Research Summary of Okke Chukwuma Onyebuchi and Obasi Gloria Tochukwu, 2014

Word Formation Processes in Nigerian

Short message Service, Vol. 4, No. 11, pp. 2215 - 2222
Muhammad Andi Renaldy (S.N : 18.1120.4048)
TBI 2 Semester 3
A. Introduction
1. Short Message Service (SMS) is a text messaging service component of web,
phone or mobile communication systems that makes use of standardised
communication protocol which makes it possible for fixed lines or mobile phone
devices to exchange short text messages. SMS sends and receives messages of up
to 160 characters per page to and from GSM handsets. In other words, there is a
limited number of characters that can be sent or received through SMS. This may
explain the need to create and re-create new words. This study is inspired by this
new form of writing and the styles with which it comes.
2. Bryson (1990) cited in Peña (2010) identifies six ways of creating new words
which include: by adding to them, by subtracting from them, by making them up,
by doing nothing to them, by borrowing from other languages and by mistake.
3. Clipping as another word-formation process, according to Peña (2010), is a
process that involves the deletion of a part (usually, one or more syllables) of a
word and leaving a certain part of the said word. In clipping, the deletion may take
place at any position, initial, final or medial. In other words, any part of the word
can be clipped off.
B. Research Aim
Investigate and explores the various word formation processes employed by
Nigerian Short-Message Service (SMS) writers in generating new words, by critically
sampling and analysing some of these new words to see the processes employed by
these GSM users.
C. Participants
The participants is youths(within the age bracket of 15 – 35) from 3 locations.
The researchers sampled two urban and one rural area within the southern, northern
and western parts of the country.
D. Research Instrument
No
Instrument Data
.
1. Only one hundred and forty(140) 140 word were used for this study. This
items in normal Standard English items were seen to contain the kind of
forms. words the paper is interested in.
2. Five respondents were randomly Make a fifteen respondents in each area.
 selected.
3. Eight hundred(800) and ten(10) This number gives an average of about
messages in the English language. ten messages per respondent.

E. Data Analysis
1. This study is a descriptive survey. The researchers engaged the assistance of six
field assistants. Two persons each were appointed for the three locations that serve
as the areas of the study. Moreover, the youths (within the age bracket of 15-35)
make up the population of the study.
2. The data so collected were descriptively analysed, viz.: clipping, sound reduction
involving deletion, alpha-numeric, and initialisms involving abbreviations. In the
analysis, emphasis is on what actually happens to the source word (the words from
which the new ones emanate).
3. The analysis focuses on the patterns adopted by the respondents in creating the
‘new words’ from the already existing ones.
F. Result of The Study
Word formation processes identified in Nigerian SMS :
1. Clipping
1. cred Credit 8. ope Hope 15. bday Birthday
2. oft Often 9. ave Have 16. pple People
3. sis Sister 10. api Happy 17. lil Little
4. val Valentine 11. xtian Christian 18. hols Holidays
5. gen Generator 12. coz/bcos Because 19. abt About
6. esp Especially 13. takia/tkia Take care 20. pix Picture
7. moro Tomorrow 14. bhind Behind 21. bros Brother
1 – 6 above show that what is clipped off are letters that are at the end of
the words with the consequent clip coming from the remaining part of the word-
initial letters, back-clipping/apocopation; while in examples 7 - 10, what are
clipped off are letters that are at the beginning of the respective words,
foreclipping/aphaeresis, retaining the final part. In examples 11 - 16, clipping
takes the form of the first letter of the first syllable (or a letter that sounds like it
as in example 11 above) and the whole of the subsequent syllable or a
representation (what sounds like it as in 12-13 above) of the syllable. in examples
17-19 above, clips are formed by taking letters partly from the beginning as well
as the ending of the words. On the contrary, there is no exact pattern involved in
forming clips in examples 20-21 above except that the first, second as well as the
first, second and third letters in the respective words are retained.

2. (i)Sound Reduction Involving Delection of Letters

22. wit With 43. dis This
 23. wat What 44. dat That
24. wen When 45. dem Them
25. wud Would 46. fada/moda Father/Mother
26. wot what 47. dey They
27. fon Phone 48. dose Those
28. tym Time 49. tanx Thanks
29. gal Girl 50. eva Ever
30. tot Taught 51. ova Over
31. kip Keep 52. tite/tyt Tight
32. kia Care 53. nite/nyt Night
33. kot Caught 54. shud Should
34. skul School 55. buk Book
35. bak Back 56. luv Love
36. unik Unique 57. xpanñ expansion
37. gud Good 58. evry Every
38. hapi Happy 59. b Be
39. beta Better 60. n And
40. laf Laugh 61. u You
41. suxes Success 62. y Why
42. pis/pisful Peace/Peaceful 63. c See
In the group of words above (examples 22 – 63), ‘new words’ are formed
based on the sounds that make up the individual words. Though they are not exact
transcription of the ‘original words’ (the words from which they are formed), the
pronunciations of the ‘newly formed words’ represent typical Nigerian phonemic
realisations of the said words (applied linguists may call this pronunciation –
spelling error. in example (Bi) as a product of pronunciation spelling based on the
respondents’ native language/dialect). Here, ‘wh’ is represented by ‘w’ (see
examples 32 – 36 above); ‘c’, ‘ch’, ‘ck’ and ‘que’ are simply represented by ‘k’
since they are pronounced /k/ in the words where they occur. Therefore, it is not a
surprise that GSM users in Nigeria would do such substitution as we see in
examples (43 – 49) above. The reduction of somewhat complex spellings with the
nearest letter that also depicts pronunciation is also evident in group B(i) above.
Words in examples 59 – 63 are seen as depicting sound because they are intended
to be realised when pronouncing the letters used in representing them and, as
such, the letters then stand for the words. We should also note that examples B(i)
(59 - 63) do not fall into a neat category.
(ii) Sound Reduction Involving Deletion and Alphanumeric
64. 2 To/Too 74. 4 For
65. 2giv To Give 75. 4eva Forever
66. 2d To The 76. 4giv Forgive
67. 2day Today 77. 4c Fore – See
68. 2suxes To Success 78. b4 Before
69. 9ce Nice 79. 4rm From
70. 9ite/9t Night 80. 8 Ate
71. 1 Won 81. gr8 Great
72. som1 Someone 82. 0 Nothing
 73. any1 Anyone
It involves the special use of numerals to represent sounds in words,
such that when the numeral is pronounced (sometimes, alongside other letters),
the intended word (or something close to it), is realised. The figures ‘1, 2, 4, 8,
and 9’ have been observed as being used to represent the words, ‘to’ - /tə/,
‘one/won’ - /wʌn/, ‘night’ - /naɪt/, ‘four/for/fore’ - /fɔ:/ or /fə/ and ‘ate/eight’ -
/eɪt/ respectively. , SMS senders reduce ‘nothing’ to ‘0’, which is its equivalent in
figures.
3. Intialism Involving Abbreviations(Coinage)
83. y Why 112. bf Boyfriend
84. b Be 113. sth Something
85. d/di The 114. swthrt Sweetheart
86. U You 115. fym For Your Mind
87. R Are 116. oyo On Your Own
88. n/nd And 117. IJN In Jesus Name
89. hr Hour 118. asap As Soon As Possible
90. bt But 119. ftf Face To Face
91. nt Not 120. cwot Complete Waste of Time
92. rd Road 121. np No Problem
93. frnd Friend 122. dnt Do Not
94. pls Please 123. omg Oh My God
95. jst Just 124. cul See You Later
96. wk Week 125. btw By The Way
97. bk Back 126. lol Laugh Out Loud/Lots of Love
98. hw How 127. pcm Please Call Me
99. yr Year 128. idnts I Don’t Think So
100. wr Were 129. b4n Bye for Now
101. rm Room 130. hand Have a Nice Day
102. ur Your 131. mu I Miss You
103. bdy Body 132. ltns Long Time No See(Colloquial)
104. nxt Next 133. hru How Are You
105. msg Message 134. ruok Are You Okay
106. urs Yours 135. idd I Don’t Die(Pidgin English)
107. mth Month 136. txt Text
108. bc Because 137. brb Be Right Back
109. a/c Account 138. tlc Tender Loving Care
110. av/v Have 139. hml Happy Married Life
111. gf Girlfriend 140. lwkmd Laugh Wan Kill Me Die(Pidgin)
When we consider ‘nd’ in (88) and (89 – 105), we discover that the
abbreviations are formed by simply retaining the consonant letters or sounds in
the original words while deleting the vowels by that effect. Examples (111 – 114)
are formed from the first letters of the two words that respectively make up the
compound words. Others (like 106 – 110) are ordinary abbreviations that do not
actually have a specific pattern. Moreover, we can also see examples (83 – 87)
and ‘n’ in (88) as abbreviations that can be pronounced to realise the words they
represent, by ordinarily pronouncing the letters as if in isolation (also observe
 examples 59-63 above). Moreover, phrases, clauses and even whole sentences are
also reduced to abbreviations (see 115 -140 above for illustrations).
G. Conclusion
Every human society depending on its needs require new words from time to
time to satisfy such needs. Therefore, new innovations make it needful for new words
to come into a language in order to name new things and take care of their present
communication needs. Every language needs new words almost every day. However,
these words are got by borrowing, derivation, conversion, etc. The most important
thing is that new concepts are taken care of in the vocabulary of a language. This is
why language cannot remain static – since innovations will not cease. Hence,
language keeps growing and developing to meet up with the changes in the society.
Of all the processes of word formation available, Nigerian GSM users make use of
clipping, initialisms, abbreviation, alphanumeric, soundreduction and deletion to
create ‘words’ in their SMS.