Is the Internet Killingoff Language?

By Jamie Carter

 

1 The internet ischanging the way we communicate. LOL, awks, amazeballs, BRB, the use of emojiand emoticon — and even writing facial expressions such as ‘sad face’ — haveall become standard in digital communications. So ingrained, in fact, thatthey’re changing the way we write and even talk.

 

2 “People arebecoming less concerned with grammar, spelling and sentence structure, and moreconcerned with getting their message across,” says Gavin Hammar, CEO andfounder of Sendible.

 

3 There’s no doubtthat the consumption of abbreviated digital content is having a huge effect onlanguage. “Over the last five years attention spans have shortenedconsiderably, which is reflected in the contracted forms of language we see insocial media,” says Robin Kermode, founder of communications coachingconsultancy Zone2.

 

4 However, somethink that the internet has made us better communicators since we increasinglyuse much more streamlined language. “To get a message across using Twitter forexample, it must be concise and must conform to the tone used there, whichincludes abbreviations, acronyms and emoticons,” says Hammar.

 

What about emoticons and emojis?

5 The fastestgrowing ‘new language’ in the world is emoticons (faces) and emojis (images ofobjects, which hail from Japan), which are one of the biggest changes caused bydigital communications. “Facial expressions, visual presence and body languagehave always been vital to being a confident speaker, but now emojis areblurring the lines between verbal and written communication,” thinks Kermode,who adds that cavemen had early versions of emojis on the sides of their caves.“Pictures, cartoons or emojis are ‘shortcuts’ so we can be clear about what ourmessage really means.”

 

6 If you mainlyuse emojis, why not get a keyboard based around smiley faces and cartoon icons?That’s exactly what Swyft Media recently created, and while it’s more of a PRstunt the keyboards of the future will probably contain at least some emojis.

 

How emojis add meaning

7 Emoticons andemojis are arguably more meaningful than slang and shorthand, which can be tooeasily misunderstood. “I once witnessed a girl being dumped in a text, whichconsisted of a message with just five letters, ‘U R MY X’ – linguisticallyeconomic, but emotionally harsh,” says Kermode. Trouble is, the sender hadactually meant ‘YOU ARE MINE. X’. “If he’d added three emojis — like a smileyface, a heart and a wedding ring, he might now be happily married!”

 

8 The same goesfor a statement such as “I NEED TO SPEAK TO YOU RIGHT NOW”, which needs aqualifying emoticon or emoji to give it meaning. “It could signal an angrymeeting or a passionate meeting but add a coffee cup, a big smiley face or anangry face and it becomes clear what’s really going on,” says Kermode.

 

9 They may bederided by traditionalists, but emoticons and emojis used to describe mood arethe body language add-on that the written word has always lacked. In mostinstances, these icons represent language evolution and progress, notregression.

 

The web’s positive effects on writing

10 Some think thatthe internet is actually sharpening up writing skills, particularly of professionalwriters, creating new niches and specialisms. “[The internet] lays bare thedisparity between good and bad copy, which has resulted in writers and editorsbecoming better educated and more aware of global grammatical standards,raising the bar overall,” says Paul Parreira, founder of digital contentcreation agency Company Cue.

 

11 He thinks thatthe internet is also driving language to become more globalised, withAmericanisms such as ‘road trip’and ‘what’s up?’ now ingrained into what’s fastbeing called ‘International English’ or ELF (English Lingua Franca). It hasnothing to do with where the language originated, and often those that use abasic form of ELF online can understand each other far easier than nativeEnglish speakers.

 

12 However, onlineEnglish has also spawned new specialisms and skills among professional, oftennative English speaking writers. “Writing has become more idiosyncratic andunique,” says Parreira, “creating new breeds of writers — those that specialisein short form and those that focus on long form … it’s rare to find writersthat can excel in both.”

 

Are mobile devices and 140 character limits changing language?

13 There’s littleroom to worry about grammar in 140 characters, goes the argument, and besides,conforming to the rules of engagement in the Twitter-sphere is far moreimportant than old grammatical rules. “With people consuming so much content ontheir mobile devices with services like Twitter and Facebook, it is onlynatural that they are influenced by it and respond in the same way,” saysHammar. “Reading short bursts of poorly constructed content from a young ageimpacts on the learning experience and filters into our everyday lives.”

 

14 Not that any ofthis is the fault of Twitter et al. “It is the web culture itself rather thanmobile devices and social channels that are driving some of the negativeaspects of language standards,” says Parreira.

 

It’s all about context

15 Arguably noneof this matters, except it does when those who get so used to using text-speakenter the world of work where basic online-isms like LOL (laughing out loud) —however basic that might seem to some — can easily mean ‘lots of love’ (thanks,David Cameron).

 

16 It’s thereforebest for those entering the workforce to assume nothing and communicateformally with older coworkers and clients, at least at first. “The linesbetween internet communication and business communication are being blurred,with millennials finding it difficult to switch between the two styles andidentifying which one is appropriate and when,” says Hammar, who thinks thatpeople will soon struggle to express themselves in a business environment wherea formal tone is usually the standard.

 

17 “It’s still nowdifficult to imagine senior executives using LOL and ROFL when signing a deal,”he says, advising that you can use shorthand to give your company a personalityonline to delight customers, but only if it’s used very wisely. “Remember,‘BRB’ (meaning ‘be right back’) and ‘I will be away from my desk for the next twohours. I will respond as soon as I get back,’ are not interchangeable — it’simportant to know when to use which message.”

 

Why changing online language doesn’t matter

18 Since societyas a whole has about as much control over language as it does over earthquakes,this is a moot point at best. “Culture has a way of evolving and that’s exactly what we’reexperiencing with language,” says Parreira, who points out that the iOSspelling fix on the iPhone has improved of late. It also now offers to finishwords as you type and arguably brings at least an illusion of accuracy.

 

19 Education willneed to change, too. “It will become less of a priority to educate the youth instrict grammar usage, since the world will no longer expect it,” says Hammar.‘Standard’ grammar is evolving, too, since digital shorthand and text-speak arenow creeping into spoken language.

 

20 “We are nowhearing people actually saying ‘sad face’ at the end of a sentence as in ‘Theweekend was a disaster. Sad face’,” says Kermode, who asks if it willeventually be replaced by a new linguistic idea. “Yes, of course, it’s justthat none of us know exactly what that will be yet … quizzical face, winkingsmiley, rainbow.”

 

因特网正在毁掉语言吗？

杰米·卡特

 

1 因特网正在改变我们交流的方式。LOL、awks、amazeballs、BRB等网络用语，以及绘文字和表情符号的使用——甚至于将表情写下来比如“哭脸”——在网络交流中都很常见。事实上，它们根深蒂固，正在改变我们书写乃至说话的方式。

2 “人们越来越不关心语法、拼写和句子结构，更关注的是将自己的意思表达清楚，”Sendible的首席执行长官和创始人加文·哈马尔说。

3 毫无疑问，阅读缩略的数字化内容正对语言产生巨大的影响。“过去五年里，人们的注意力持续时间大大缩短，我们在社交媒体上看到的语言简写形式就反映了这一点，”沟通技能训练顾问公司第2区的创始人罗宾·克莫德说。

4 然而，也有人认为因特网使我们成了更好的沟通者，因为我们越来越多地使用精练的语言。“例如，要在推特上让别人懂你的意思，必须简洁，必须符合那里的风格，包括缩写词、首字母缩拼词和表情符号。”哈马尔说。

表情符和绘文字如何？

5 世界上发展最快的“新语言”是表情符（脸）和绘文字（起源于日本的物品图像），这是由数字化交流引发的最大的变化之一。“对于一个自信的说话者而言，面部表情、举止风度和肢体语言向来至关重要，不过如今绘文字让口语和书面语交流之间的界限变得模糊，”克莫德认为。他还指出，在穴居野人居住的山洞壁上已有早期的绘文字。“图画、卡通或者绘文字是‘捷径’，我们借此能清晰明了地表达自己真正的意思。”

6 如果你使用的大多是绘文字，为什么不造个基于笑脸和卡通形象的键盘呢？那恰恰是快捷媒体公司最近开发的产品，虽然这更多的是一种抢眼的公关手段，但是未来的键盘也许至少会包含一些绘文字。绘文字如何补充含义

7 有理由认为表情符和绘文字比俚语和简略的表达意义更显而易见，因为后者很容易被误解。“有一次我目睹了一位女孩被人在短信里给甩了，那段文字只有五个字母组成，‘URMYX’（你是我的过去），语言上很经济，但是冷酷无情，”克莫德说。问题是，事实上发短信者原本想说‘你是我的。吻’。如果他增加三个绘文字——比如一张笑脸、一颗心和一个婚戒，他现在也许已幸福地结婚了!”

8 同样，诸如“我现在得和你谈一谈”之类的句子亦需要一个修饰性的表情符或者绘文字来赋予它意思。“它可以表示一次愤怒的见面或者一次热诚的见面，但是如果加上一个咖啡杯，一张灿烂的笑脸或者一张愤怒的脸，那么就能表明究竟是怎么一回事，”克莫德说。

9 用于描述情绪的表情符和绘文字也许会被传统守旧的人嘲笑，但是它们是书面语言向来缺少的附加肢体语言。在大多数情况下，这些图符代表了语言的演化和进步，而非退步。

网络对写作的正面效应

10 有人认为事实上因特网正在提升人们尤其是专业作者的写作技能，创造出新的写作空间和专业领域。“[因特网]暴露了优秀和低劣文稿之间的差距，这使得作者和编辑们更加训练有素，更加了解全球的语法标准，提高了整体写作水平，”数字内容创作机构线索公司的创始人保罗·佩雷拉说。

11 佩雷拉认为因特网还让语言变得更加全球化，诸如“公路旅行”、“你好吗？”之类的美式英语已植根于一种很快被称作“国际英语”或国际通用英语的语言。这与语言源自何处无关，那些在网上使用国际通用英语基本形式的人往往比以英语为母语的人更容易相互理解。

12 另一方面，网上英语还在专业作家中催生了新的专门领域和技能，这些专业作家的母语往往是英语。“写作更具有个性色彩、更加独特，”佩雷拉说，“新型作家应运而生——有的专门从事简式语言写作，有的专门从事正式语言写作……很难找到两者皆擅长的作家。”

移动设备和140个字符的限制是否正在改变语言？

13 有观点认为，140个字符的规定让人无暇顾及语法，而且遵守推特空间的参与规则比遵循旧的语法规则更为重要。“当人们在他们的移动设备上通过如推特和脸书的服务浏览那么多信息时，自然会受其影响，并以同样的方式作出反应，”哈马尔说。“从小就阅读一小段一小段非正规语言会影响学习并渗透至我们的日常生活中。”

14 这一切并不是推特等社交网络的错。“造成语言不规范的是网络文化本身，而不是移动设备和社交渠道。”佩雷拉说。

关键是场合

15 也许这些都无关紧要，除非那些习惯使用短信语言的人进入了职场。在职场里，基本的网络语如LOL（大声笑）——虽然在某些人看来再基本不过——很容易会被当做“许多爱”（谢谢你，大卫·卡梅伦）。

16 因此那些刚踏上工作岗位的人最好不要想当然，同年长的同事和客户交流时使用正式一些的语言，至少在刚开始时。“网络交流和商务交流之间的区别日渐模糊，千禧一代觉得很难在这两种风格之间转换、判断哪种风格合适以及何时合适，”哈马尔说，他认为人们很快会发现在通常以正式语为标准的工作场合与人交流很费劲。

17 “现在仍然很难想象高管们在签署协议时使用LOL和ROFL（在地上滚着大笑），”他说。根据他的建议，你可以用简略形式让你的公司在网上更具个性从而取悦顾客，不过要使用有度。“记住，‘BRB’（意指‘马上回来’）和‘我要暂时离开办公室两小时，回来后立即回复’，这两者不可互换——知道什么时候该使用哪一种语言非常重要。”

为什么变化中的网络语言无关紧要

18 既然整个社会无法控制语言，就像无法控制地震一样，因此这至多也就是一个具有争议的话题。“文化常常会演变，这恰恰是我们在语言方面正在经历的，”佩雷拉说。他指出iPhone上的iOS拼写自动更正功能最近有所改善。它现在能在你打字时自动完成拼写，这可以至少能形成一种似乎准确的假象。

19 教育也需改变。“教孩子们严格的语法用法将不那么重要了，因为这个世界不再有这样的要求，”哈马尔说。‘标准的’语法也在变，因为网络缩略语和短信简写语正在渗入口语之中。

20 “我们现在能听到人们在句尾真的说‘哭脸’，例如‘这个周末一团糟。哭脸’，”科莫多说。他问这是否最终会被一种新的语言学思想所替代。“是的，当然会，只是我们谁也不能确切地预测那将是什么……疑惑的脸，眨眼微笑，彩虹。”