In the survey, if you add extra periods to the text, they… more. intense.

What do you think when you receive this text message?

“Buy milk”

It’s pretty easy. There’s nothing to turn your eyes off. But what happens if the text is read like this?

“Buy. A few. Milk.”

It’s a little more intense, isn’t it? Does the texter need milk immediately? Are they irritated? According to a new study from Binghamton University at the State University of New York, tebrisms like these convey emotions and strength, such as adding periods after each word or putting each word in its own text bubble. You can do it.

Celia Klin, a psychologist at Binghamton University, published studies in 2015 and 2017 on the inclusion of periods after single word texts. Yeah. no. Instead of being used grammatically, as in more formal writing, the period used after one word in a text message to indicate that the sentence is complete, and to add meaning Klin said it was understood to be used in the form of

In a paper published in Frontiers in Psychology, Klin and former graduate students at Binghamton University Rachel Poirier and Andrew Cook studied two new techniques. They asked a group of undergraduate students to look into a series of text exchanges and assess whether they believed the Texter had sent them or annoyed them.

The first type of tebrism was to include a period after each word.

Yeah. obtain. An. Pest agent.

The second type of Tebrism places each word in its own text bubble.

no

just

go

In both cases, these tebrisms were understood to add emotional strength to the message.

“Texters is far more limited than speakers when it comes to communicating important social and practical information,” Klin said. “Tebrism such as irregular punctuation and intentional mistakes are sometimes used to make multimodal cues such as tones and gestures available in spoken language. It is important to convey emotions and strength. It was intended.”

In the conversation spoken, he predicted that the contributions of conversation partners would be meaningful rather than random, and Klin said he expected the same meaning in text messages.

“Readers assume that the decision to include techism, such as including the period after each word or by placing each word in its own text bubble, is intentional and meaningful.” Klin said. “In other words, they believe that tebrism is included to convey meaning, which can be thought of in regards to the concept of “emotional work.” The recipient of the text understands that the inclusion of tebrism requires work and assumes that this work was done intentionally.

Klin said additional research is needed to investigate the scope of factors that influence understanding of techism. Findings may vary in more formal communication settings, for example between employees and superiors. She also stated that the study should only examine texts that convey negative emotions, and examine a wider range of material, as well as individual characteristics of readers.

Although speculation, Klin and her colleagues conclude that both the tebrism they investigate are understood by readers as pauses, perhaps mimicking the rhyme of the dramatic pause voice .

“You can imagine the existence of periods after which readers have “heard” as staccato’s speech. no. “The same is discussed with the second tebrism we discussed, with words being read one by one in bubbles of individual texts. Pauses in spoken languages ​​have important communication functions. I know there is. There is also a way to pause it.”