WASHINGTON 鈥� When聽it comes to texting, a lot can be lost in translation. Now, a new study suggests that the way people use punctuation could affect聽the text message’s聽tone 鈥� in a bad way.
While it聽may be good grammar, ending text messages with a period gives off a聽perception of being less sincere, according to聽researchers at Binghamton University.
, tested聽how a message ending in a period was聽perceived by聽giving聽the 126 study participants聽the same note, both in handwritten and in text form.
The study’s author Celia Klin says that when people talk face-to-face, they instinctively look聽for cues in聽facial expressions, pauses and inflection聽to help interpret聽language, Klin said .
“People obviously can’t use these mechanisms when they are texting,” Klin says. “Thus, it makes sense that texters rely on what they have available to them 鈥斅爀moticons, deliberate misspellings that mimic speech sounds and, according to our data, punctuation.”
It’s a sign our language is evolving because of the changing way we communicate.
