Lietuviškos raidės elektroniniuose laiškuose

G. ŽALKAUSKAITĖ. Lithuanian letters in e-mails 275 Gintarė Žalkauskaitė University of Vilnius LITHUANIAN LETTERS IN E-MAILS When reading Lithuanian e-mails, the habit of many Internet users to write text without Lithuanian letters falls into the eye. Such writing is chosen for various reasons and becomes a habit that can influence the writing of texts both offline and online, and also forms a relaxed attitude to spelling rules. In order to encourage Internet users to write in Lithuanian letters, it is necessary to understand the peculiarities of online communication, to know the attitude of the public to texts without Lithuanian letters and the reasons for such writing. tikslų internete buvo paskelbta anketa apie lietuviškų raidžių rašymą elektroTo this end, 219 respondents were interviewed in these letters. Responding to the questionnaire, Internet users explained why they write e-mails in Lithuanian letters or not and how they evaluate writing without Lithuanian letters. Before discussing the data of the survey, it should be mentioned that the language of online communication is far away from the usual written language and is closer to the spoken language. Although the text is written, Internet users do not perceive its language as written. Researchers studying the Internet language also point out that it is a distinct language variant, which differs from both written and spoken language (Shorts 2001; Ryklienė 2001; Crystal 2006), so the peculiarities of the Internet language cannot be assessed solely on the basis of the norms of the general written language. Many online genres do not follow some of the norms commonly found in written language, such as abbreviations and phonetic spelling, which differs from common written English. According to Tim Shorts, abbreviations are used because people want to put together the text faster – words in sentences are skipped, letters in words are skipped when writing. 276 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 82 or individual phrases are replaced by letter combinations (Shorts 2001: 18). In the Lithuanian Internet there are much fewer such abbreviations, but text entry is accelerated in its own way – as will be seen from the results of the survey discussed in this article, text entry speed is one of the reasons for writing without Lithuanian letters. In either case, when creating a text, Internet users do not feel the need to adhere to the norms of common written language. The norms of general language are not observed not only in personal but also in subject-related texts, where previously only general language was used. Many letters, both personal and business, are written in the flow of thought of oral language, without Lithuanian letters and punctuation marks. For some people, such writing becomes the only usual option. As one of the survey respondents said: “where then to write with Lithuanian letters? There are quite a few jobs where you do not need to write anything except emails. And after work, without emails, we don’t write much either...” Writing without Lithuanian letters is perhaps the most extravagant feature of Internet language that goes beyond the bounds of private communication and violates the norms of common language. For example, the Internet svetainių adresai gali būti priskiriami bendrinei kalbai, tačiau tik pavieniai yra rašomi lietuviškomis raidėmis – net Vilniaus universiteto internetinio mokslo žurnalo, skirto lietuvių kalbai, adrese trūksta lietuviškų raidžių (www.lietuviukalba.lt). It can be seen that the issue of the use of Lithuanian letters on the Internet is relevant, and the existing provisions are often contradictory. NATURE OF THE STUDY There are opinions about the use of Lithuanian letters on the Internet in the press, in Lithuanian-language publications and on the Internet itself. Most often it is a personal opinion about the use of Lithuanian language on the Internet – encouraging to write in Lithuanian letters, condemning those who do not. However, there have been no studies of the public attitude to writing without Lithuanian letters or attempts to find out how many Internet users write in Lithuanian letters and how many do not, and to understand the reasons for such a choice. These questions were attempted to be answered by questionnaire. The reasons for not writing Lithuanian letters in different Internet genres can vary, therefore it was chosen to investigate the most widely used by the public, encompassing both personal and business communication, Internet genre – e-mails. G. ŽALKAUSKAITĖ. Lithuanian letters in e-mails 277 In March 2009 a questionnaire of fourteen questions was published on the website www.publika.lt. The questions and answers are formulated in order to avoid any judgment, providing the widest possible range of possible answers and allowing opinions to be expressed in their own words. The questionnaire was answered by 219 respondents of different ages. The majority of respondents were 19-30 years old (59%), 31-40 years old – 17%, 41-50 years old – 11%. Eight respondents under 19 years of age and 20 respondents over 50 years of age also responded to the questionnaire. The majority of respondents (79%) have higher education, 12% of respondents described their education as high, 12% described their education as intermediate, 12% described their education as low, 12% described nebaigtą aukštąjį, vidurinio ar aukštesniojo išsilavinimo atstovų buvo tik po kelis procentus. Į anketą atsakė 86 vyrai ir 133 moterys. Galima tvirtinti, their education as low, 12% described their education as intermediate, 12% described their education as low, 12% described their education as low, 12% described their education as low. First of all, the aim was to find out whether Internet users still encounter technical problems when sending or receiving e-mails written in Lithuanian characters. Therefore, respondents were asked the question: “Have you ever received a distorted e-mail that was typed in Lithuanian letters?”. If the answer was “yes”, it was necessary to indicate when the problem was first encountered – more or less than a year ago. The respondents’ attitude to writing without Lithuanian letters was tested by the following questions: “Does it take you longer to understand what is written when the text is written without Lithuanian letters?”, “Do you think that writing text without Lithuanian letters is faster than writing in Lithuanian letters?”, “Do you think that it is a bad thing that many e-mails are written without Lithuanian letters?”. The habits of writing Lithuanian letters were tested with the following questions: “Do you write Lithuanian letters in the text of e-mails?”, “Why do you never or sometimes write Lithuanian letters in e-mails?”, “Do you write combinations of letters instead of Lithuanian letters in e-mails, for example sh instead of š and the like?”, “When do you write Lithuanian letters in e-mails?”. Interestingly, respondents willingly answered all questions – where it was possible to choose several answers, they chose several, many comments were written in their own words. This shows that the answers to the questionnaire questions were properly selected, the study interested respondents and encouraged them to think about their writing habits. 278 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 82 RESULTS OF THE STUDY The Society's Conditions One of the objectives of the survey was to investigate the attitude of the public to texts without Lithuanian letters. The answers to the question “How do you think it is bad that many e-mails are written without Lithuanian letters?” show that this question is of interest to the public – only three people did not know what to answer. Almost 20% of respondents considered writing without Lithuanian letters as “nothing bad”, more than 30% thought that it was neither bad nor good, and most (48%) considered it a bad phenomenon (see Figure 1). 1 PAV. Distribution of the answers to the question “How do you think it is bad that many e-mails are written without Lithuanian letters?” The answers show that writing without Lithuanian letters is assessed differently: although most respondents assessed it negatively, a relatively large percentage maintains the view that it is not bad. After evaluating the writing without Lithuanian letters negatively, they commented on the answer in their own words. These comments were written by respondents of all ages and educational backgrounds. Most of the respondents (44) stated that the literacy of the writer without Lithuanian letters decreases, for example: “writing skills deteriorate, especially of those people who otherwise have less knowledge of Lithuanian grammar”*,1 “people get used to writing incorrectly”, “writing without Lithuanian letters, mistakes are made more often due to the formed habit. The spelling and punctuation of quoted comments has been corrected. 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. – is bad because... – 48.40 percent 2. – neither good nor bad – 30.59 per cent 3. – nothing bad – 19.63 percent. 4. – I have no opinion – 1.37%. G. ŽALKAUSKAITĖ. Lithuanian letters in e-mails are written with 279 Lithuanian letters, and when you enter the text, they are written without them.” Thirty respondents indicated that writing without Lithuanian letters is damaging to the language: “it impoverishes the native language”, “it distorts the Lithuanian language”, “it destroys the language”. Thirteen respondents rated writing without Lithuanian letters as unpleasant, uncomfortable to read, unsolid looking, showing the writer’s neglect, for example: “it is unpleasant to read such letters, it is uncomfortable to quote them”, “it is some kind of neglect”. Only eight respondents said that writing without Lithuanian letters shows disrespect for the language or the addressee: “sometimes it is disrespect (it depends on who you are writing to)”, “you have to respect your language and the people to whom the letter is intended”. Five respondents noted that writing without Lithuanian letters is harmful to culture and nationality, for example: “the level of human culture decreases”, “a part of nationality is lost”. Two respondents said that this damages the text: “The text loses many expression possibilities, nuances”, “imprieves the text”. It can be concluded that a part of the public understands quite well the threat of incorrect spelling on the Internet, but this does not always encourage writing in Lithuanian letters: half of the authors of comments submitted, why writing letters without Lithuanian letters is bad, and themselves sometimes write without them. The reasons for this behaviour are revealed by the answers to other questions in the questionnaire. Another important question related to the attitudes of society – is the text compiled without Lithuanian letters more difficult to understand? To the questionnaire question “Does it take you longer to understand what is written when the text is written without Lithuanian letters?” 26% of respondents answered “yes”, 44% – “no”, 30% – that it is more difficult to understand when writing unusual abbreviations or combinations of letters (see Figure 2). 2 PAV. Distribution of answers to the question “Does it take you longer to understand what is written when the text is compiled without Lithuanian letters?” 1. – no – 44 per cent 2. – more difficult to understand only when writing unusual abbreviations or combinations of letters – 30%. 3. – yes – 26% 1. 2. 3. 280 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 82 Thus, 74% of respondents read text written without Lithuanian letters and without any unusual signs or combinations of letters as easily as text written in Lithuanian letters. The answers show that Internet users consider writing without Lithuanian letters as not harmful to the most important goal – communication, so such texts do not receive greater hostility from readers. This is one of the reasons why the writing habits of Lithuanian letters in e-mails vary greatly. At the question “Do you write Lithuanian letters in the text of an e-mail?” almost 19% of respondents answered “I always write” and 11% did not write at all. (see Figure 3). 3 PAV. The question “Do you write Lithuanian letters in the text of an e-mail?” atsakymų pasiskirstymas was given many possible answers to better highlight the respondents’ writing habits. It is clear that there is a great variety of responses, the most common one being “sometimes I write, sometimes I don’t”. It can be concluded that the writing of e-mails with or without Lithuanian letters is not fully formed in society and it can be changed. Although the negative consequences of writing without Lithuanian letters are perceived, the attitude of the public to such writing is not basically hostile – it is asserted that text without Lithuanian letters is as easy to understand as text written in Lithuanian letters. From the different answers on the writing of Lithuanian letters in e-mails, it can be assumed that there is more than one reason why one or another option is chosen. 1. – sometimes I write, sometimes not – 35.16 per cent. 2. – I always write – 18.72%. 3. – I do not write more often – 18.26 per cent. 4. – I write more often – 16.44 per cent. 5. – do not write – 11.42 per cent. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. G. ŽALKAUSKAITĖ. 281 Reasons for writing and not writing Lithuanian letters The main aim of the survey was to find out from the respondents themselves why and when they choose to write without Lithuanian letters or with Lithuanian letters. Those respondents who do not always write in Lithuanian letters were asked when they write letters in Lithuanian letters. More than one of the proposed options could be selected (see Table 1). When choosing the answer “other”, they explained it, for example, “when the letter is longer, more information, rather than one sentence”, “when without Lithuanian letters a specific word acquires another meaning”, “when I do not want to encourage my addressee (e.g., my young nephew) not to use Lithuanian characters”. TABLE 1. Question “When do you write Lithuanian letters in e-mails?” atsakymų pasiskirstymas Atsakymų variantai Variantą pasirinko Proc. 1. When the letter is objective 127 40.97 2. If the person I am writing to writes Lithuanian letters 74 23,87 3. When I think that the letter will go undistorted 65 20.97 4. When I have more time 25 8.06 5. Other 19 6.13 Total 310 100,00 As could be expected, Lithuanian letters are most often used in business letters, because when writing an official text it is customary to follow the spelling rules. The second most important factor is the recipient’s writing habits: if the recipient writes in Lithuanian letters, he is inclined to do the same. Therefore, it can be said that writing in Lithuanian letters is learned from the people around you – if more people wrote in this way on the Internet, the attitudes of society would change. A significant proportion of respondents (21%) take into account technical factors when choosing which letters to use – whether the letter will not be distorted. The time factor is also important – further answers will confirm that some respondents need more time to type in Lithuanian letters. The distortion of emails and the speed of text typing are cited by respondents as the most important reasons for writing emails without Lithuanian letters. Answering the question “Why do you never or sometimes do not write Lithuanian letters 282 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 82 in e-mails?”, it was also possible to select several options or to add your own comment (see Table 2). TABLE 2. Distribution of answers to the question “Why do you never or sometimes write Lithuanian letters in e-mails?” Atsakymų variantai Variantą pasirinko Proc. 1. Some recipients receive distorted letters in Lithuanian letters 97 22,45 2. Enabled Lithuanian letter keys prevent you from typing “!”, “@” and other characters 82 18.98 3. Because dial keyboard without Lithuanian letters is faster 79 18.29 4. From habit, because before in some programs it was not possible to enter Lithuanian letters 73 16.9 5.Because I am used to writing without Lithuanian letters when dialing text messages on the phone or communicating via Skype or similar chat programs 61 14,12 6. Because so write my friends 19 4.4 7. Other 15 3.47 8. Because I want to write without respecting the rules 3 0,69 9. Because it’s more interesting – you can write differently than usual 3 0,69 Total 432 100,00 Most respondents cited distortion of the text as the reason for not writing Lithuanian letters. The website “Lithuanian language in information technologies” (www.likit.lt) states that “there are no technical obstacles to using the letters of the Lithuanian alphabet in e-mail. If a mail user encounters any problem, it shows that he has chosen the wrong mail application, web service or uses them inappropriately.” The same ideas are also presented on the website of the Lithuanian Computerists Union (www.liks.lt). However, when asked whether respondents have received distorted e-mails due to Lithuanian letters, only 10% of respondents said that they have not received distorted e-mails, while 57% indicated that they have received distorted e-mails less than a year ago. So, email users with technical barriers G. ŽALKAUSKAITĖ. Lithuanian letters in e-mails 283 still collide. Not everyone has the necessary knowledge of how to set up their mail program so that messages are sent with the necessary encodings, it is not always possible to choose the mail program, especially when communicating in online conferences, where messages travel through several programs, and there is also a lack of information on this issue. On the other hand, it can be seen that the attitude of the public towards distorted texts is negative – simply for fear that the letter will be distorted, Lithuanian letters can be abandoned altogether. Therefore, Lithuanian-language websites and publications should acknowledge that technical problems still exist, indicate when they can be expected and in which areas they have already been solved. The second reason why Lithuanian letters are not written is the layout of the keys. While there are key combinations that help you enter the required characters without switching keyboard languages, many respondents seem to be unaware of them. The combinations work with the Lithuanian – Lithuanian keyboard driver selected, but do not work with the Lithuanian – Lithuanian (Baltic) driver selected. By holding down the right Alt key, you can dial the digits of the top row without changing the keyboard language. By holding down both the Alt and Shift keys, you can combine "!", "@" and other symbols. There is a lack of information about these keyboard combinations on websites dedicated to promoting Lithuanian on the Internet. The third reason given by respondents for not writing Lithuanian letters is the pace of communication. This is one of the differences between written and spoken language: we speak much faster than we write. Many of the peculiarities of typing on the Internet have arisen in an effort to make the speed of typing text as close as possible to the speed of speaking, and those who are skilled in typing text without Lithuanian letters say that they type it faster. The effort to use verbal language in writing letters explains why spelling rules are ignored altogether. Since it was assumed that the speed of text typing is one of the reasons for not typing Lithuanian letters, the respondents were asked the question: “How do you think it is faster to type text without Lithuanian letters than with Lithuanian letters?”. 55% of respondents said that it depends on habit, 30% said it is faster, 15% said it is not faster. The answers confirm that some Internet users are convinced that text without Lithuanian letters is compiled faster. According to the number of choices, the fourth reason for not writing Lithuanian letters is a habit formed earlier, when it was not really possible to write Lithuanian letters on the Internet, and this was associated with the new-