The Internet and the English Language by Terence Carter Clark Undem April 21, 2008

Facts  Millions of people use the internet every 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  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 ?

 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  U  C  R  2  lol  ttyl  gtg g2g  lmao  jk  ihiptc  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?

g2gl8ter