http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2984220/Text-speak-makes-youngsters-spelling-BETTER-according-linguist-claims-technology-making-teenagers-read-ever.html
The text illustrates a descriptivist attitude because it counter-argues the belief that texting causes a decline in the standard of the English language: proving that in contrary to popular belief, it has stimulated positive development of the language.
The text purposefully structures its sentences so that a clear argument can be illustrated to the reader. Consequently, a range of discourse markers have been used at the beginning of sentences to emphasise the writer's view. For instance, the second paragraph opens with the conjunction 'But' to immediately create a juxtaposition between the popular view that texting is a 'digital virus' and the writer's thoughts on how texting 'actually improves people's writing and spelling' ability. Hence, the reader is intrigued into discovering more about this contrasting view because this text will challenge the belief of the majority.
Similarly, the writer uses a select choice of lexis to emphasise his views that texting can have a positive effect on the English language. Specifically, superlative adjectives are used by the author as a means to reinforce the positive influence textspeak has on English. The text states that the 'best texters are the best spellers' to suggest that texting can boost an individual's spelling ability, which in turn demeans the perspectivist belief that it stimulates a decline in literacy. Notably, the repetition of the superlative adjective emphasises this positive correlation between texting and spelling so the reader is encouraged to adopt a descriptivist attitude that promotes this progression.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2004/dec/23/schools.mobilephones
This text doesn't explicitly demonstrate a prescriptivist or descriptivist attitude; however, it implies that texting doesn't have a negative impact on our language use so slightly favours the progressive nature of the descriptvisim. Nevertheless, the text explains how children who text are far less expressive in the way they communicate, which arguably could be a downfall.
This article uses the grammatical features of textspeak so that the reader can comprehend the visual difference between it and Standard English in its written form. In particular, number homophones are used in the article whilst the writer imitates the style of writing used by teenagers who text. For instance, a 13 year old student explains how New York is 'gr8', and uses this for speed and convenience. Therefore, this example relates to how people who text, in contrast to people who write, are far more concise in their speech because text talk provides them with the belief that elaborate responses are not required during communication.
Moreover, this article uses a variety of methods to highlight the importance of a specific fact or figure. In this case, statistics are used in the text to illustrate how common mobile phones are amongst the young generation. It is explained that '700,000 (20%) of primary school children own mobile phones' which creates a clear idea for the reader to comprehend the growing influence texting has from a very young age.
http://www.livescience.com/21887-texting-bad-grammar.html
This text takes the tone of a prescriptivist piece because it suggests that the shortcuts and abbreviations used in textspeak are being replicated in written and spoken communication: leading to a decline in grammar both on paper and in speech.
In this text, a range of lexical devices are used to convey the expansive nature of textspeak. A semantic field of terminology related to textspeak is used in the text to illustrate to the reader how it is full of a variation of lingusitic devices that differ greatly from Standard English. This includes 'initialisms', 'abbreviations' and 'homophones': all of which providing text users with easy ways to communicate despite the fact that they disobey the rules of normal spelling and grammar.
Also, the article uses expert statements to support its claims that texting is having a negative impact on the English language. Quotations are taken from S. Shyam Sundar, a Penn State communications professor who worked with Cingel, when it is explained that sending your kid "a lot of text messages with word adaptions...(will cause) he or she to imitate them". Hence, the writer implied that textspeak has a contagious effect on others, to prove that this common use of gramatically incorrect speech can rapidly cause a national decline in language skills.
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