One of the main characteristics of languages is that they are always evolving, and the English language is no exception. Through its history, English has adapted itself to the contexts in which people were living, introducing new words or deleting ones that were not used anymore, amongst other changes. Over the last century, many new inventions influenced the language. One of the most important elements that is presently shaping and changing the use of English is the advances in technologies, from which emerged what is called ‘textspeak’: a dialect of English used by people when sending messages via mobile phones and online chats. Form the widespread use of textspeak arose two main views about the effects it on the English language: some think
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Because its popularity is always growing, some people are afraid of textspeak’s influence on the quality of formal English. Indeed, many worry that this new dialect is attacking the English language, which would lead to the destruction of its proper spelling and usage (Carrington, 2005; Alkawas, 2011). According to Crystal (2008b), a few “doom-laden prophecies” (p.151) have appeared concerning the harmful impact textspeak could have on English. Amongst the most popular prophecies are those stating that the improper spelling of textspeak will hinder young learner’s ability to correctly use grammar, which would inevitably transfer to other subjects in school and lead students to get lower grades. This would in turn lead to the emergence of a new generation not being able to use proper English, and thus the quality of the language would be forced to decline. Psychologist have two main theories as to how textspeak will negatively affect the language: retroactive interference and decay theory (Drouin & Davis, 2009). The retroactive interference theory states that elements that are learned later in life will at one point interfere with elements that were learned earlier. Following this reasoning, the acquisition and regular use of textspeak will at one point impede the access to and memory of SE, making it more difficult to correctly use proper English. The second theory is called decay theory, and claims that the use of textspeak as the main language of communication hinders the neural connections giving access to SE because they will not have been used enough and would have decayed through time. Furthermore, in their research, Drouin and Davis (2009) found out that many college students thought that the use of textspeak was harming their ability to correctly remember and use SE. This could be the first step into the realization of the prophecies announcing the
Because its popularity is always growing, some people are afraid of textspeak’s influence on the quality of formal English. Indeed, many worry that this new dialect is attacking the English language, which would lead to the destruction of its proper spelling and usage (Carrington, 2005; Alkawas, 2011). According to Crystal (2008b), a few “doom-laden prophecies” (p.151) have appeared concerning the harmful impact textspeak could have on English. Amongst the most popular prophecies are those stating that the improper spelling of textspeak will hinder young learner’s ability to correctly use grammar, which would inevitably transfer to other subjects in school and lead students to get lower grades. This would in turn lead to the emergence of a new generation not being able to use proper English, and thus the quality of the language would be forced to decline. Psychologist have two main theories as to how textspeak will negatively affect the language: retroactive interference and decay theory (Drouin & Davis, 2009). The retroactive interference theory states that elements that are learned later in life will at one point interfere with elements that were learned earlier. Following this reasoning, the acquisition and regular use of textspeak will at one point impede the access to and memory of SE, making it more difficult to correctly use proper English. The second theory is called decay theory, and claims that the use of textspeak as the main language of communication hinders the neural connections giving access to SE because they will not have been used enough and would have decayed through time. Furthermore, in their research, Drouin and Davis (2009) found out that many college students thought that the use of textspeak was harming their ability to correctly remember and use SE. This could be the first step into the realization of the prophecies announcing the