English in the Internet Era
The Internet and English Vocabulary
For hundreds of years, technology has been driving the evolution of the English language. In the fifteenth century, the invention of the printing press established standard methods of spelling English words. New forms of punctuation were invented to make printed texts easier to read, and for the first time people from different regions began to agree about English grammar. The invention of the telegraph, and later of the radio and the television, had a term paper writing effect on the English language. New words were invented to describe these new technologies, and new styles of speech were invented by broadcasters. However, it is the Internet that has had the largest effect on the English language, changing it completely in less than two decades.
The hallmark of Internet communication is efficiency. People who began using e-mail, and later instant messaging, found it efficient to invent a whole new world of acronyms, and these spread like wildfire across the Internet. Acronyms such as ‘brb’ and ‘lol’ have made their way into the ordinary speech of young people, and even into the pages of some respectable dictionaries. Meanwhile, it became so easy to communicate over the Internet that people stopped writing things out with a pen and paper. Letters have become obsolete, and everything from school projects to professional reports are created on computers, with the aid of online dictionaries and spellcheckers. Some studies have suggested that young people no longer know how to spell, because they use programmes that auto-correct their work. In this way, the Internet has had as large an effect on spelling conventions as the printing press did, almost six hundred years ago.
More than any other technology, the Internet has encouraged the invention of new words. Sometimes these words are created by expanding the definition of existing words. ‘Traffic’ used to refer to foot traffic, and then to horse and carriages, and then to automobiles. Now it refers to people visiting a website. Words like ‘cyberspace’ and ‘virtual’ were originally invented by science fiction authors, but they were adopted by early Internet users, and entered the wider vocabulary of the public. A ‘virus’ used to be something that made you sick, but today it’s a destructive programme that spreads itself across the Internet. The word ‘wireless’ was originally used for radio communication, but today it refers to wireless Internet. If you use a social networking site such as Facebook, you will be familiar with ‘tagging’ people, or ‘posting’ something to your ‘wall.’ These words all had similar definitions in the past, but they have been given a new twist and are used to refer to virtual activities.
Sometimes words are given entirely new definitions. A ‘troll’ used to be a malicious creature from Norse legend, but now it refers to someone who enjoys harassing other people over the Internet. ‘Spam’ used to be a kind of canned meat, but now it refers to a self-replicating message, often containing advertising, or promoting a scam. A ‘stream’ used to refer to running water, but now it’s a constantly updating stream of information. Sometimes the Internet creates new verbs out of nouns. ‘Troll’ and ‘stream’ can both be used as verbs, and ‘google’ is an entirely new verb that has even been included in some dictionaries.
Txt spk
One language change that has definitely been overhyped is so-called text speak, a mixture of often vowel-free abbreviations and acronyms, says Prof Crystal.
"People say that text messaging is a new language and that people are filling texts with abbreviations - but when you actually analyse it you find they're not," he said.
In fact only 10% of the words in an average text are not written in full, he added.
Wireless in the 1950s meant a radio. It's very rare to talk about a radio now as a wireless, unless you're of a particular generation or trying to be ironic Fiona McPherson, Senior editor, Oxford English Dictionary
They may be in the minority but acronyms seem to anger as many people as they delight.
Stephen Fry once blasted the acronym CCTV (closed circuit television) for being "such a bland, clumsy, rythmically null and phonically forgettable word, if you can call it a word". But his inelegant group of letters is one of many acronyms to earn a place in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). The secret of their success is their longevity.
"We need evidence that people are using a word over a period of time," said Fiona McPherson, senior editor in the new words group at the OED. She says the group looks for evidence that a word has been in use for at least five years before it can earn its place in the dictionary. Such evidence comes in the form of correspondence from the public and trawling through dated material to find out when a term first started appearing.
Hence TMI (Too Much Information) and WTF (you may wish to look that one up for yourself) are in, while OMG (Oh My God) has yet to be included in the quarterly dictionary updates. "Some people get quite exercised and say, 'do these things belong in our language?'," said Ms McPherson. "But maybe this has always happened. TTFN [ta ta for now] is from the ITMA (It's That Man Again) radio series in the 1940s."
Word thief
There is no doubt that technology has had a "significant impact" on language in the last 10 years, says Ms McPherson.
Some entirely new words like the verb 'to google', or look something up on a search engine, and the noun 'app', used to describe programmes for smartphones (not yet in the OED), have either been recently invented or come into popular use.
Image captionWebsite internetslang.com lists 5,090 English language acronyms in use.
But the hijacking of existing words and phrases is more common.
Ms McPherson points out that the phrase "social networking" debuted in the OED in 1973. Its definition - "the use or establishment of social networks or connections" - has only comparatively recently been linked to internet-based activities.
"These are words that have arisen out of the phenomenon rather than being technology words themselves," she added.
"Wireless in the 1950s meant a radio. It's very rare to talk about a radio now as a wireless, unless you're of a particular generation or trying to be ironic. The word has taken on a whole new significance."
For Prof Crystal it is still too early to fully evaluate the impact of technology on language.
"The whole phenomenon is very recent - the entire technology we're talking about is only 20 years old as far as the popular mind is concerned."
Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to a word is that it becomes too mainstream, he argues.
"Remember a few years ago, West Indians started talking about 'bling'. Then the white middle classes started talking about it and they stopped using it.
"That's typical of slang - it happens with internet slang as well."
Words that were adopted and modified by Internet users come full circle when they make their way back into everyday speech. The word ‘troll’ is a perfect example. It used to refer to a strange, inhuman creature living in the woods of Northern Europe, and then it came to refer to someone behaving badly on the Internet. Now someone can be called a troll when they behave obnoxiously in real life. The word ‘lurking’ is another example. It was adopted by Internet users to refer to someone who views an online conversation without contributing. Now people use it in real life to refer to someone who is part of a group but doesn’t join in the conversation.
The Internet has only existed for a short time, but it’s already had a huge effect on the way people communicate. It’s too soon to judge how permanent the effect of the Internet will be on society and the English assignment help language, but it’s likely that the changes people have made to the way they speak will last for hundreds of years. It’s also possible that a new technology will come along and replace the Internet, and acronyms such as ‘lol’ will seem like archaisms to our grandchildren.
Role and Scope of Online English Dictionaries
There are different reputable internet equipment including on the internet English dictionaries, systems for grammar examining, as well as other processing equipment. Other than the comfort, online dictionaries promptly reduce the restrictions of printed reference resources. Several of your customers imagine that they do not need to update their dictionaries generally, due to the fact the means of text will not adjust.
On one other hand, words as well as their meanings are dynamic. Online English dictionaries are auto-updated; in actual fact here is the primary benefit of on the web dictionaries above printed kinds. A web based dictionary is up-to-date quickly. It means that every new phrase or terminology might be extra during the databases of on the net dictionary. One among the very best traits of these dictionaries would be the translation feature, e.g. an online dictionary can translate an English word into Italian and vice versa. This may be an essential resource for understanding an international language.
Another benefit is of benefit, i.e. just input the term and the internet site research motor will do the rest of the work. No much more spelling look at time, no want of any systems for grammar checking, no much more throwing away time in looking for the right phrase as well as the right indicating. An on-line dictionary is actually a great tool of data, especially if we know how you can distinguish a fantastic on line dictionary from the bad a single. Also many of us check out on line dictionary as dietary supplements to print dictionaries and not an alternative. We frequently fail to remember which the dictionary offers the meaning of the term. It doesn’t correct the grammar, as is finished through the programs used for grammar.
Nevertheless, it remains a reality that on line dictionaries is advantageous. A lot of people may be careful in relation to employing on the web dictionaries due to the uncertainty connected with the supply. Although the thousands and thousands who use this modern facility act as a pointer that the on-line dictionaries could be good as the real thing. For a final result, the person gets all the rewards s/he justifies from his/her effort, and nothing fewer
Dictionary online provides complete search regarding definitions, pronunciation, spelling, thesaurus entries and etymology results for any word. The online dictionary can be browsed alphabetically or by the terms related to the word to find the exact meanings and synonyms of the word. There are online dictionaries in different languages like French, Italian, Spanish and German.
There are also online dictionaries covering varied subjects, such as computer, science, and medical, pharmaceutical and also industry specific terms. The information available on online dictionary is gathered from various sources like Wikipedia, encyclopedias, the acronym finder databases, and financial and legal dictionaries. The online thesaurus is also available that has a list of words with similar meanings.
One of the biggest advantages of dictionary online is that it is free to access so your money is saved that otherwise gets wasted in buying printed version of dictionary. Moreover, people can also compile their own personal dictionary by selecting some every day words from online dictionary. The option of audio helps you to listen and learn the pronunciation of any difficult word which you are not able to spell out properly.
Special-purpose dictionaries
There are online multi-field dictionaries that cover different semantic fields whereas a single-field online dictionary covers only one subject field. There are also online sub-field dictionaries that further cover a singular field of a subject. There are also different types of online special-purpose dictionaries that include multilingual, bilingual, scientific, biographical, technical, historical and geographical dictionaries. Learner's dictionaries assist the people in learning a language whereas bi-lingual online dictionaries help in translating languages.
If you are struggling with finding meanings of technical terminology then one can access technical dictionary that especially covers technical related subjects. The technical online dictionary proves beneficial for medical and computer dictionaries. The visual online dictionary is an interactive dictionary with pictures offering an innovative approach for learning the meanings of words. It is an all-in-one reference book in which we can quickly locate the picture of a word. It provides an easy and accessible way of learning words. So, the visual dictionary is ideal for teachers, students, parents and translators. Now-a-days, dictionary software is also available in PDAs format that can be easily downloaded on computers. Not only on computers, the dictionary software can also be downloaded on mobiles too thus can be accessed anywhere at any point of an hour.
There are also online dictionaries covering varied subjects, such as computer, science, and medical, pharmaceutical and also industry specific terms. The information available on online dictionary is gathered from various sources like Wikipedia, encyclopedias, the acronym finder databases, and financial and legal dictionaries. The online thesaurus is also available that has a list of words with similar meanings.
One of the biggest advantages of dictionary online is that it is free to access so your money is saved that otherwise gets wasted in buying printed version of dictionary. Moreover, people can also compile their own personal dictionary by selecting some every day words from online dictionary. The option of audio helps you to listen and learn the pronunciation of any difficult word which you are not able to spell out properly.
Special-purpose dictionaries
There are online multi-field dictionaries that cover different semantic fields whereas a single-field online dictionary covers only one subject field. There are also online sub-field dictionaries that further cover a singular field of a subject. There are also different types of online special-purpose dictionaries that include multilingual, bilingual, scientific, biographical, technical, historical and geographical dictionaries. Learner's dictionaries assist the people in learning a language whereas bi-lingual online dictionaries help in translating languages.
If you are struggling with finding meanings of technical terminology then one can access technical dictionary that especially covers technical related subjects. The technical online dictionary proves beneficial for medical and computer dictionaries. The visual online dictionary is an interactive dictionary with pictures offering an innovative approach for learning the meanings of words. It is an all-in-one reference book in which we can quickly locate the picture of a word. It provides an easy and accessible way of learning words. So, the visual dictionary is ideal for teachers, students, parents and translators. Now-a-days, dictionary software is also available in PDAs format that can be easily downloaded on computers. Not only on computers, the dictionary software can also be downloaded on mobiles too thus can be accessed anywhere at any point of an hour.
Language and the advent of technology
Here are some statistics for you:
- More people currently have a mobile phone capable of accessing the internet than have a PC with net access (source: Mobile Top Level Domain, the organisation charged with overseeing the ‘.mobi’ domain name registration)
- Sending text messages is now almost as common as talking on mobile phones
- Only 12% of mobile users never use their phone for texting (and virtually half of these people are over 65).
- 70% of 15-24 year-olds say they ‘could not live’ without their mobile phone
- There are an estimated 110 million-150 million blogs in existence (although many of these are abandoned soon after they are established)
Technology’s role in our lives is astonishing. Its effect on the way we communicate has changed the English language forever. To be more specific, the way we speak today is, by and large, the way we spoke before the internet became what it is, albeit with an enriched vocabulary. Conventions of telephone conversations have, to my mind, changed little: we still use the same methods – if not words – to greet and sign off, for example.
What is hugely different, however, is the way we write today. That is the area where technology has had the biggest impact. Email altered the structure of the letter as a communicative tool. It brought with it a whole new etiquette, as well as new conventions and new abbreviations, such as IMO (in my opinion), FWIW (for what it’s worth), IIRC (if I remember correctly) and FYI (for your information).
And it introduced the idea that WORDS IN UPPER CASE MEAN WE ARE SHOUTING, while lower case writing is the accepted form. But email English is nothing compared to the impact upon language driven by mobile phone users. The rate and extent of change this has had is truly astounding. The way we write our text messages is now so widely accepted that it has infiltrated mainstream advertising. Here are two examples I can think of immediately:
Virgin Media, the British company, ran a campaign several months ago for its provision of broadband (or Brdbnd, as it called it) and, a little more locally to me, a council campaign advised us: ‘Dnt B Wstfl’. And then we have the meteoric rise of blogging. There are now well over 100million blogs worldwide. Add to that the even-more-baffling growth of the key social networking websites – MySpace, Bebo, Facebook – and we start to see the whole picture. The watch-words today are ‘user-generated content’ (UGC). So, to sum up…email + texting + blogging + social networking sites = people writing more how they speak and less like they used to write. And, essentially, less like they had to write – either for a boss, a parent or a teacher.
Also, let’s remember one of the basic driving elements in this transition: the screen size of mobile phones is small and, therefore, text messaging was always, by default, short. And short, inevitably, becomes shorter. People frequently writing the same things would reduce the length of those words and phrases so that the meaning remained intact while the effort required communicating – and the amount of screen space used – were both minimized. While mainstream, digital communication alters language use, it does not eradicate the traditional; it merely sits alongside convention. And there are plenty of people who are still interested in English as we have known it since before the 1990s, when mobiles and Messrs Page and Brin (Google’s founders) came to prominence.
For hundreds of years, technology has been driving the evolution of the English language. In the fifteenth century, the invention of the printing press established standard methods of spelling English words. New forms of punctuation were invented to make printed texts easier to read, and for the first time people from different regions began to agree about English grammar. The invention of the telegraph, and later of the radio and the television, had an term paper writing effect on the English language. New words were invented to describe these new technologies, and new styles of speech were invented by broadcasters. However, it is the Internet that has had the largest effect on the English language, changing it completely in less than two decades.
The hallmark of Internet communication is efficiency. People who began using e-mail, and later instant messaging, found it efficient to invent a whole new world of acronyms, and these spread like wildfire across the Internet. Acronyms such as ‘brb’ and ‘lol’ have made their way into the ordinary speech of young people, and even into the pages of some respectable dictionaries. Meanwhile, it became so easy to communicate over the Internet that people stopped writing things out with a pen and paper. Letters have become obsolete, and everything from school projects to professional reports are created on computers, with the aid of online dictionaries and spellcheckers. Some studies have suggested that young people no longer know how to spell, because they use programmes that auto-correct their work. In this way, the Internet has had as large an effect on spelling conventions as the printing press did, almost six hundred years ago.
More than any other technology, the Internet has encouraged the invention of new words. Sometimes these words are created by expanding the definition of existing words. ‘Traffic’ used to refer to foot traffic, and then to horse and carriages, and then to automobiles. Now it refers to people visiting a website. Words like ‘cyberspace’ and ‘virtual’ were originally invented by science fiction authors, but they were adopted by early Internet users, and entered the wider vocabulary of the public. A ‘virus’ used to be something that made you sick, but today it’s a destructive programme that spreads itself across the Internet. The word ‘wireless’ was originally used for radio communication, but today it refers to wireless Internet. If you use a social networking site such as Facebook, you will be familiar with ‘tagging’ people, or ‘posting’ something to your ‘wall.’ These words all had similar definitions in the past, but they have been given a new twist and are used to refer to virtual activities.
Sometimes words are given entirely new definitions. A ‘troll’ used to be a malicious creature from Norse legend, but now it refers to someone who enjoys harassing other people over the Internet. ‘Spam’ used to be a kind of canned meat, but now it refers to a self-replicating message, often containing advertising, or promoting a scam. A ‘stream’ used to refer to running water, but now it’s a constantly updating stream of information. Sometimes the Internet creates new verbs out of nouns. ‘Troll’ and ‘stream’ can both be used as verbs, and ‘google’ is an entirely new verb that has even been included in some dictionaries.
Words that were adopted and modified by Internet users come full circle when they make their way back into everyday speech. The word ‘troll’ is a prefect example. It used to refer to a strange, inhuman creature living in the woods of Northern Europe, and then it came to refer to someone behaving badly on the Internet. Now someone can be called a troll when they behave obnoxiously in real life. The word ‘lurking’ is another example. It was adopted by Internet users to refer to someone who views an online conversation without contributing. Now people use it in real life to refer to someone who is part of a group but doesn’t join in the conversation.
The Internet has only existed for a short time, but it’s already had a huge effect on the way people communicate. It’s too soon to judge how permanent the effect of the Internet will be on society and the English assignment help language, but it’s likely that the changes people have made to the way they speak will last for hundreds of years. It’s also possible that a new technology will come along and replace the Internet, and acronyms such as ‘lol’ will seem like archaisms to our grandchildren.
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