Recent advances in technology are ruining the English language Nowadays linguists, teachers, journalists and other language enthusiasts are claiming recent technological advances such as the internet, social media and smartphones are ruining the English language. Some say the texting used on social media platforms is making adolescents produce more grammatical errors while others say texting marks a new era in language development. Even though it is a relatively new issue, there are many solid arguments for both the pros and cons of the use of internet language. Still, no matter how the topic is approached, it is clear that the English language is constantly growing and internet language and texting are an important part of today’s society.
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American linguist John McWhorter explained that texting seems so threatening to the English language because never before have people had the chance to send and receive each other’s messages as instantly as now with the help of smart phones and internet connection. McWhorter describes texting as ‘fingered speech’, because one is typing on their phone, speaking casually. That is why the structure of texting is so loose – one does not think about punctuation or capital letters while talking, so they do not do it while texting either (John McWhorter 2013). Caroline Tagg, a British linguist agrees with McWhorter and adds that in texting, verbal phrases such as “erm” and “oh” are being used, just as people use them while talking to each other informally (Richard Alleyne 2009). Also emoticons, ’smileys’ or visual descriptions of emotions are added to texts to make them more emotional and to convey facial expressions, since the two people are not able to see each other at that moment. On the contrary to instant messages, other written texts are usually read some time after writing, so the author’s emotions are not important to the reader. Therefore texting, even though in written form, is closer to speaking in its nature, since it uses emotive …show more content…
Internet language is definitely giving its own important contribution to the development of this global language. Even though technology is not a detrimental part, it may become so if we make a bad habit out of texting loosely and forget formal writing and strict grammar. Even though texting is closer to speaking in its structure than academic writing, it may have bad consequences, since lessons from school will not stick when a vast amount of messages are poorly written. Above all, academic and correct writing is something far more important than instant messaging with
American linguist John McWhorter explained that texting seems so threatening to the English language because never before have people had the chance to send and receive each other’s messages as instantly as now with the help of smart phones and internet connection. McWhorter describes texting as ‘fingered speech’, because one is typing on their phone, speaking casually. That is why the structure of texting is so loose – one does not think about punctuation or capital letters while talking, so they do not do it while texting either (John McWhorter 2013). Caroline Tagg, a British linguist agrees with McWhorter and adds that in texting, verbal phrases such as “erm” and “oh” are being used, just as people use them while talking to each other informally (Richard Alleyne 2009). Also emoticons, ’smileys’ or visual descriptions of emotions are added to texts to make them more emotional and to convey facial expressions, since the two people are not able to see each other at that moment. On the contrary to instant messages, other written texts are usually read some time after writing, so the author’s emotions are not important to the reader. Therefore texting, even though in written form, is closer to speaking in its nature, since it uses emotive …show more content…
Internet language is definitely giving its own important contribution to the development of this global language. Even though technology is not a detrimental part, it may become so if we make a bad habit out of texting loosely and forget formal writing and strict grammar. Even though texting is closer to speaking in its structure than academic writing, it may have bad consequences, since lessons from school will not stick when a vast amount of messages are poorly written. Above all, academic and correct writing is something far more important than instant messaging with