the linguistics of texting

4 Dec

From ‘Gr8 Db8′ Defends The Linguistics Of Texting on NPR’s All Things Considered:

All the popular beliefs about texting are wrong, or at least debatable. Its graphic distinctiveness is not a totally new phenomenon. Nor is its use restricted to the young generation. There is increasing evidence that it helps rather than hinders literacy. And only a very tiny part of the language uses its distinctive orthography. A trillion text messages may seem a lot, but when we set these alongside the multi-trillion instances of standard orthography in everyday life, they appear as no more than a few ripples on the surface of the sea of language. Texting has added a new dimension to language use, indeed, but its long-term impact on the already existing varieties of language is likely to be negligible. It is not a bad thing.

I don’t agree with David Crystal about texting helping literacy. How does abbreviating language help literacy? I suppose I’ll have to read the book.

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  • Ned
    I've read it! It's a short book, which is good, but I've enjoyed others of Crystal's much more, which is less good. It's a little... defensive?

    I think it was written as his contribution to the 'what does texting MEAN?' conversation, and particularly the U.K. flavor of that conversation. Usually this is started by the hysterical tabloids (e.g. 'Shakespeare dumped for soap opera in English exam: is this the end of civilization?'), so this isn't a high-quality debate.

    I agreed with Crystal's general thrust, but I can't remember his specific point on texting improving one's literacy. Possibly something to do with literacy as being able to play with language?

    Good luck with blogging daily!
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