼音词 (UNESCO,laser, radar, SARS, AIDS, NATO, DINK )
Blend 拼缀词 (motel, brunch, smog, chunnel, sitcom, hi-fi,talkathon)
Words from proper names: Eponyms (sandwich, robot, Watt）
Back formation 逆生法
Back formation (reversion): (beg, locate, lip-read, air-condition)
Onomatopoeia 拟声法
Onomatopoeia 拟声词 (clang, clik, giggle, roar, buzz)

21. Nature
Although abbreviations usually need to be concise, convenient, and easy to remember, they do not need to be fully understood to serve their purpose. People literate in English can work successfully with such formulas as e.g. and q.v. whether or not they know their full Latin forms exempli gratia (for the sake of example) and quod vide (which see). The more familiar and successful the short form, the less need for the full form, which may in course of time being forgotten. The full forms of mob (Latin mobile vulgus the fickle crowd) and radar (radio detection and ranging) have no functional value in the 1990s, and many are entirely unaware that these words are (or were) abbreviations. The members of organizations usually have little difficulty with the abbreviations they use, because of sheer familiarity, but people who are not part of the in-group may regard their use as (sometimes frustrating and provocative) jargon.

22. However, abbreviations are not always ready to be used properly
However, abbreviations are not always ready to be used properly. In formal academic prose it is considered bad form to abbreviate words simply to save space, time or energy.

23. The research methods
In this research, we used some typical research methods to study various aspects of abbreviations and made our research more specific and convincing.
Ask some students to fill our questionnaires ( as we have mentioned)
We made a questionnaire related to abbreviations and sent them to some university students. Then, we analysed the result and got some useful information to our research.

24. Initials and Abbreviations
SYMBOL
MEANING
EXAMPLE w/
with (something)
A war was fought w/ NATO aid.
w/o
without
They fought w/o fear.
w/i
within
There are problems w/i the company.
i.e.
that is 
A Siamese, i.e. a cat, is a fun pet.
e.g.
for example
Professionals, e.g. doctors and lawyers, met here.
etc.
et cetera, so forth
Cats, dogs, etc., make good pets.
b/c
because
We pay taxes b/c it's the law. 
b/4
before
Chicken b/4 egg?
re:
regarding, about
I need to see you re: the sales figures.
esp.
especially
Tobacco, esp. cigarettes, causes cancer.
min.
minimum
The min. is $400.
max.
maximum
The max. number of people in an elevator is 10.
gov't.
government
The gov't. helped the people.
ASAP
as soon as possible
Finish your exam ASAP.
wrt
write
wrt #3 (write number 3) rt
right
rt side
yr / yrs
year, years
She's 5 yrs old.
c. 
circa, about, around, from the year
This picture is c. 1900 vs
versus, as opposed to
Purple vs green ch
chapter
Read ch 8.
Q A
question answer
Q: What is that? A: I don't know! ex
example
Look at ex 4.
wd wds
word words
1 vocabulary wd. 25 vocabulary wds.
ref
reference
ref required.
diff
difference
What is the diff?

25. The conclusion of the research
The usage of Abbreviations has become very popular among young people when they chat on the internet or through text message. Most young people like new and interesting thing, while abbreviations meet their demands. When they communicate with their friends, using abbreviations is very convenient and easy to understand. Moreover, abbreviations reflect a trend of the development of English in some aspects. However, excessive use of abbreviations also brings some bad points. Firstly, abbreviations are very informal, they can be just used in some informal chatting and spoken English. Besides, this is bad for young students to learn English, it may unable students to spell and know some words well. Above all, the development of abbreviations is an issue which deserves our much more concerns.

26. Through this research we know many aspects of abbreviations, including the reasons they appeared, typical examples of abbreviations, their strong points and weak points, and their important role in the daily life. The research on abbreviations is very interesting and meaningful, our research still has some shortcomings, for example, the questionnaires are not complete, the people we interviewed are not enough, and we can not understand the communication culture among westerners very well. The research is so meaningful that we should continue to study.

27. The motivation and significance of the research: 徐晶晶
The development of abbreviations, the typical examples: 张婷婷
The research methods, the video found on the internet: 吴迪
The questionnaire and analysis，the PPT: 朱岩
The conclusion of the research, the pictures, the combination of the whole paper:孔珍

28. 3Q 4 Ur Attention!!