Sending a message on a mobile phone is not the most natural of ways to communicate. The keypad isn't linguistically sensible.

Several of us linguists at that time would record our own kids, just to get some data. There was some literature on it then, but no day-by-day, blow-by-blow examples. I recorded all my children over the years in some shape or form. It's what linguists do. You don't talk to a linguist without having what you say taken down and used in evidence against you at some point in time.

Language itself changes slowly but the internet has speeded up the process of those changes so you notice them more quickly.

Academics don't normally manage to alter people's way of thinking through their strength of argument.

The story of English spelling is the story of thousands of people - some well-known, most totally unknown - who left a permanent linguistic fingerprint on our orthography.

Language changes and moves in a different direction evolving all the time. Where a lot of people see deterioration, I see expressive development

I believe that any form of writing exercise is good for you. I also believe that any form of tuition which helps develop your awareness of the different properties, styles, and effects of writing is good for you. It helps you become a better reader, more sensitive to nuance, and a better writer, more sensitive to audience. Texting language is no different from other innovative forms of written expression that have emerged in the past. It is a type of language whose communicative strengths and weaknesses need to be appreciated.