Devolution of language

[Zario]

I know there are several of you language fans out here, especially you arc.  There's a good article on The Economist about the decay linguitic precision with the continued expansion of telecom.  Maybe it's a good explanation for why it appears that Arc types with his forehead.   

http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10950487

[Telfurion]

Ha ha...my linguistics professor showed us a very similar article last semester, and since then I have vowed to use perfect grammar and punctuation in my text messages.  To each his own right?

[Muridin]

the one thing that bugs me, and i am guilty of it, is lol.

Online its acceptable, because it is one of the only ways to show your joking, because god knows that anything can be twisted far from what was originally meant.
Its when you say lol in conversation, and i am guilty of it, but it really bugs me. The English language as it stands is so twisted from different sayings, input and output. Where did we go wrong?

we got lazy, thats how.

oh well *sigh*

[fiere redfern]

I'm among those that basically refuse to use any sort of shortened wordform in text messages. I will always type out "you", "to", "for", "are", etc. unless I'm being deliberately silly. My text messages are slower for that reason, and because I never use word-complete =P

Apostrophes that once distinguished between “its” and “it's” seem quaint and arbitrary.

That's one of the rules I remind myself of on a near-daily basis =(

[kajunlady]

i am very guilty of this been doing it since highschool  and hard to stop and online  at night i am usually typeing in the dark or fighting or tring to get somewhere ( chat box makes it so i cant move around if it's open) so i use any means to shorten it up and get back to what i was tring to do

[Arcdelad]

Great article Zar….language is definitely one of my hobbies and stuff like this is great to read a clarification, and then some reaction on my part:

I have been known…on occasion…sometimes to make spelling errors…I readily admit this However, what you WONT find me making are grammatical errors….I may type out “cario…keafe trap the sdiaer”, which means “zario, please trap the square”, but I challenge you to find a dangling participle, split infinitive, or unattached modifier My mistyping has nothing to do, unfortunately, with a linguistic statement of progressivism, and is purely the result of an untrained typing style and a lack of light lol I use a modified version of typing with two fingers based on relative key locations (I never had any formal typing classes in school or anything)…So…if I want to type “play”…and I hit “o” instead of “p”, I will most likely type out “o-k-[Caps Lock]-t” since the relative pattern is skewed by my first wrong keystroke…the second thing that is my weakness is I am an addict â€" I must have little squigglies underneath my misspells that I can magically click on to correct…when I don’t have those, my apathy for misspelling swells

Like they stated in the article, language is an ever evolving thing…at one point in time “cool” was a trendy and provocative use of language, whereas now in the modern lexicon it can be an adjective relating not just to an objects temperature. When I took my linguistics classes as part of getting my English lit bachelors degree, the one thing our teachers pounded into our skulls is that: Language is ALWAYS evolving…new words get added, some words undergo change, and some words fall off the face of the linguistic world, like the word “antidisestablishmentarianism”, which also is one of the longest words in our language. It was a product of Victorian era british politics and served its brief purpose well only to fade into the closet of non-utilitarian words.

Where people like Ms. Baron (noticed the lack of “Mrs?” That’s because shes a 40 year old single teacher in a house with no TV or computer who cries herself to sleep everynight because one of her students misquoted Shakespeare) FAIL horribly is that they do not consider code switching when they talk about dire linguistic trends.

For anyone who doesn’t know, code switching is a linguistic term for being able to switch between distinct lexical groups as the situation of event dictates. Some prominent examples of code switching:

- First generation latino’s â€" a lot of 1st generation latino’s, my wife included, are able to flawlessly switch between English and Spanish in the same conversation or sentence even. It is not unusual to hear something like the following “Hey tris! Yeah casi estoy loco but kaylasb really screwed the pooch with his cabeza de vaca in gruuls the other night. Creo que no tiene sleep, but I don’t know…no se.” Many latinos are able to, based on their choice in languages, vary up terms within a single sentence or thought, pulling the term from the language that best suits their linguistic need.

- Jive â€" it is not uncommon to hear African Americans talk jive when they are in a private setting, then speak perfect English in a job setting.

- Kids and cussing â€" When I was a kid, I would use cuss words a lot with my friends because immaturity told me that was cool and an effective way to rebel. I never, though, cussed around my parents â€" not even once.

How is this possible? Because code switching means we literally have a verbal switch or various settings in our brains in terms of language. We know instinctively what level to switch to â€" if you don’t believe me, think about going for a job interview and talking like you would talk to your most casual friends â€" it would seem awkward to you, and just does not happen. We choose the code that is efficient for the context â€" I may be crude and loose with language when playing WOW or hanging out with my friends, but put me in front of a room of teachers and I will show you perfect grammar, an impressive vocabulary, and university level polish. We talk and write to the level required by the situation.

Web speak is no different. It is a convenient way to condense thoughts into a medium appropriate style. It does not mean the end of language and it is not the harbinger of complete social devolution â€" it is the organic byproduct of a communication medium that is fast and single serve. If anyone thinks a kid is going to go into a job offer and speak in LOL’s and WTF’s, they are way mistaken â€" people’s language will always rise to the level of the situation.

To illustrate what would happen without code switching, watch the clips here from “Don’t Be a Menace” (This is sadly one of my all time FAVORITE movies)….I couldn’t find a clip of just the interview, but scroll to 4:57 into this and watch the job interview scene PARENTAL ADVISORY WARNING.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIZJnmMnhhc

[kajunlady]

that actually expalins why i ended up speaking english then cajun french when i was younger and could remeber how to speak it. wish i still could sounds beautiful when said right

[Luise]

Pretend I just quoted Arc

I agree with you Arc, but I know that at times I have words like "woot" on the tip of my tongue in the classroom and have to use self control to stop myself from saying them. So maybe some people are better at this code switching than others. Or my brain is a bit slower at adjusting.
It's interesting how you talk about language evolving. I also see classroom culture and communication evolving with different classes through the year. I teach up to 6 different classes per day and I know that my attitude, style, language, etc. adapts to each class. I am still myself, but I communicate differently and I just speak English     (and a bit of Greek- all those symbols in Maths).

[Arcdelad]

that in itself is code switching in a diluted form i think luise...you slide into different preset codes for each class....also, there is some psychology to that as well...freud said that you have as many individual personalities within you equal to amount of people you interact with, meaning that you are on some level a completely different person with everyone you intereact with...

For more about code switching:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching

[LastDyingBreath]

The spanglish your wife speaks is very common among many mixed cultures.  Some canadians speak Franglais much the same way.

I notice myself code switching to match whatever group of people I'm in.  I have a southern accent and lingo at work that I don't have when I'm not surrounded by rednecks.  I use black lingo when I'm chatting with black people, and I use big words I otherwise wouldn't when I'm hanging with a cultured crowd (going to a musical, for example).  It's pretty funny to look at myself doing it, because it's not a higher brain decision as far as I can tell.

language is very interesting.