I have had several conversations using SMS with friends from my high school. When using SMS with friends that are Guyanese, people from a West Indian nation in South America, I commonly use broken English. Broken English sounds similar to Jamaican. In order to understand what we are texting to each other you would need a high degree of common grounding. Here is an example of such a conversation:
Kevin: How ya do?
Vanessa: I vex
Kevin: O, wah happin, why ya vex fa,?
Vanessa: me nah wan fah go ta da club wit dis gal me nah like
Although one could figure out what we are texting, it would take a longer time. The conversation above needed existing common ground so we could understand the slang. It required a high degree of existing knowledge between the both of us. The conversation translates to:
Kevin: How are you?
Vanessa: I am upset.
Kevin: Oh, what happened? Why are you upset?
Vanessa: I don’t want to go to the club with this girl I don’t like.
However, at the same time Vanessa and I l live far away from each other. She lives in Florida and I live in New York and in order to understand what she is talking about I would need some grounding. I would need to know who this girl she doesn’t like is. So I would have to inquire more about what the girl has done to her and exactly why she would be going the club with her.
The conversation may have been easy for me to figure out in terms of the slang but it I needed grounding in terms of the context of what she is saying. If I don’t know what is going on her life then I would be unable to understand the conversation. Distance plays a major role in understanding the conversation. If you are further apart, I believe more grounding is necessary.
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I think this is a very interestin scenario. The same thing happens with people who speak other languages. For instance for spanish speakers who instant message each other they have their own slang and unless you know what that slang is you will not be able to understand the conversation, even if you can read proper spanish. I also agree that the futhere the distance the more grounding is needed. You my have some things in common to foster the common ground, but when you are separated for a certain amount of time that begins to fade away and you may need to do things, such as asking questions or rereading a text, to understand exactly what the other person is talking about.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting post as to how grounding in different languages can effect a conversation. You had the common ground in language, but no existing knowledge about the girl she was referring to. Due to the turn-based somewhat un-rich medium that SMS is it would make establishing that grounding more difficult. Given a more synchronous medium I believe it would be easier to establish grounding on the girl that she doesn't like.
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