Texting has for a long time been blamed for the faults in today's use of the English language, but should it really be held responsible? It has been argued that texting is having a major impact on the way young people today communicate as they're replacing Standard English with a vast combination of phrases and sayings. For some reason this appears to worry some people, however they are failing to see the reality of the situation - no one speaks like they text (well at least they shouldn't).
Our vocabularies are constantly growing and have been for thousands of years so why are we punishing the further production of more words or sayings? Take LOL for example. The abbreviation LOL has been around for years but its definition is constantly evolving. It initially meant 'laughing out loud' (or 'lots of love' if you're over 40) but today it is used in a very different way and is rarely used to indicate humour. LOL has matured into an indicator of sympathy between texters. Here's an example:
Tom texts: ''what u doin??''
Kate texts: ''doing homework lol:(''
Tom texts: ''aww lol''
It is evident from these messages that the activity of doing homework is not amusing in any way, shape, or form. So LOL has been used as a way to make a message seem less serious as otherwise it is very difficult to understand the meaning/tone behind someone's message if they fail to indicate what they mean exactly; hence why Emojis are so popular.
The majority of texts sent from young people to young people are very short and mainly only consist of a few words or phrases, therefore they can come across as blunt or abrupt without intending to. Emojis fix this issues as there is a plethora of emoticons to send that are fit for any situation. It is even possible to have a full conversation using just emojis as each one has developed its own specific definition that is universally known. Emojis are essentially their own language that is 'spoken' by thousands of people daily. Emojis are the equivalent of the short hand language used when taking notes during writing. Symbols and abbreviations used in subject specific or general writing are used to make the most of the time given to write and Emojis are the same (or at least very similar). Texts are a quick way of communicating with someone so Emojis maximise the efficiency of texts as one little picture can say a lot.
Granted, all these things are used in written communication but they are rarely, if ever, used in spoken language. I can gladly admit that I have never heard anyone say ''happy face Emoji'' or ''cookie Emoji'' aloud and I highly doubt I will ever hear this. Overall, it's unlikely that text speak will ever majorly affect spoken language, whether it's negative or not. I believe we should praise text language as it's encouraging young people to explore words and sayings and is producing a wide variety of new terms to be welcomed to the English language.
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