Teenagers and those in their early 20s, classified as Generation Z, have grown up with smartphones which they use to send short messages without full stops.

Linguistic experts are now investigating why teens interpret a correctly-punctuated text as a signal of irritation.

The debate was reignited after writer Rhiannon Cosslett tweeted, “Older people — do you realize that ending a sentence with a full stop comes across as sort of abrupt and unfriendly to younger people in an email/chat? Genuinely curious.”

That prompted crime novelist Sophie Hannah to reply, “Just asked 16-year-old son — apparently this is true. If he got a message with full stops at the end of sentences he’d think the sender was ‘weird, mean or too blunt.’”

According to experts, youngsters used to communicating electronically break up their thoughts by sending each one as a separate message, rather than using a full stop, which they use only to signal they are annoyed or irritated.

Linguist Lauren Fonteyn of Leiden University in Holland, tweeted, “If you send a text message without a full stop, it’s already obvious that you’ve concluded the message.

“So if you add that additional marker for completion, they will read something into it and it tends to be a falling intonation or negative tone.”

David Crystal, one of the world’s leading language experts, argues that the usage of full stops is being “revised in a really fundamental way.”

In his book, “Making a Point,” he says that the punctuation mark has become an emotion marker which alerts the recipient that the sender is angry or annoyed. In 2015, a study from Binghamton University in New York suggested that people who finish messages with full stops are perceived as insincere. The study involved 126 undergraduates.

Unusually, texts ending in an exclamation point — lmao!, just a cheeky one!, what body part even is that? I hope it’s your arm! — are deemed heartfelt or more profound. Research leader Celia Klin said, “People can’t use eye gaze, facial expressions, tone of voice, pauses and so on when they are texting. Thus, it makes sense that texters rely on what they have available to them.”

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【重燃】 chóngrán reignite give new life or energy to

【直言的】zhíyán de blunt abrupt in speech or manner

青少年和那些20岁出头的人被称为Z世代，他们在智能手机的陪伴下长大，用智能手机发送短信，但不使用句号。

语言专家正在研究，为什么青少年会把正确地使用了标点的短信理解为愤怒的信号。

作家里安农▪科斯莱特近日发布的推文中写道：“年龄较大的人们，你们是否意识到，在邮件或短信聊天中使用句号对年轻人来说意味着生硬和不友善？纯粹好奇。”这引发了有关年轻人对句号态度的再次讨论。

犯罪小说家索菲▪汉娜回复道：“我问过16岁的儿子，这显然是真的。如果他收到的短信末尾有句号，他会认为发件人‘古怪、刻薄或太生硬’。”

专家认为，习惯用电子设备交流的年轻人会将他们的想法分开发送，而不是使用句号，因为句号只能表示他们很恼火或愤怒。

荷兰莱顿大学的语言学家劳伦▪方廷博士在推特上写道：“发短信时不加句号，很明显你也已经说完了。”

“所以如果已经结束了，你还额外加上一个表示完成的符号，人们就会解读出一些往往是消极或负面的情绪。”

大卫▪克里斯特尔是世界顶尖的语言专家之一，他认为句号的用法正在“从根本上发生改变”。他在所著的《表达观点》一书中写道，句号已经变成了一种情绪标记，提醒收件人，发件人生气或恼怒。

2015年，纽约宾汉姆顿大学的一项研究表明，用句号结束短信的人会被认为不真诚。共有126名大学生参与了这项研究。

不同寻常的是，短信以感叹号结尾被认为是真心诚意或更深刻的。比如，“笑死我了！”、 “真是个厚颜无耻的家伙!”、“那到底是什么身体部位？我希望是你的胳膊！”

研究负责人西莉亚▪克林说：“人们在发短信时显然不能使用凝视、面部表情、语调、停顿等方式。因此，发短信的人依赖他们能用的方式来传递信息。”

(chinadaily.com.cn)