Many people would be surprised at how close the relationship between text language and spoken language is. Since text language came about, modern English has developed when it comes to certain aspects. Our English changes depending on the person we are speaking to and sometimes it isn’t even understood by other generations or social groups. This could have a positive effect or a negative effect, depending on the situation. It’s all about how relaxed the terms are between you and the recipient. You can’t have the same conversation with a Teacher, as you can with a school mate.
Sometimes, when people of my generation have conversations with their friends, older people stare curiously at them. The language that young people use can come across alien and pretty rude to people who aren’t from that generation or social group. However, a conversation with a mate, doesn’t have to be formal or polite, it doesn’t have any guidelines at all. This is where features such as “Banter” come into play. Banter is a very dangerous device. Many people have racist banter with their mates… however there is a time and a place for everything. For example when my friends call me “Serb”, I can take it as banter, however, this phrase is extremely offensive towards people of my background. People can take offence to things really easily, even if isn’t directed at them. With speaking, things can be interpreted in many different ways, according to tone, facial expressions etc, unlike text language where everything you say is self-explanatory. Language has evolved throughout the years with features like Slang which many people can easily understand today. I wouldn’t say that the way things are interpreted in speech is an issue. People aren’t going to change their way of speech for the sake of other people, but it’s always good to keep an eye out on who is around you when you say certain things.
Text language has made a huge influence on the Modern English. Many acronyms such as “lol” (laugh out loud) which developed through texting, are used as actual words in the language we speak today. “lol” is a phrase in text which means you find something funny. You either really found it funny, or you felt bad to tell the person you were not amused. However if it was used in a real life conversation, it would be pretty obvious if someone found something funny or not. One of the main ways of expressing your feelings through text, is using an emoticon. Softwares such as ios provide a wide range of emoticons, sometimes using them could be equal to writing a whole sentence. This is probably why they are used consistently in text. Below are some sentences from a conversation I had with my friend regarding Geography Homework, the features of text are explained in depth.
Joe: “Send me the fucking geo”
For Standard English speakers this sentence would not make not much sense at all. “geo” is a phrase students at the London Nautical School and other schools use to replace Geography. In this case, Joseph probably just couldn’t be bothered to complete the word, but even so, shortening it still made the same effect. This is also known as a contraction. Ignoring the non-standard English, this sentence is also an imparative. Joseph is commanding me to send him the Geography homework. If we weren’t friends, this would be far from a suitable conversation starter.
Ibbz: “Who the fuck u talkin to”
This sentence involves a couple of non-standard English features. Ommision is used within the word “are” which should be in between “fuck” and “u”, omitted letters such as “g” from “talkin” and lopograms like “u” which replaces “you”. There is also punctuation missing, the sentence is in fact a question, so a question mark is needed. Replacing a word with a letter is called a lopogram.
Further down the conversation…
Ibbz: “She gave it to u Monday”
This sentence involves ommision, ” She gave it to u ON Monday.” It also has the lopogram of “u” for “you” which is a very common replacement in modern day chats.
Joe: “I can’t find it”
This is a perfectly standard English sentence. Apart from the missing full stop at the end.
He then goes on to say…
“Not the pic Of the sheet The writing”
This sentence doesn’t make sense without commas. The correct way of writing this sentence is; Not the pic of the sheet, the writing. There is also a contraction of the word “Picture” to “pic” but that is fairly understandable to most people.
October 9, 2015 at 3:03 pm
Mr.Waugh, am I drifting off of the subject?
October 9, 2015 at 3:08 pm
Some of your register is a little too informal. While you’re not off topic, because you’re talking to the reader rather than exploring language forms analytically, it’s hard to tell what the point you’re trying to make is.
Have another look at the example paragraph I wrote and see if you can use that style to communicate the (good) thinking behind what you’ve written here. What you’ve done does need to be re-written.
http://ambition.edutronic.net/analysing-your-own-transcript/
October 13, 2015 at 11:47 pm
Think: Third person, past tense. Don’t try to ‘talk’ to the reader, simply express the ideas with clarity and precision:
“Sometimes, when I’m having a conversation with a friend, older people stare curiously at us.” could be redeveloped to be expressed in a more abstract form: The language of young people can appear as alien and confusing to older people who are not familiar with the forms and influences on the language of youth”
You want to distance yourself from the content, as this lends your writing an authority that it lacks when you’re speaking in the first person.
Let me know if you need more help doing this.
CW
October 15, 2015 at 7:53 am
This is fascinating!
January 6, 2016 at 1:03 am
January 6, 2016 at 1:05 am
To unlock the “comparative writing” badge, in addition to the “Ya Get Me?” badge that you have succeeded in unlocking, you’ll want to complete this piece by formalising some of the initial analysis and generating a full conclusion at the end.
Nice work so far.