The Change Envisioned within the 21st Century: Language?
21st century. People
call this era we’re living in the technological revolution. Manufacturers
compete to invent the most productive semiconductor, and marketers strive to
make their products the most attractive- yes, making your iPhone thinner,
faster, and lovelier does matter these days. The usage of internet and phones
is rapidly spreading. However, it’s not only the technology that is changing in
a twinkle, but the language used among those technologies is too. As our world
develops, we need new mechanisms for describing new concepts, and express our
changing ideas and concerns. Language is alive. Language is changing in the 21st century, regarding the increase in
abbreviations and slangs that knock our eardrums each day.
Have you ever received a text full of
jargon, which is all and only words, and no punctuation? Lots of abbreviations
substitute longer words today. English used in text messages and social network
has influenced the way people write and speak. People abbreviate a lot more,
and some abbreviated words are starting to leak into daily routines, such as
lol or asap. Because one keeps confining their thoughts and conversation within
140 characters, more abbreviations would take place in the English language.
It's even more convenient to write or type abbreviations; therefore the usage
of abbreviations is flaring rapidly among users of technology.
People use slang. Slang is so much
submerged into our lives that we don’t even notice what we’re saying is slang.
Slang is widely used and will be used, according to the book Feed by
M. T. Anderson. In the book, the characters within say words like
"unit", meaning buddy and "feel swiss" to illustrate
anticipation and excitement, which readers have difficulty in understanding
those terms but are perfectly normal and familiar for the characters of the
book. Words such as "emo", or "what's up", seem perfectly
normal, but those are slang, a product of the informational technological era.
Such terms are prevalent, and as more and more people become used to the
Internet and the language circulating within, slang usage would be more and
more promoted in the future.
New media- the Web or social media
tools- have made both written and spoken language much more visible. In
particular, increased use of electronic communication has given us new forms of
language and expressions largely driven by a need to compensate for non-verbal
communication. That's why contemporary language such as abbreviations or slang
pops up ceaselessly, and the English language is still on its way of adapting
itself the new, rapidly changing society.
