ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses bilingual discursive practices and text messaging as a linguistic and social phenomenon. It analyzes the discursive practices used in text messages by college students in a university in Puerto Rico in order to better understand the relationship between language choice and the role of technology in redefining the boundaries around the use of two or more languages. The chapter explores language use in text messaging by English language learners in a bilingual context. It also discusses how culture and language choices are intertwined. Within categories of language use, spelling variations have often been confused with code switching. The chapter categorizes spelling variation as words that have been modified phonetically; the spelling has been changed or modified to fit the need of the host language. Men's language within text messages had a more informal tone and had message examples, which did not delve into much detail and in some cases portrayed more vulgar and English-filled text messages.
