Social Media and the Evolution of Language

I noticed my 13 yr old great niece was "Live" on Facebook. So, being the "great" Aunt that I am, I thought I should spy on her to make sure she is behaving. So, I tuned in, and listened. I couldnt understand a word she was saying. Her friends understood what she was saying, but to me it sounded like some kind of tribal nonsense. It was pretty hilarious, until she realized I was there, and then started talking regular English.

So, I googled "Social Media's effect on Language". And its a real thing. I think I witnessed the evolution of "Text Speak". And its happening all around the world in every language.

blog.oxforddictionaries.com...

From the article: The words that surround us every day influence the words we use. Since so much of the written language we see is now on the screens of our computers, tablets, and smartphones, language now evolves partly through our interaction with technology. An alphabet soup of acronyms, abbreviations, and neologisms has grown up around technologically mediated communication to help us be understood. I’m old enough to have learned the acronyms we now think of as textspeak on the online forums and ‘internet relay chat’ (IRC) that pre-dated text messaging. On IRC, acronyms help speed up a real-time typed conversation. On mobile phones they minimize the inconvenience of typing with tiny keys. And on Twitter they help you make the most of your 140 characters.

Im not sure where this is going, or if it will eventually be a one world language. But, I think I witnessed History in the making. Not the same old pig-latin thats for sure. God I feel old. lol

a reply to: misskat1

I completely understand what you're saying!! I've noticed some young people here on ATS will use some of these abbreviations in posts or threads. Sometimes I have no clue what it stands for! I end up reading other posts just to try to figure out what the abbreviation stands for!

My son would rather text than communicate over the phone. One day he responded to one of my text messages with idk?
I looked at my wife and had to ask her what the hell is idk? She laughed and told me I was out of the loop when it comes to texting language. I'm getting better at it, but it's hard teaching an old dog new tricks.

Completely agree. Facebook even has motivation for people to make their posts shorter, in that if it's under a certain number of characters the post will appear bigger in the news feed. With communications technology advancing at such a quick pace, it'd be really interesting to see where language will be 100 years from now.

a reply to: underwerks

Oh, I didn't understand why some posts were so big.... Thanks for clarifying.

It makes me very sad to see language evolve this way. I know change is inevitable, but the written word is so beautiful. I want my children to be able to write well, to have a wide base to convey their thoughts with. Not idk, lol, lmao and the such.

a reply to: chelsdh
I feel the same way. Not only because of the love of the written word, but as we move into more truncated ways of expressing ourselves that has to have an effect on our thought processes as well. In the future we'll probably just grunt and hold up signs with symbols on them. (I hope not lol)

a reply to: underwerks

I'm not old enough to have the mentality I have toward change!

I swear, I feel like an old person screaming "get off my property!"

a reply to: chelsdh
Haha. I'm 30 and I'm finding that out more and more all the time, especially when it comes to language and writing. There's a certain freedom in being the old person screaming at the whippersnappers I guess

Yes, nowadays you need to buy a dictionary to understand what children are saying. The words that surround us every day influence the words we use. Since so much of the written language we see is now on the screens of our computers, tablets, and smartphones, language now evolves partly through our interaction with technology. And because the language we use to communicate with each other tends to be more malleable than formal writing, the combination of informal, personal communication and the mass audience afforded by social media is a recipe for rapid change.