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Don't you start, unless you actually enjoy the pointless bickering?
The evidence although not formally identified or studied is already out there. You only have to listen to conversations on the bus, read adverts or the papers. The effects of the internet on traditional papers has been written about often enough in the Guardian Media sections and similair places.
I think I am too, trouble is, its one-sided as I'm not sure what its about.
On another note, I would recommend reading 'Made In America' by Bill Bryson if you haven't already. It covers the history and development of American English and is a damn good read.
Not sure about studies on how computers/internet/comms tech changes language per se, but theres been plenty of writing about these technologies effects on culture and identity, which are relevent to how we use language. A lot of it is very academic, with a post-modernist or post-structuralist cultural studies slant, but worth checking out nonetheless.
This is worth a read
as are some of Sadie Plant's writings.
I hate to think how, text-messaging will affect the way people speak. Judging by some of the posts I see on here where people use it, it doesn't look good for the future.
Must be getting old as it takes me ages to work out what they are trying to say more than anything else.
Middle English is wonderful to read, once one gets the hang of it. So much blood, guts, violence and sex- fantastic
I think the danger of text messaging is greatly overstates, and always have done. Text messaging, once the lexis is deciphered, actually follows pretty much the same grammatical rules as Standard English, though there are some grammatical processes derived from Creole English.
The changes will mostly be in terms of lexis, and in particular spelling. I don't particularly see this is a bad thing, just language in evolution- Standard English lost the þ and replaced it with th, and American English went further and lost a lot of silent vowels (e.g colour -> color).
I actually don't think that the so-called demise of dialectal language is too much to worry about, either. As was shown in studies on Martha's Vineyard, the dialect will gain a resurgence when the locals will once again seek to identify themselves with the locality; when this will happen is anybody's guess, but I think it will eventually happen. It has been shown that people speak the dialect of the people they wish to identify with- convergence and divergence, and hyper-correction. Generally dialects come and go in terms of popularity, and whilst I expect to see Estuary English continue, I don't expect it to maintain it's current kudos indefinitely. People will rebel against it- they always do.
Text messaging speak is still quite clearly English, so to say it is translated into English is stretching a point a bit too far.
I wasn't saying text mesaging was a pidgin, because it isn't, just that there is some creole grammar in it.
Abbreviations are purely a change of lexis, in my opinion, rather than a sign of anything more. People don't SPEAK text speak, so it will only have limited impact on the language as a whole.
Yes. My mistake.
Dialect is a bit of a tangent about text messaging, but not about the dmeise of dialectal vocabulary, which is the link GWST posted.
The Reading survey shows that young people, especially boys, will deviate their language towards what is seen as "cool", and because of the media's impact on culture I think EE has become "cool". The Norwich survey shows that men will deviate their language downwards, away from the highest dialect, and again I think that ties in with media "coolness" creating the spread of EE. As for the immigrant dialects, I think that they use those words as a way of creating a community spirit, and differentiating "outsiders" from themselves using language.
I guess I mis-applied the word kudos, but EE is seen by many as cool, and EE appears to be stealing many immigrant words.