Download The Internet and the English Language

The Internet and the
English Language
by Terence Carter
Clark Undem
April 21, 2008
Facts
 Millions of people use the internet every
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day
English is the language choice of the
internet
Reading/Writing is the main form of
communication online
One would expect to see a trend toward
improved writing skills
The opposite is true
Overview
The overwhelming popularity of the internet is
causing the English language to suffer.
 Possible Reasons
 Young people
 Young internet users are “shiftless” and uninterested
 Typing is a slow form of communication
 Most internet communication is informal
 Internet Lingo, a Second Language?
 Evolution or Devolution
 Invisible person syndrome
 All things must change
Example Email
 terry:
how R U?
i hope things OK. System crashed
yesterday, possibly fried HDD. if you
could, please swing by the office tonight to
fix it.
thx!
cul8r
-cp
Very Informal
 There are 11blatant errors highlighted. And
that’s not including the words that are
completely omitted such as:
 I hope things ARE OK
 Can anyone imagine turning in something
like that into Mrs. Harris.?
 Does everyone understand the email?
 terry:
how R U?
i hope things OK. System crashed
yesterday, possibly fried HDD. if you
could, please swing by the office tonight to
fix it.
thx!
cul8r
-cp
Evolution or Devolution
 Devolution
 The English language is clearly being
butchered
 Internet Lingo
 Correction Tools
 Evolution
 People seem to be unhindered, accepting,
even preferring the so called “internet lingo”
 Everyone loves Spell check
Why Use Internet Lingo
 Users try to contend with the rush of incoming
information in real-time
 Increased pressure to receive, process, and
react to information on the fly often results in
responses that are in general:
 Curt or short in nature
 Smaller words are preferred over longer, more difficult
to spell synonyms
 Abbreviations creep into the structure of the
sentences.
 All finesse is omitted in the interest of saving
time
A Second Language
Examples
 U
 C
 R
 2
 @
 lol
 ttyl
 g2g
 lmao
 jk
 ihiptc
Examples
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U
C
R
2
@
lol
ttyl
gtg g2g
lmao
jk
ihiptc
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
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





You
See
Are
To
At
Laughing out Loud
Talk/type to you later
Got to go
Laughing my ass off
Just kidding
I hope I pass this Class
The “Invisible Person” Syndrome
 Why strive for perfection in the English
language when no one knows or cares
who you are?
 Anonymity breeds indolence
All Things Must Change
 New technologies=New words
 Industrial and Technological Revolutions
 Internet communication has its own set of rules
that do not follow the standards of good English.
 Is this an evolution of the language, or merely a
phase that must be endured until the medium
evolves, and finds its own voice.
 Only when a comfortable medium between
today's "net-speak" and standard English is
reached, can we hope to see any substantial
positive changes in the English language.
Questions?
g2g
l8ter