Internet says 'c u l8r' to proper English

Experts in text and chatroom speech have identified a trend to create different styles of English within the usual contractions and abbreviations, which is similar to the way that different languages gradually come into existence, reports The Sctosman.

"Britain is at the forefront of text/chatroom language - the two forms are related and borrow terms from each other - which gives teenagers the ability to communicate with each other at a fraction of the cost of a phone call.

Professor David Crystal of the University of Wales,, whose book A Glossary of Netspeak and Textspeak is due out in June, said there was a "very strong driving force" to create different dialects in order to create a sense of belonging to a particular community.

According to Prof Crystal Texting will develop its own standard. It will become a variety of the English language or the French language."

And interesting...

"He said the tendency to develop language that becomes identifiable with a group was evident from a simple mistake by a member of a chatroom for film fans from around the world.

"Very early on one person mis-typed the word ‘computer' as ‘comptuer'. This caught everybody's imagination and they started to mistype the word and it became the standard spelling for the chatroom," he said. "Anybody who typed computer properly was considered to be naff."

emily | 5:57 PM | Do you speak SMS? |
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2004/05/003703.htm