black t shirt|
Over the last ten years I have witnessed an urged migration away from standardized English both in writing and speech. Words are being introduced into modern dictionaries based on profession, fashion, slang, you name it. Today’s language indicates an almost rebellious need for individualization. Expressions are now whittled down to acronyms e.g IDLYITW. For the unfashionable it means “I don’t like you in that way”. Translation, I’m not romantically interested in you. Crunk is a new type of hip hop music, hoody (hoodie) is a person belonging to a particular neighborhood or a shirt with a hooded top. For the musically inclined, a riffage is a guitar riff.
So how am I to present my take on this phenomenon? Is it harmful to our children’s development? Is it a dumbing down of a basic skill? Is the internet responsible for this diversion? Will written language become extinct?
As an “olskool” teacher, I still have my qualms about spelling, construction and expression. I remember trying to decrypt text messages from my daughters. Their language is barebones, no fat, no extra vowels. Check becomes chk, take =tk, later=l8tr, become=bcom; because=bcuz, and then there is the evergrowing list of acronyms. This almost silicon based language is fast, it’s funny and it is worlds away from the language of my youth. The surprising thing about this nonconventional style is the worldwide acceptance. My concern is the separation of social communication from business communication. Is there going to be a time when all communication will be twitterized? Legal documents, business documents, medical documents, what will they look like, and who is going to write them?
Is verbal expression becoming limited or contained? Yes, I believe. It is already being displayed by our children when they repeatedly use filler words. Observe the teenage expressions “you Know” or “you feel me”. The one that gets me going is “and I was like…………..”. Language change is unavoidable, it is influenced by personal experiences, technology, and music. I must admit it takes getting used to. Initially the untrained ear is transformed into an annoying buzzing instrument implanted on the human head. Teenage speech can be the determining factor on where you go, when you travel, and even your sanity at home. Are we biased to believe that old language is more elegant? I tend to agree that we are. Though it is not fully accepted by us old stalwarts, this form of expression belongs to the inheritors of our world which will soon be their world. They are responsible for customizing that environment. “How are you” has no place in their environment, “whaddup” says it all, give me a call is replaced by holla, by the way is BTW.
My concern about language of the future is inconsequential. “Yo, not frontin, but on the real, I ain’t got no beef with it. IMO, it is what it is. I just gotta do me, feel me.”
write by Archibald