Long debated as dangerous to the English language, the many acronyms and shorthand practices of instant messenger users could once day find a designation as its own language, if Kent State University researchers have their say.

A team of four undergrad researchers, under the direction of Drs. Pamela Takayoshi and Christina Haas, both associate professors of English at Kent, are currently examining the language of IM to find, among other things, whether Gen Y usage of IM speak could create language problems in the future.

The results, Takayoshi said, are more promising than problematic.

"Instant messaging, or IM, is not just bad grammar or a bunch of mistakes,” Takayoshi said. "IM is a separate language form from formal English and has a common set of language features and standards."

Using IM chats produced by college students, the group has identified what formerly looked like nonstandard features of standard written English are actually standardized features within the IM langage.

The language of instant messaging was consistently informal, explicit and playful in nature, researchers said, emphasizing "meaning over form and social relationships over content."

"When we look at the kinds of technology young people are using today," Haas said, "we see that many of those technologies — IM, blogs and Facebook — are writing technologies. Even the phone is used for writing now."

The research will continue as the group extends their analysis to Facebook, where the social networking site recently launched its own IM client.

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