Download The Internet and the English Language

The Internet and the
English Language
By. Terence Carter
INTRODUCTION
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The problem of excessive coversations
held online, via emails or instant
messagers, has led to users to relate the
dialect to their professional world
Writers are tending to allocate slang and
abbreviated words used to socialize with
friends to engage with people at an
executive level.
Evolution or Devolution?
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The Internet — What once consisted of
only 15 nodes and 23 host computers has
swelled to over 19.5 million hosts, 1 million
web sites, and 71,000 newsgroups.
The Internet was a tool for the exclusive
use of government, and educational and
scientific communities the Internet was a
tool for the exclusive use of government,
and educational and scientific communities
Evolution or Devolution cont.
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Due to more usage of chat rooms and
emails, communication between users
tends to be fast paced, as users try to
contend with the rush of incoming
information in real-time.
So all finesse is omitted in the interest of
saving time
In Praise of Words

Although the mode of communication on
the Net is based on the written word, the
tenor of the communication is closer to
verbal interaction. Moreover, the tone of the
communication between participants often
resembles that of two close friends, even
between total strangers
The "Invisible Person" Syndrome
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“Accountability breeds meticulousness,
while anonymity breeds indolence ”
Because Internet communications are the
only source from which the online
community can derive an impression of any
user, that impression is directly related to
the language, tone, and structure employed
by the person in question.
Training and Tools
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The lack of training in the use of, and knowledge
about, Internet tools may also contribute to the
nature of Internet communications
Spelling and grammar checkers, while useful
tools, breed sloth and are not without flaws. They
detect words as being misspelled by doing a
comparison against the program's word libraries.
Therefore, words that are not present in the library
are flagged as being misspelled.
All Things Must Change
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It is plain that Internet communication has its own
set of rules: rules that do not follow the standards
of good English. What is not yet known is whether
this is an evolution of the language, or merely a
phase that must be endured until the medium
evolves, and finds its own voice. Only when a
comfortable medium between today's "net-speak"
and standard English is reached, can we hope to
see any substantial positive changes in the
English language