LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13 : 2 February 2013
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Sociocultural and Ethical Concerns about SMS Discourse in Pakistan

Malik Naseer Hussain, Ph.D. Scholar

Abstract

The paper examines the sociocultural and ethical concerns of society about the negative and obnoxious SMS discourse in Pakistan. Parents, teachers, elderly people, the government, and media critics are worried about the unchecked negative uses of SMS discourse. Therefore, this study analyses the actual interpersonal SMS data of Pakistani youth.

The study uses both qualitative and quantitative methods and data. For qualitative analysis, the study takes 30 examples of SMS in the negative category from the 5000 SMS-Corpus of Pakistani texters. The qualitative results show that text messages transmitted by the young texters contain the socioculturally and ethically inappropriate material like sexual, filthy, and cheating SMS. The quantitative analysis is based on the opinions of 500 texters about the negative sociocultural and ethical impacts of SMS discourse. The results of this analysis also correspond with the qualitative data as 63% texters agree that some text messages conflict with sociocultural and ethical norms and values of Pakistan.

In conclusion, the study relates that Pakistani texters are not the only youth on the globe who have been accused of obnoxious discourses. Under the universal impact of the globalized world, this is a universal complaint against the youth over the world that they use obnoxious and immoral discourses during their electronic communication. Therefore, to be good at character is not only the Islamic or Pakistani culture, rather this is the human culture as human beings are the crown of creatures, and the most intelligent beings on the globe. So we as educated, cultured, and intelligent beings should abstain from debasing our discourses through the immoral, sexual, dirty, deceitful and obnoxious talk.

Keywords: SMS, text messages, discourse, communication, ethics, culture, Pakistan, youth

Introduction

Short Message Service (SMS) of mobile phones has become a common tool of communication over the world. This service is universally used for relationship building and social interactions. Therefore, there is a common observation of the SMS discourse analysts that SMS discourse covers a wide range of communicative themes, and the themes are both positive and negative in nature.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Malik Naseer Hussain, Ph.D. Scholar
Department of English
International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan
maliknaseerhussain@yahoo.com
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