Localizing global trends in sms texting language among students in Ghana and Tanzania

The main motivation for the development of various strategies to represent written text in a concise way among mobile phone users all over the world is the need to communicate full messages in abridged forms in order to save time, energy and money. These alternative forms of words and phrases are especially employed by the youth. In this paper, the innovative adaptation of global SMS texting trends in the form of intricate abbreviation and contraction of words and phrases in Kiswahili in Tanzania is examined and compared with trends in SMS texting language in English in Ghana. Using empirical data made up of SMS texts from students of the University of Dar es Salaam and University of Ghana, localized as well as convergent and divergent trends and the socio-pragmatic motivations of the phenomena are analysed and discussed