The researchers are asking residents of Switzerland to assist by 'donating' their messages to the research teams.
Messages can be written in English, French, German, Italian or Romansh. Similar research was undertaken on text messaging five years ago and the researchers are hoping to explore the language patterns being used and exactly how people are communicating. One difference they are noting between texting and WhatsApp is that conversations in the latter are more 'open' – conversations can go on for days. The researchers are also interested in how different languages and dialects are being used and mixed together.
To find out more about the research, follow the link.