Cellular text-message abbreviations are not wrecking our spelling, owever they do require significantly longer to read and comprehend than ordinary English, as per an Australian study. University of Tasmania lecturer Nenagh Kemp had requested 55 undergraduate students to write, and then to read out loud, text messages in English and in a texting language.

While students were appreciably faster when they texted, it required virtually half the number of students twice as long to read the messages out loud than messages written in correct English. The students additionally made more errors reading the textese messages when compared to the ones written in English.

As experienced adult readers, we’re used to reading complete words and sentences, therefore,  it’s harder for us to decipher. The research established that despite the common belief that texting language is ruining spelling, it in reality does not reflect literary abilities, at least in adults. An awareness of sound construction and grammar was linked to the capacity to decode some texting language.