Since the dawn of time, the English language has been constantly changing. A current trend is "txt tlk;" for example "idk"- I don't know, and "u"- you. Basically, abbreviations of words.
As two students in Colorado, we are creating a mockumentary. A mockumentary is documentation of facts from the past/present, with our predictions of the future. Our mockumentary is about how the English language is changing in both written and spoken forms.
We want to ask your opinion on these changes, and how they could affect the future, for better or for worse. Do you see any wrongs with text talk? Do you think it should be allowed in everyday writing (yes, including school)? Do you think more words will be combined or condensed to create shorter words? Where do you think the future of our language will lead us to?
Once we have more posts, we will try to post our final version of our project so that you can see it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
It will affect our language in two ways:
1. To the extent that it abbreviates words so effectively, it is a
modern day "short-hand", a subject learned by secretaries in the good
old days (I took it in high school); and it will probably reduce the
number of words actually used in communicating ideas since text
messaging replaces e-mail that replaced "snail" mail. Writing by hand
disappears; people just make an unintelligible scribble when writing
their names much less a sentence or a paragraph.
2. It is just part of the new electronic world that makes serious
writing and reading less important. In this regard one notes the
disappearance of daily newspapers from routine living.
Love...Granddad
That comment was from your Grandpa who is 78 years old! I will get my comment to you shortly:)
First off the body of available words and then semantics are evolving. Second, communication methods have always influenced and shaped the above. This is true now more than ever. For example, the term text messaging was added to Miriam Webster's online dictionary in 2006, at the same time googling became a recognized verb. I just found LOL, laughing out loud, in the online Oxford Dictionary. I am sure there was some discussion, somewhere, about adding that one.
My point is that text messaging, a communication method, is here to stay until something usurps the handheld. Since the physical nature of text messaging necessitates short-cuts, text message "language" and the pressure for brevity is here to stay.
Whether the text message language has a place in other communications becomes more of a value judgment and far less a necessity. I can tell you, that as a teacher, I am disturbed to see text message language in classwork work. This does happens. An academic response doesn't require this level of brevity or type of word usage. So the modern day text messaging influence has now necessitated a new teaching point.
Basically, change has and will always occur within our language. I predict that text messaging will remain specific to the type of communication that necessitates it, that of the phone. I also predict that, in turn, the teaching of written language will become even more nuanced as we already address the issue (text message brevity) daily when in the classroom. As far as the very nature of the written language, well, you didn't ask that question.
Post a Comment