“A Misnomer of Sizeable Proportions”: SMS and Oral Tradition

Abstract

As a relatively recent communication technology, SMS—more colloquially known as text-messaging—has received a good deal of attention both in popular media and the academy. For linguists in particular, text messaging has emerged as a rich source of study. This essay proposes a merger of current research on text messaging and the study of oral tradition in order to shed light on the relationship between this new mode of communication and the workings of consciousness being transformed by what John Foley has termed the eAgora.

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