https://www.ted.com/talks/john_mcwhorter_txtng_is_killing_language_jk/up-next?language=en#t-800903
This TED talk discusses people’s opinions of texting ( mainly the misconception that texting is destroying language ) and whether they are true or not. John McWhorter explains that texting is not writing - it’s speech which has been around for 80,000+ years (way before writing was conceived.) People used to talk like how they would write, and texting is basically writing like how we speak, which is colloquialism. McWhorter informs the audience that you can do things with writing that you cannot do with speaking and therefore it is natural to want to write how you speak. The ability to write how you speak ( i.e. texting ) has only been possible for humanity recently as previously we didn’t have the technology for it, but as we now have access to phones in our pockets that allow the other person to receive the message instantaneously, it has become much easier. When we write the way we speak, it is called fingered speech, and texting is an example of this. The initialism LOL has now become ‘lol’ and instead of meaning laughing out loud it has become a marker of empathy, and accommodation. When this happens, it is called pragmatic particles. Another example of this is ‘slash’, which is now used to change topic whilst texting instead of meaning a combination of two things. This means that texting has developed new information markers.
McWhorter explains that language has been very much the same throughout its whole history since it began - until texting came along. The sudden difference in language has caused some people to be very concerned about texting and whether it’s ‘killing language.’ However, McWhorter mentions that this worry is unnecessary, as texting is a new way of writing which young people are using alongside ordinary writing skills, and being bidialectal has been proven to be cognitively beneficial. Texting is an expansion of linguistic repertoire - as a whole new language has been developed, and is changing as often as every 20 years. Consequently, John McWhorter concludes that texting is a ‘linguistic miracle happening right under our noses’ and therefore we shouldn’t have such a negative perception of it.
This TED talk discusses people’s opinions of texting ( mainly the misconception that texting is destroying language ) and whether they are true or not. John McWhorter explains that texting is not writing - it’s speech which has been around for 80,000+ years (way before writing was conceived.) People used to talk like how they would write, and texting is basically writing like how we speak, which is colloquialism. McWhorter informs the audience that you can do things with writing that you cannot do with speaking and therefore it is natural to want to write how you speak. The ability to write how you speak ( i.e. texting ) has only been possible for humanity recently as previously we didn’t have the technology for it, but as we now have access to phones in our pockets that allow the other person to receive the message instantaneously, it has become much easier. When we write the way we speak, it is called fingered speech, and texting is an example of this. The initialism LOL has now become ‘lol’ and instead of meaning laughing out loud it has become a marker of empathy, and accommodation. When this happens, it is called pragmatic particles. Another example of this is ‘slash’, which is now used to change topic whilst texting instead of meaning a combination of two things. This means that texting has developed new information markers.
McWhorter explains that language has been very much the same throughout its whole history since it began - until texting came along. The sudden difference in language has caused some people to be very concerned about texting and whether it’s ‘killing language.’ However, McWhorter mentions that this worry is unnecessary, as texting is a new way of writing which young people are using alongside ordinary writing skills, and being bidialectal has been proven to be cognitively beneficial. Texting is an expansion of linguistic repertoire - as a whole new language has been developed, and is changing as often as every 20 years. Consequently, John McWhorter concludes that texting is a ‘linguistic miracle happening right under our noses’ and therefore we shouldn’t have such a negative perception of it.
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