Exploring attitudes towards the way in which technology has shaped the language of young people

The English language is not set in stone. It’s constantly evolving and adapting alongside the advancing world. The most recent development has been the rapid swell of figures indicating the use of technology. This has had an altering affect on the way in which language is used; written and spoken. It has caused a insoluble rift between the unwavering loyalists of standard English and the patriots petitioning for evolving language whom both have valid arguments yet cannot see eye to eye.

The predominant concern emanates from the parents facing new dilemmas: should they give their child a mobile phone? At what age? What effects could this have on their development, academic or otherwise? When texting became available to the masses there were bound to be those who had their doubts, and there still are. John Sutherland of University College London described emerging ‘text-speak’ in a 2002 paper as ‘bleak, bald, sad shorthand’ and accused it of ‘[masking] dyslexia, poor spelling and mental laziness.’ He deduced that ‘texting is penmanship for the illiterate’, however a multitude of surveys and numerous years of research show that texting can be harnessed to advance the literary proficiency of children. In order to abbreviate, use acronyms, elision and initialisms, children need a solid grammatical foundation on which to build upon. They must have the ability to differentiate the necessary sounds in a word in order to discontinue use of the unimportant or substitute them for another sound. A commonly used abbreviation is ‘cos’ in the place of ‘because’ as when spoken aloud, ‘-os’ sounds identical to ‘-ause’

The curbing of words in this manner isn’t a modern invention. Evidence has been discovered of Anglo-Saxon scribes abbreviating in this way when limited for space on a scroll; a tenuous link to the contemporary confinements of Twitter’s 140 character count.

In 1942, approximately fifty years before texting was invented, Eric Partridge published a Dictionary of Abbreviations consisting of many words without vowels such as ‘gd’ in the place of ‘good’, which now litter millions of mobile phone screens. Although technology has assisted the more wide spread use of abbreviations, they were previously so integrated into everyday language, many didn’t even realize they used them on a regular basis. In a survey of a top set English GCSE class, including the teacher, only six people knew the commonplace word ‘bus’ was abbreviated. Despite acknowledging the abbreviation, despairingly 100% of those surveyed didn’t know the origin: omnibus. When these words were first introduced they too received the cold shoulder given to the fresh acronyms and abbreviations of today: ‘lol’ and ‘bus’: comrades in the minefield that is the evolution of language.

Evolution is defined in the Concise Oxford English dictionary as ‘gradual development’. This development can be seen on a large scale when viewed over centuries, however, when you take a step closer you can see changes in language over decades; even between generations. New words have emerged over the past few decades for many reasons; technology is a single drop in the ocean. Another survey explored the extent of this radical change and in what way technology has influenced it.

A 39-year-old woman wrote that she needed the word ‘chav’ explained to her as she’s seen it on Facebook but didn’t understand it. It’s comparable to the American ‘white trash’ and is a backronym for ‘council housing and violence’. ‘Chav’ came from the Romani word ‘chavi’ meaning ‘child’, however, today’s use doesn’t hold any connection: one of many redefined words. Nowadays, ‘chav’ is a derogatory term used to describe the lower class youth.

Television and the media have thoroughly exploited this image through characters such as Lauren Cooper, played by Catherine Tate, who exaggerate every aspect of a ‘chav’; including the language. For this section I will be referencing the David Tennant and Catherine Tate Comic Relief Sketch from 2007. This was such a big success and even today thanks to technology, especially YouTube. Since it’s upload in 2007, the BBC’s official video alone has received almost seven and a half million views.