Image Source: dma.org.uk/digital-devices-chang-english-language
ENGLISH IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Language, spoken and written, it is one of the primary ways in which humans communicate with one another. Although there are other means, for the last few centuries it has been the most frequently used by most people.
Nearly everyone – except maybe teen agers -- realizes that language constantly changes over the years and over physical distance. It is a work in progress, not an end state. That’s old news. The differences in this century are the rate of change -- and the rate curve is on the upswing -- and the advent of the internet and the cell / smartphone.
“Although the Internet came into existence in the second half of the twentieth century, its influence on language began to escalate in 1990 onwards. It has drastically changed the way people communicate and use English both in writing and speaking.”
www.researchgate.net/evolution_of_english_internet_age
Language, spoken and written, it is one of the primary ways in which humans communicate with one another. Although there are other means, for the last few centuries it has been the most frequently used by most people.
Nearly everyone – except maybe teen agers -- realizes that language constantly changes over the years and over physical distance. It is a work in progress, not an end state. That’s old news. The differences in this century are the rate of change -- and the rate curve is on the upswing -- and the advent of the internet and the cell / smartphone.
“Although the Internet came into existence in the second half of the twentieth century, its influence on language began to escalate in 1990 onwards. It has drastically changed the way people communicate and use English both in writing and speaking.”
www.researchgate.net/evolution_of_english_internet_age
Image Source: www.peterfisk.com
Researchers are finding that the two most common communications devices, the internet and smartphone, have brought about what is arguably a new variety of English that differs from the standard varieties. Some researchers fear this new form of English is a threat to the standard varieties while others argue that it is simply a new branch of linguistics, sometimes called Internet Linguistics.
The internet has allowed us to become connected in a way that was not possible in the past. This level of immediate connection has helped new phrases, words and ways to communicate become commonplace much faster than humans have been accustomed to.
CŌM ON WANRE NIHT / SCRĪÐAN SCEADU-GENGA
Like it or not, the English language has continually changed and will continue to evolve. That is a fact, not a threat. The difficult part is keeping up with the modifications.
Or maybe we don’t need to.
“Cōm on wanre niht / scrīðan sceadu-genga” is, in fact, English. Old English, to be precise. However, if you can read and understand it, I’m impressed. These are the opening words from the English poem Beowulf, first committed to writing between 975 and 1015 AD. The translation, by R. M. Liuzzar, “In the dark night he came / creeping, the shadow-goer”.
After the Norman Conquest of 1066 AD, Old English -- only a spoken language at the time -- was replaced, for a time, by Anglo-Norman which developed into what is now known as Middle English, which did developed a written form.
Most average, English-speaking people alive today do not miss Old and Middle English, nor yearn for their return. Keep this in mind for the later discussion.
THE NATURE OF THE CHANGES
Putting aside for the moment the question of whether or not everyone needs to keep up on the spiraling (spelling spiralling if you are British) growth of the language, let’s look at what modifications have taken place since 1990.
VOCABULARY: A New Word Every 98 Minutes
Vocabulary is the most obvious change to English, because people deal with both the written and spoken word constantly. The estimated number of words in English is somewhat speculative, but most experts agree there are at least a million plus, somewhere between 1,005,000 and 1,022,000.
OMG! How many of these words do you know and use? In a 2011 interview with the BBC, lexicographer Susie Dent estimated that while an English speaker may know around 40,000 words, they actively use only about 20,000 (about 2% of a million). While that percentage may have increased since 2011, it is still a very small portion of the language. Ouch!
The Global Language Monitor (GLM) estimates that in the modern world a new word is created every 98 minutes, and that 800 to 1,000 new words are added to English language dictionaries each year. In the 20th century, the estimated increase in dictionary words is more than 90,000 words. atkinsbookshelf.wordpress.com/words-enter-the-english-language
By the way, a word does not need to be in the dictionary to be a “real” word.
The third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), scheduled for completion in 2037, estimates the rate of inclusion of new words will be nearly 4,000 per year. That dictionary added more than 2,500 words in 2014. Imagine in 2024.
This dramatic increase in new words is due to:
● Technology and new products
● Spontaneous coining of new words in email, text transmissions, and in social, news and entertainment media which can reach missions of people in seconds.
● Blended words (e.g: bromance, staycation.)
● Foreign words
The internet has allowed us to become connected in a way that was not possible in the past. This level of immediate connection has helped new phrases, words and ways to communicate become commonplace much faster than humans have been accustomed to.
CŌM ON WANRE NIHT / SCRĪÐAN SCEADU-GENGA
Like it or not, the English language has continually changed and will continue to evolve. That is a fact, not a threat. The difficult part is keeping up with the modifications.
Or maybe we don’t need to.
“Cōm on wanre niht / scrīðan sceadu-genga” is, in fact, English. Old English, to be precise. However, if you can read and understand it, I’m impressed. These are the opening words from the English poem Beowulf, first committed to writing between 975 and 1015 AD. The translation, by R. M. Liuzzar, “In the dark night he came / creeping, the shadow-goer”.
After the Norman Conquest of 1066 AD, Old English -- only a spoken language at the time -- was replaced, for a time, by Anglo-Norman which developed into what is now known as Middle English, which did developed a written form.
Most average, English-speaking people alive today do not miss Old and Middle English, nor yearn for their return. Keep this in mind for the later discussion.
THE NATURE OF THE CHANGES
Putting aside for the moment the question of whether or not everyone needs to keep up on the spiraling (spelling spiralling if you are British) growth of the language, let’s look at what modifications have taken place since 1990.
VOCABULARY: A New Word Every 98 Minutes
Vocabulary is the most obvious change to English, because people deal with both the written and spoken word constantly. The estimated number of words in English is somewhat speculative, but most experts agree there are at least a million plus, somewhere between 1,005,000 and 1,022,000.
OMG! How many of these words do you know and use? In a 2011 interview with the BBC, lexicographer Susie Dent estimated that while an English speaker may know around 40,000 words, they actively use only about 20,000 (about 2% of a million). While that percentage may have increased since 2011, it is still a very small portion of the language. Ouch!
The Global Language Monitor (GLM) estimates that in the modern world a new word is created every 98 minutes, and that 800 to 1,000 new words are added to English language dictionaries each year. In the 20th century, the estimated increase in dictionary words is more than 90,000 words. atkinsbookshelf.wordpress.com/words-enter-the-english-language
By the way, a word does not need to be in the dictionary to be a “real” word.
The third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), scheduled for completion in 2037, estimates the rate of inclusion of new words will be nearly 4,000 per year. That dictionary added more than 2,500 words in 2014. Imagine in 2024.
This dramatic increase in new words is due to:
● Technology and new products
● Spontaneous coining of new words in email, text transmissions, and in social, news and entertainment media which can reach missions of people in seconds.
● Blended words (e.g: bromance, staycation.)
● Foreign words
ABBREVIATIONS
Texting abbreviations account for many of the new entries in dictionaries. Obviously, when texting and using the internet, people abbreviate and leave out capitalization and punctuation to save the number of key strokes necessary. (Remember, Carpal Tunnel is
Image Source: clipground.com lurking out there.)
Unfortunately, not keeping up can lead to massive miscommunications. Don’t use LOL to mean “lots of love” when writing condolences for the death of a friend or relative.
Hey! I just coined a new one. FONKU: Fear of not keeping up.
NEW SPELLINGS, DEFINITIONS, AND PARTS OF SPEECH
New ways to spell old words, modifications or additions to definitions, and making words into other parts of speech (example: noun becomes a verb, etc.) are related to vocabulary, but are not quite the same thing. (Text (noun) became a verb (texting) in the digital era.) Nothing new. Shakespeare did that centuries ago.
EMOJIS: The New Language
The internet also spawned a new language: Emojis. The idea isn’t new. Symnbols have been around for longer than written language, but the way in which emojis are used is somewhat different.
Texting abbreviations account for many of the new entries in dictionaries. Obviously, when texting and using the internet, people abbreviate and leave out capitalization and punctuation to save the number of key strokes necessary. (Remember, Carpal Tunnel is
Image Source: clipground.com lurking out there.)
Unfortunately, not keeping up can lead to massive miscommunications. Don’t use LOL to mean “lots of love” when writing condolences for the death of a friend or relative.
Hey! I just coined a new one. FONKU: Fear of not keeping up.
NEW SPELLINGS, DEFINITIONS, AND PARTS OF SPEECH
New ways to spell old words, modifications or additions to definitions, and making words into other parts of speech (example: noun becomes a verb, etc.) are related to vocabulary, but are not quite the same thing. (Text (noun) became a verb (texting) in the digital era.) Nothing new. Shakespeare did that centuries ago.
EMOJIS: The New Language
The internet also spawned a new language: Emojis. The idea isn’t new. Symnbols have been around for longer than written language, but the way in which emojis are used is somewhat different.
 |  |  |
Tears of Joy Emoji Tears of Joy Emoji Tears of Joy Emoji
Image source: whatemoji.com Image source:Dreamtime.com Image Source: art.inspiredpencil.com
Image source: whatemoji.com Image source:Dreamtime.com Image Source: art.inspiredpencil.com
Looking at these images and others depicting the same emotion, I foresee some room for miscommunication, but that’s always a risk with or without written or spoken words.
GLOBALIZATION
The internet made it possible for people all over the world to communicate with each other quickly and easily. This has allowed humankind to become connected in a way not possible in the past.
Image Source: ihpao.com/
This level of immediate connection has helped new phrases, words and ways to communicate become commonplace much faster than we had been used to. Due to its widespread usage, English has become the “lingua franca” of the internet.
Global communication and increased contact at nearly all levels of society in all countries has resulted in the integration of words from many languages being absorbed into other languages. Some are simply the word translated from one language to another. Others represent new products, technology, procedures, and ideas for which there are no “old” words.
Examples in English conversation and writing include: “joie de vivre” from French; “gelato” from Italian; “schadenfreude” and "Über", sometimes written uber, from German.
A word of caution. When foreign words are integrated into another language, they often carry a different meaning than the word in the original language. For example, Collins dictionary defines the English word “uber” (originally German meaning "over", "above" or "across".) as a noun or adjective “that refer to a great or extreme example of something.” www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/
The internet made it possible for people all over the world to communicate with each other quickly and easily. This has allowed humankind to become connected in a way not possible in the past.
Image Source: ihpao.com/
This level of immediate connection has helped new phrases, words and ways to communicate become commonplace much faster than we had been used to. Due to its widespread usage, English has become the “lingua franca” of the internet.
Global communication and increased contact at nearly all levels of society in all countries has resulted in the integration of words from many languages being absorbed into other languages. Some are simply the word translated from one language to another. Others represent new products, technology, procedures, and ideas for which there are no “old” words.
Examples in English conversation and writing include: “joie de vivre” from French; “gelato” from Italian; “schadenfreude” and "Über", sometimes written uber, from German.
A word of caution. When foreign words are integrated into another language, they often carry a different meaning than the word in the original language. For example, Collins dictionary defines the English word “uber” (originally German meaning "over", "above" or "across".) as a noun or adjective “that refer to a great or extreme example of something.” www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/
AUTOCORRECT AND PREDICTIVE TEXT
This feature of word processing programs and smartphones can be a double-edged sword. They can help prevent spelling errors and suggest words for faster typing, but have also been known to create unintended mistakes or miscommunications.
Image Source: istock
Autocorrect often tries to predict what word you intend to type based on context, but that doesn’t always work out and can lead to embarrassing or even tragic situations. LOL.
This feature of word processing programs and smartphones can be a double-edged sword. They can help prevent spelling errors and suggest words for faster typing, but have also been known to create unintended mistakes or miscommunications.
Image Source: istock
Autocorrect often tries to predict what word you intend to type based on context, but that doesn’t always work out and can lead to embarrassing or even tragic situations. LOL.
INFORMAL WRITING: The Fewer Keystrokes The Better
Image Credit: istock; Image Source: smithsonianmagazine.com
Some writers and linguists claim that formal writing has not suffered as much as one might believe due to the digital revolution. The formal character of grammar has been relatively unaffected. The biggest impacts on the English grammar and structure occurr in informal communications. E-mail, texting, and short-messaging services such as Twitter, have resulted in short and elliptical sentences as a writing style.
Image Credit: istock; Image Source: smithsonianmagazine.com
Some writers and linguists claim that formal writing has not suffered as much as one might believe due to the digital revolution. The formal character of grammar has been relatively unaffected. The biggest impacts on the English grammar and structure occurr in informal communications. E-mail, texting, and short-messaging services such as Twitter, have resulted in short and elliptical sentences as a writing style.
Capitalization
Try asking someone under 20 years old what “capitalization” means, and you are likely to receive a blank stare or a statement about conversion of income or assets into money. You are unlikely to hear about big letters. Then ask what “uppercase” means.
Image Source: chadghector.pages.dev
The same goes for asking someone under 30 if they know what a “colon” does. Maybe asking about a “semicolon” would be better. I’ve had editors tell me to take out all the semi colons from my books because reader don’t know what they mean anymore.
Try asking someone under 20 years old what “capitalization” means, and you are likely to receive a blank stare or a statement about conversion of income or assets into money. You are unlikely to hear about big letters. Then ask what “uppercase” means.
Image Source: chadghector.pages.dev
The same goes for asking someone under 30 if they know what a “colon” does. Maybe asking about a “semicolon” would be better. I’ve had editors tell me to take out all the semi colons from my books because reader don’t know what they mean anymore.
Punctuation
Linguist David Crystal, author of Making Sense: The Glamorous Story of English Grammar, states that the internet’s influence on English punctuation related “…to the use of punctuation to mark constructions, where many of the traditional rules have been adapted as users explore the graphic opportunities offered by the new medium.
Image Source: artpictures.club
We see a new minimalism, with marks such as commas and full stops omitted; and a new maximalism, with repeated use of marks as emotional signals (fantastic!!!!!!). We see some marks taking on different semantic values, as when a full stop adds a note of abruptness or confrontation in a previously unpunctuated chat exchange. And we see symbols such as emoticons and emojis replacing whole sentences, or acting as a commentary on sentences.” blog.oup.com/internets-influence-grammar-punctuationt/
Linguist David Crystal, author of Making Sense: The Glamorous Story of English Grammar, states that the internet’s influence on English punctuation related “…to the use of punctuation to mark constructions, where many of the traditional rules have been adapted as users explore the graphic opportunities offered by the new medium.
Image Source: artpictures.club
We see a new minimalism, with marks such as commas and full stops omitted; and a new maximalism, with repeated use of marks as emotional signals (fantastic!!!!!!). We see some marks taking on different semantic values, as when a full stop adds a note of abruptness or confrontation in a previously unpunctuated chat exchange. And we see symbols such as emoticons and emojis replacing whole sentences, or acting as a commentary on sentences.” blog.oup.com/internets-influence-grammar-punctuationt/
“FOM” -- FEAR OF MISUNDERSTANDING
Without going into a discussion of psychology, communication is the passing along of information between humans and is critical to human beings on many levels. Enough said.
Image Source: minimalismmadesimple.com/
Presumably, the communicator wants the communicatee(s) to understand the information being given (whether that information is correct or not). Regardless of the intent to make the other person understand, humans do a good job of conveying information (written, verbal and otherwise) in ways that are misinterpreted by the receiver(s). Hence, life as we know it.
Since the evolutionary trend in the English language seems to be moving toward both “simplification” and “minimization”, I predict that within about twenty years informal communications in writing will eliminate capital letters (Oops! Uppercase), reduce the kinds of punctuation used, and rely on many more abbreviations (which become “dictionary words” unto themselves). If that happens, the door will be open to a new level of miscommunication.
I don’t see formal written communication in English changing that much, but I won’t be around to fine out.
JUST SAYIN’
Sources:
https://dma.org.uk/article/how-digital-devices-have-changed-the-english-language
https://oxbridgeedu.com/english-language-in-the-digital-agetechnology-shaping-communication/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323052712_Evolution_of_english_in_the_internet_age
https://www.medievalists.net/2023/08/the-differences-between-old-english-middle-english-and-modern-english/
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/uber#google_vignette
https://www.dictionary.com/e/new-words-dictionary-2020/
https://atkinsbookshelf.wordpress.com/tag/how-many-words-enter-the-english-language-each-year/
Without going into a discussion of psychology, communication is the passing along of information between humans and is critical to human beings on many levels. Enough said.
Image Source: minimalismmadesimple.com/
Presumably, the communicator wants the communicatee(s) to understand the information being given (whether that information is correct or not). Regardless of the intent to make the other person understand, humans do a good job of conveying information (written, verbal and otherwise) in ways that are misinterpreted by the receiver(s). Hence, life as we know it.
Since the evolutionary trend in the English language seems to be moving toward both “simplification” and “minimization”, I predict that within about twenty years informal communications in writing will eliminate capital letters (Oops! Uppercase), reduce the kinds of punctuation used, and rely on many more abbreviations (which become “dictionary words” unto themselves). If that happens, the door will be open to a new level of miscommunication.
I don’t see formal written communication in English changing that much, but I won’t be around to fine out.
JUST SAYIN’
Sources:
https://dma.org.uk/article/how-digital-devices-have-changed-the-english-language
https://oxbridgeedu.com/english-language-in-the-digital-agetechnology-shaping-communication/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323052712_Evolution_of_english_in_the_internet_age
https://www.medievalists.net/2023/08/the-differences-between-old-english-middle-english-and-modern-english/
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/uber#google_vignette
https://www.dictionary.com/e/new-words-dictionary-2020/
https://atkinsbookshelf.wordpress.com/tag/how-many-words-enter-the-english-language-each-year/
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