1

Abbreviation in SMS
Abbreviation in SMS Language

A. Introduction

By the important role of the SMS as the fastest massage-sending service,

many new words have also built and became popular. The using of many feeling

symbols or emoticons has been fixing freely. Short massage has been added at

cellular mobile services. At the first, SMS has been added in limited capacity and

there is policy that is appointed the amount of characters in this service.

He is Friedhelm Hillebrand who was in 1986 as the leader of non-voice

service in Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). By his constancy,

the amount of character in SMS is 160. This amount refers to the maximal letters

and space in two written-words. By that Hillebrand’s discovery has been agreed

as the amount of characters on cellular phone until now. It is also known as the

magic number.

That decision has influenced the language in short massage around the

world. Because it is just short massage and there is decisive rate for each

sending. So, it needs much creativity to write the short massage as short as

possible but it must be still be able to be understood.

B. Review Literature

Regular C 0705085108
 2

Abbreviation in SMS
1. Abbreviation

An abbreviation (from Latin brevis, meaning "short") is a shortened form of a

word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of

letters taken from the word or phrase. For example, the word abbreviation can

itself be represented by the abbreviation abbr. or abbrev and acronyms are

regarded as a subgroup of abbreviations (e.g. by the Council of Science

Editors). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The difference between abbreviation and acronym is the abbreviation patterns

are in the letters, while acronyms are in syllables.

There are some patterns of abbreviation and acronym:

1) Abbreviations which consist of capitals. The patterns are made from

the letter of each first word. In this abbreviation does not need periods

Example: APBN (Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Negara), BBM

(bahan bakar minyak), SLI (sambungan langsung internasional), PT .

(Perseroan Terbatas), TVRI (Televisi Republik Indonesia), WNA (Warga

Negara Asing)

2) Acronyms which consist on of capitals. They are made from the letter

of each first word.

Example: ABRI (Angkatan Bersenjata Republik Indonesia), ASI (Air Susu

Ibu), HUT (hari ulang tahun), ISTI (Institut Seni Tari Indonesia), PAM

(perusahaan air minum), SIM (Surat Izin Mengemudi)

Regular C 0705085108
 3

Abbreviation in SMS
3) Abbreviations which consist of lower case letters. It is from letter in

each first word. It must be used periods (full stop) between the letters.

Example: a.n. (atas nama), d.a. (dengan alamat), p.p. (pulang pergi), u.p.

(untuk perhatian), a.l. (antara lain), y.l. (yang lalu)

4) Abbreviations which consist of lower case letters are from letter in each

first word. They consist of three lower case letters and there is a period in

the end of the abbreviation.

Example: dll. (dan lain-lain), dsb. (dan sebagainya), dkk. (dan kawan-

kawan), ybs.(yang bersangkutan), tsb. (tersebut), yad. (yang akan datang)

5) Abbreviation and acronym in company name and people’s names. This

includes parts of words that make the abbreviation. This is spelled as a

word, so it can be called acronym. The first word in acronym is used

capital.

Example: Bappenas (Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Nasional),

Depdiknas (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional), Bakin,. (Badan Koordinasi

Intelijen Negara), Kapolri (Kepala Kepolisian Republik Indonesia), Wagub

(Wakil Gubernur)

6) Acronym in this style is using the lower case letters.

Example: tilang (bukti pelanggaran), rudal (peluru kendali), sosbud (sosial

budaya), toserba (toko serbaada), pemilu (pemilihan umum)

Regular C 0705085108
 4

Abbreviation in SMS
7) Abbreviation which is in titles and greeting. This can be from the first

word or it also can be acronym. Periods is always used for each capital in

abbreviation.

Example: S.H. (Sarjana Hukum), S.Psi. (Sarjana Psikologi), M.M.

(Magister Manajemen), S.Ag. (Sarjana Agama), K.H. (Kyai Haji), R.A.

(Raden Ajeng)

8) The pattern of abbreviation which is connected with chemist, measure,

weight, and size symbols. It is not used periods.

Example: Rp (rupiah), cm (sentimeter), kg (kilogram), MHz (megahertz),

Ca (kalsium)

9) Abbreviation which is from foreign language. It is not used periods.

Example: memo (memorandum), lab (laboratorium), resto (restoran),

promo (promosi）, seleb (selebritis), kafe (kafetaria), info (informasi), nego

(negosiasi), matre (materialistis), lesbi (lesbian), konsen(konsentrasi).

Source: http://www.indonesia.co.jp/bataone/ruangbahasa26.html

2. SMS Language

Short Message Service (SMS) is a communication service standardized in the

GSM mobile communication system, using standardized communications

protocols allowing the interchange of short text messages between mobile

telephone devices. The SMS technology has facilitated the development and

growth of text messaging. The connection between the phenomenon of text

Regular C 0705085108
 5

Abbreviation in SMS
messaging and the underlying technology is so great that in parts of the world

the term "SMS" is used as a synonym for a text message or the act of sending

a text message, even when a different protocol is being used.

(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_language - 48k)

SMS language or Textese (also known as chatspeak, txt, txtspk, txtk, texting

language or txt talk) is a term for the abbreviations and slang most commonly

used due to the necessary brevity of mobile phone text messaging, though its

use is common on the Internet, including e-mail and instant messaging

C. Problem Statement

Are the abbreviations in SMS language suitable with the right pattern of

Abbreviation?

D. Analysis

There are many abbreviation vocabularies which are used by the user of SMS

service. They have to have the creativities to make massage as short as possible

but it still can be understood by their community. This is the effect to suffice the

limited criteria of SMS service.

From SMS language in those abbreviations, there are suitable with the right

patter of abbreviation, but there aren’t. Below is the explanation about that:

1. Abbreviations which consist of capitals. The patterns are made from the letter

of each first word. In this abbreviation does not need periods

In SMS language, example: ABCDE (aku bilang cinta dia enggak), EGPGTL

(emang gue pikirin gitu loh), etc.

Regular C 0705085108
 6

Abbreviation in SMS
2. Acronyms which consist on of capitals. They are made from the letter of each

first word. But, in SMS language, there is no policy to always use capital for all

letters.

Example in SMS language: ASAP (as soon as possible), AGUS (anak gaul

unjuk smile), etc

3. Abbreviation which includes parts of words that make the abbreviation. This is

spelled as a word, so it can be called acronym. The first word in acronym is

used capital. In this style, the problem is in SMS language, abbreviation is not

used for the name of company or people and the first word not always using

capitals

Example: Balon (bakal calon), Boljug (boleh juga), Bonyok (bokap nyokap),etc

4. Acronym in this style is using the lower case letters. This is the most recently-

found abbreviation in SMS language.

Example: basket (basah ketek), burket (buruan ketemu), cinlok (cinta lokasi),

etc.

5. Abbreviation which is from foreign language. It is not used periods.

Example:

Single letters can replace words

• be becomes b

Regular C 0705085108
 7

Abbreviation in SMS
• see becomes c
• the becomes da or d
• okay becomes k
• are becomes r
• you becomes u
• with becomes wit or w/
• why and yes become y
• oh becomes o

Single digits can replace words

• ate becomes 8
• for becomes 4
• to or too becomes 2
• one or won becomes 1

A single letter or digit can replace a syllable

• ate becomes 8, so:

o great becomes gr8
o mate becomes m8
o wait becomes w8
o later becomes l8r or l8a
o skate becomes sk8
o skater becomes sk8r
• tomorrow becomes 2mro
• for or fore becomes 4, so:
o before becomes (combining both of the above) b4
o therefore becomes thr4
• once becomes 1ce

And there are many words of combination above. In this type, we can see

that the user do not use only letters to make abbreviations. They also use

numbers which have same pronounce to the words.

6. Unstructured pattern of abbreviation. In this abbreviation, the users usually

decrease the vocal letter of the words.

Example: Q (aku), km (kamu), pulang (plg), kpn (kapan) etc.

E. Conclusion

Regular C 0705085108
 8

Abbreviation in SMS
From above, we can conclude that abbreviation in SMS language just uses few of

the right patter of abbreviation. It is because, the users of SMS language do not

importance about the pattern of that abbreviation. They focus on making the

shortest massage and the quality of massage to be able to be understood.

F. Bibliography

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_language - 48k

www.trap17.com/index.php/Text-Messagingchatrooms-Slang-Ruining-Acad... -

59k

http://www.indonesia.co.jp/bataone/ruangbahasa26.html

http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Pedoman_penulisan_singkatandan_akronim

Regular C 0705085108