Email and mobile phones have bred a whole lexicon of abbreviations, truncated words and acronyms that can be used to swap instant messages.

Mostly it is young people whose e-vocabulary is punctuated with cryptic short forms such as OMG (oh my God), GR8 2 CU (great to see you) and GALHER (get a load of her).

Parents and teachers have voiced concern that instant messaging is making youngsters lazy and less adept at language.

But two researchers from the University of Toronto in Canada disagree.

Dr Sali Tagliamonte and linguist Derek Denis believe text message short forms actually represent "an expansive new linguistic renaissance".

They point out that instant messaging allows teenagers to deploy a "robust mix" of colloquial and formal language.

This allows them to walk a tightrope between risking disapproval from those in authority for using slang or swear words, and the scorn of their friends for sounding too "straight".

Texting enables young people to show off what they can do with language, say the scientists.

Quoted on the University of Toronto website, Dr Tagliamonte said: "Everybody thinks kids are ruining their language by using instant messaging, but these teens' messaging shows them expressing themselves flexibly through all registers.

"They actually show an extremely lucid command of the language. We shouldn't worry."

The research, due to be presented at the annual meeting of the Linguistics Society of Canada and the United States in August, is highlighted today in New Scientist magazine.

Mr Denis said texting and instant messaging represents "interactive discourse among friends that is conducive for informal language, but at the same time, it is a written interface which tends to be more formal than speech."

He and Dr Tagliamonte analysed more than a million text message words and 250,000 spoken words produced by a group of 72 Toronto teenagers.

The study found that while instant messaging language did mirror colloquial speech patterns, it also incorporated formal writing rules teachers would probably approve of.