SOCIAL MEDIA AND LANGUAGE CHANGE: THE CASE OF STYLISTIC VARIATION IN YOUNG PEOPLE’S TEXT MESSAGES AND ITS EFFECT ON THEIR FORMAL WRITTEN LANGUAGE STYLE. Mobile phone ownership is universal now and people use mobile phones constantly to either make a call or send a text message. However, the constant use of mobile phones by the young generation has had a tremendous influence on their conventional language style. The young generation is popularly assumed to be naturally media literate and to be reinventing conventional linguistic and communicative practices. This reinvention has adversely affected their formal written language style in that; changes have been noted in the linguistic and communicative practice of young people. This paper examines how stylistic variability has affected the formal written language style of the youth, with a view to proposing how this influence can be mitigated. Further more, due to the poor performance of students in the English composition paper, after the government has hugely funded education, finding the cause and stopping it thereof; is of national importance. The paper concludes that the use of text messages should be carefully monitored. Teachers of English need to take bold steps in addressing the challenges facing the written English language in schools. 1. Introduction According to the cultural critic Eddo (2002)”We live in an age where the diminutive, the brief and the simple are highly valued in communication”. If this is the case,
Today, texting has become the most widely used communication technique for teenagers and young adults. It is written in completely informal language and it has no literature value in it. Although the critics believe texting is destroying literature value, McWhorter has another opinion in mind. McWhorter thinks that texting is another form of language that is developed by teenagers. It is the creation of a brand new language evolving from the old literature.
Introduction Love it or hate it, texting is constant facet of today’s society. Texting is usually consider the bane of all English teachers out there. Everywhere, English teachers complain that texting lower’s the child’s English skills, that cheating is running amuck, and texting is causing grammar and spelling errors every turn. Throughout “TXTing: h8 or luv it,” Courtney Anttila targets the common English teacher’s concern on texting, and providing a positive spin to texting.
In her essay "Does Texting Affect Writing?", Michaela Cullington presents her argument that texting does not impact formal writing written by students. She discusses the concerns presented by many people about how texting language can transfer into writing, but through the use of personal experiences and credible sources she discusses how this is not true. Her use of multiple different studies and situations help boost her argument and allow the reader to truly see how students actually do formal writing. She presents a strong argument as to why those who believe students don't have the control and knowledge to write formally, instead of with text speak, are wrong.
In writing, authors chose particular words and phrases to effectively convey their message or to engage the reader. Writer's word choices, also known as diction, can help communicate ideas, reveal emotion and opinions that they may have toward something or someone. There are many different levels of diction such as formal diction, used by Richard Rodriguez in his autobiography The Hunger of Memory, and neutral diction, used by Charles Bukowski in his novel Ham on Rye. The use of diction in these pieces make the stories come to life in the reader's head. Richard Rodriguez uses very formal diction in his autobiography,The Hunger of Memory, his words express his emotions and motives of being a writer.
The influence of textspeak on teenagers' writing is a polarising concept with both fans and critics of texting weighing their opinions. In her essay, "Does Texting Affect Writing?", Michaela Cullington, a previous student of Marywood University in Pennsylvania, outlines her investigation into whether or not texting affects writing. Cullington analyzes the critiques of texting and why critics believe that texting has a detrimental affect on teenager writing. Along with the critics,
Michaela Cullington was a former student at University in Pennsylvania when she wrote the essay of “Does Texting Affect Writing?” Have you ever thought if texting truly effects our writing style when it comes to college levels? Cullington did research of her own from different people group asking this question. Her thesis sentence was “IT TAKES OVER OUR LIVES” (…). The way that she capitalized all the letters is something that can engage the reader and the curiosity of knowing what is taking our lives?
In her essay “Does Texting Affect Writing?” Michaela Cullington addresses the issue of text messaging possibly causing poor communication skills and the use of textspeak, abbreviations used during text messaging such as “LOL” and “g2g,” in students’ formal writing. Cullington argues that “texting actually has a minimal effect on student writing” (pg. 367). She addresses the opposition directly, even citing credible sources. However, she also cites credible sources with better information to support her point, and even conducts an experiment of her own.
Are our communication skills declining due to the vast internet use? Technology has given individuals the ability to do things that would otherwise be considered impossible. However, while technology has provided the ability to communicate with people halfway across the world and opened a comfortable space for teens, it is believed to have affected not just the interaction among others, but furthermore writing skills. Although technology and communication has given individuals the ability to do things that would not have been done before, writing online has had a negative impact on a person’s writing skills which can be proven through the writings of Malcolm X, Gannon, and Daum.
“Should everybody write” is the question that is argued throughout the article Should Everybody Write by Dennis Baron. Baron, an English professor at the University of Illinois, incorporates essay styled writings in correspondence to English problems faced in today’s world. His main concern in this essay is to demonstrate to his audience a proper answer to the argued statement and uses rhetorical strategies throughout his article to support his claims. The use of tone is incorporated when he discusses the context of writing history. His purpose in this article is discussed using his strong sense of logic and he also conveys to his audience’s emotions to caution them on their own writing or writing fears.
Not So Fast” Andrea Lunsford researched students’ writing for 30-plus years to see what effect new technology has on how students learn. Lunsford discovered that students are actually improving their own writing skills with the help of mass media. Not only does it allow students more access to educational resources and information, but it also encourages students to do more creative thinking and writing outside of class which Lunsford refers to in her article as “life writing.” In her research she recalls the account of a student who sent a friend a text message which was completely informal and would be considered unprofessional by most piers. However, the same student also sent a very formal and professional report to her faculty adviser later on.
Throughout generations cultural traditions have been passed down, alongside these traditions came language. The language of ancestors, which soon began to be molded by the tongue of newer generations, was inherited. Though language is an everlasting changing part of the world, it is a representation of one’s identity, not only in a cultural way but from an environmental standpoint as well. One’s identity is revealed through language from an environmental point of view because the world that one is surrounded with can cause them to have their own definitions of words, an accent, etc. With newer generations, comes newer forms of languages.
Not So Fast”, conducts her own study with a few colleagues to take notes on how students writing skills are changing. She decides to conduct another one twenty five years later to see how much the writing skills have changed since technology has been updated and became more available to students. She found that “students today are writing more than ever before.” Although we still have the same amount of writing errors as before, the patterns of errors are different. Many people argue that technology is only making our writing skill worse, this study helps to prove a different theory.
SLANG 3 The Effect of slang on the English language The records show slang was first used around the 16th Century, but this is not certain, as it more of a spoken language and so it could have been much earlier. At this time people created new words as the English vocabulary was a lot smaller than it is today and so people felt the need to invent new words to express themselves. Nowadays slang is used much more frequently, with the influence of technology having a great effect on the use of slang. Some people think it has a positive effect on the English language, while others think it is having a negative effect.
It is also one of the most effective means of education. Conversely, digital technology has caused a revolutionary transformation in all aspects of our lives, whether it is in communication, education or creative writing. This research, therefore, aims to find out what effect this technology has on creative writing and specifically on creativity, writers, the youth and book piracy, as I feel that those are the most significant. Introduction of Technology in
Language is an important part of our life. Language and communication cannot separate. People use the language as a means of communication to express their ideas and feelings. They communicate either with each other using language in every social interaction; communicate with others directly or indirectly in the spoken and written form. Therefore, language is an important thing of communication in social life.