This concept has further implications though. As many bloggers here have talked about already texting and the internet is changing the way we write and maybe even our mentality about reading and writing. We're prone to use shorthand because its easier. This was the same with "kid" instead of "child." Try it. It's easier to say "kid." The thing is... do we want language to change the way it is? And do we have a choice? As I type this, internet users everywhere are making the unconscious choice to shorten their writing and speech, and language is responding in due course. First handwriting suffered a death blow when its capital Q was changed: link. Now Lake Superior State University comes out with a annual list of words they feel should be banished from the English language due to mis-use, over-use, or plain uselessness (the need for the list alone shows the change in language): link. This year's list includes app, friend as a verb, stimulus, and teachable moment.
The final death blow to language will come with the common use of the SarcMark. One of the final remaining charms of actually having a conversation with someone are the inflections of tone and speech that help you know what a person is thinking when they say something. This especially comes in handy with sarcasm. Sarcasm is one of the few things in language that you can't understand over a text, but with the SarcMark (link) sarcasm will finally be understood through text. Some may find this as a triumph, but I think there is something a little sad about that. I think a little bit of sarcasm's charm will be lost there.
We are at a crossroads where language is changing yet again as it has for centuries, but we are at a point where we can affect how it changes. So we need to consciously make an effort to change our speech to what we want it to be five hundred years from now. After all do you want to be responsible for making "friend" into a verb... officially?
Unfortunately, everything that Carina said is entirely true- the English language is collapsing all together. The way we are speaking and writing has completely evolved around this 'shorthand', 'easy way out' style of writing. So, who is to blame? Well, we can't point our fingers all to one person. Everyone has contributed, in one way or another, to the way our language is today. Technology, in my aspect, has definitely lead the way to our old-fashioned writing style being banished. I read the links that Carina posted, and I found the first one to be quite interesting. When was the last time you wrote a letter or essay in cursive? Sure, every now and then we write a little message in our binders or on school projects. However, I can't remember the last time I wrote more than a sentence in cursive. Did you know that a capital Q in cursive looks like a number 2? This is a shame because I know I am not the only one out there who doesn't write in cursive on a frequent basis. Nowadays, people want the coolest gadgets and gizmos to instant message or text their friends. We focus so much on this 'new' way of communicating, that we forget about the 'old' style. We are in need of drastic change.
ReplyDeleteI write in cursive. Of course, where I come from that's how they teach to write, so I guess it's no surprise. But Language is constantly evolving along with the society to which it pertains. It's natural. You don't see people speaking in Middle Age English. Why? Because it evolved into modern English! Perhaps they thought their language was collapsing when it was undergoing the metamorphosis into what we are now familiar with. But in reality it was just evolving. That could be what is happening now. Maybe English is entering it's next stage. Who knows? With so many people learning it it may just HAVE to be made simpler.
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