Facebook. Twitter. Emails. Smartphones. The Internet. All this technology that boomed in the early 2000s and we can’t imagine living without. All this technology that changed how we communicate and use language, even though you may have not noticed so. In fact, this technology is changing our English language at a much faster rate than ever before. Let’s take a look back, a couple of years ago, and see what the word of the year the oxford dictionary picked. Yes, this is the oxford that is notorious for using complex words and sentence structures throughout their papers. Now, you might expect the word to be some long and sophisticated word that means something complicated. But no, it was this symbol. The “Laughing-Crying” emoji. If oxford picking this emoji as its word of the year does not convince you that language as we know it is evolving, I don’t know what will. This emoji is originated from the world of texting. We all know what texting is.
Texting, specifically, without a doubt, is altering how we use language. With the uprising of “texting”, a rather negative stigma has began to surround this recent form of communication. The general public sees it as a reason of deterioration of writing and comprehension skills. It leads human to simply tap on their phone screens and not engaging in any verbal conversations. However, I beg to differ with the majority and argue that texting is just another medium of communication that naturally evolves language. To get a full grasp of what I’m saying, we have to go way back, to the language of our cavemen ancestors. Scientists and Linguists estimated that the first human beings began talking about 100,000 years ago. Keyword here is talking. They did not write anything down. No paper and no rocks. They just spoke to one another verbally. Writing on the other hand, came much, much later. The earliest recordings of human history is traced back about 6000 years ago. So humans have talked for over 90,000 years before they created the means of writing. However, since the invention of writing, language become much more complex, with the usage of long and varied sentences. Recent researchers believe this is because writing requires critical thinking and 9/10 times, you would look back on your writing and reflect on it. For example, let’s look at this passage from Dave Eggers’ novel, What is the What.
“I fly past the smaller shops, past the men drinking wine on the benches, past the old men playing dominoes, past the restaurants and the Arabs selling clothes and rugs and shoes, past the twins my age, Ahok and Awach Ugieth, two very kind and hardworking girls carrying bundles of kindling on their heads, Hello, Hello, we say, and finally I step into the darkness of my father’s stores, completely out of breath.”
This sentence has a total of 73 words. Yep 73 words. A very long sentence that is arguably only achieved through writing. Because let’s face it, I don’t think anyone talks like that. Or at least I haven’t met anyone who talks like that. Linguists estimate that an average person would speak in short 8-15 word sentences in a casual talk. This is what speech is. It offers much more freedom and it is way looser than writing as it requires less cognitive thinking. However, one is able to adopt the language of writing, when he/she is required to give a formal speech. Say a presidential speech or arguments in formal debates. Formal speeches is nothing like casual speech as it is much more sophisticated and uses longer sentences like the one mentioned above. Formal speeches is an example of us talking like we write. But what form of language would be created, if say, we wanted to write like we speak casually. And this is where texting comes in play. You see, in a normal conversation, there are two requirements. One is the person you are speaking to receive what you are saying instantly. And the other is to show some kind of emotion or tone while speaking. Well, how convenient is that, with the use of this technology we talked about earlier. You have a device in your pockets that allow you to write like you speak. Now you might think, why do I care about this? Why is this important? Well, just like how writing revolutionized the world when it was introduced 6000 years ago, texting also has the same potential if not more to possibly improve the way we communicate with each other. I’d like to draw your attention to the striking similarities between texting and casually speaking. When we text, no one cares or pays attention to the punctuation or the grammar we use. And do we think about such things while talking? No. Also, we tend to stretch out words while we speak to emphasize on a certain word. We also do that while we text. John McWhorter, an American academic and linguist teaching in University of Columbia, describes texting as fingered speech. This fingered speech has already began affecting the way we use language in our day to day lives.
When email was introduced in the 90s, it quickly replaced letter writing and any physical form of private communication. Now, with texting, it began to replace email as it is much more accessible and user-friendly. The rate of change of medium of communication in this day and age is phenomenal. And with this rate, various new forms of speech began to evolve as well.
Firstly, and probably, the most common result of texting is the frequent usage of acronyms. This includes: FYI which means For Your Information, BTW which means By The Way and many, many more. These not only make sentences shorter but also provide new meanings to the phrase when used in various situations. One acronym that has sparked an interest in me is LOL. At first, these three letters represented laughing out loud. But now, LOL is used so much more frequently, that it is even incorporated into sentences that are not remotely funny. Let’s look at this exchange between my brother and one of his friends:
“DID YOU SEE THE NEW GAME COMING OUT LOL?”
“YES I DID”
“are you going to buy it lol?”
“idk lol…. should I????”
Its either I have a really bad sense of humor or there is actually nothing really to “Laugh Out Loud”. They are literally talking about a new video game that’s coming out. Linguist McWhorter, explains this phenomenon as signs of empathy that the two texters share between each other. This usage of LOL is not to comment on how funny this topic is but rather portray a sense of ease and acceptance throughout. And I think this makes sense. I looked back into my old texts and found this: a conversation between me and my friend.
“ready for exams lol?”
“NO, IM SURE NOT LOL”
This is a perfect example of this application of empathy through the usage of LOL. We are both worried about the exams but we also both use LOL to relieve some of the tension and lighten up the mood. LOL has followed this rapid trend of language evolution and within mere years had its meaning shift from laughter to conventions of empathy and relatability. Emojis also play a very vital role in delivering emotions through writing. They are what allowed this mean of communication to be effective in the first place as without emotion, writing like how we speak would be extremely difficult.
Speaking of conventions, I don’t know if you noticed the sentences written in uppercase. Such sentences are a prime representation of translating emotion through text. In general, it is accepted that while texting, uppercased sentences showcases the texter as if he is shouting or yelling. Whether it be fear or excitement, this convention of texting is used by almost everyone who communicated through this medium. However, this utilization of capitalized sentences can be portrayed as an attempt to be rude or simply annoying. The usage of capitals depends on the situation, the context of the text and who the text it directed to. If it is to a friend, it is usually in a joking manner to show excitement. But if it is on a public forum, it can be interpreted as a sign of immaturity and rudeness.
Another way technologies impacted the English language is how it came up with new meanings for older words. For instance, technology completely changed the context of words like “friended” and “likes.” Previously, it would be interpreted as words that convey a sense of friendship or likeability. The words now refer to the ever-popular website Facebook, one of the many ways to text, and its core mechanics as a website. Friended in this context refers to being added to a list of people that you know and might potentially text. On the other hand, likes alludes to an easy way to let the people you “friended” know that you enjoyed whatever social media post he or she put out. Interestingly enough, the amount of friended people and likes can be interpreted a number of different ways. You could see it as its intended function of socializing and whatnot. But recently, people have been using likes to basically measure the popularity and likability of the person.
Furthermore, technology has also resulted in the creation of various new words and phrases such as google it or tweet it. These words have even been added to official dictionaries such as Oxford. “To google” has developed into a globally understood verb referring to searching or looking information using the well-known search engine called Google. Tweeting is another trendy word that sparked from a web-site called Twitter, where people are provided with several means of socializing with others through liking and sharing. What I find intriguing is that, new words keep popping up so often that I, myself have a hard time catching up.
Technology and texting may have a lot of positives to languages, but this very fast rate of evolution does bring up several negatives. Most importantly is that not everyone may be able to understand what is being said if this modern language is used. Different age groups interpret these texting terms differently, while some may not be able to understand them at all. The other day, I wanted to see if my grandmother was able to comprehend modern lingo and surely enough, she barely understood anything. She still uses an old-fashioned phone to this very day. This is expected, nonetheless. Just like how we in the 21st century have difficulties understanding shakespearean language, some demographics may not be able to communicate using texting language. The main difference however is that shakespearean language is 100s of years old while texting is only a decade old, highlighting the rate of language change that is caused by this advancement in technologies.
To conclude, the English language is evolving as technologies advances. In the near future, virtual reality may be a thing and new terminology may be born because of it. Technology has allowed us to express our feelings though texting conventions and emojis. In fact, 32% of people would rather text than call someone and this number keeps on increasing each year. So, texting and other advancements are not ruining our language, but rather it is forming a new one.