As we all know this week, we've been stressing a lot the trends and changes of the English language. In fact, we debated and shared our opinions whether it is a growth or decay. However, as you may be concerned, I strongly disagree on these trends of English. Due to our advanced technology such as MSN, twitter, facebook and SMS words have been abbreviated and simplified. We have adapted to using these textisms in academic assignments, business communications and even resumes. This practice has gone out of control and our society needs to realize that textisms should be kept inside our social lives only. Personally, I think that it is a great loss to our language. The reason why we study Shakespearean pieces is to embrace and observe the creative ways of literature in the ages. By abbreviating words in our language, it puts all the hard work of constructing English into waste. English class is designed to educate students of using literary devices, diverse vocabulary, correct grammar etc. Inserting textisms defeat the purpose of education; it degrades our education level.
In the French language, the French are very concerned about preserving their language. They in fact have people pick out English words from their vocabulary and introduce a new word in their language. I believe that the English language needs to follow that practice of excluding words that degrade our language.
In conclusion, I strongly disagree with the idea of merging textisms in our formal situations because it degrades our language. Hard work has been put into developing vocabulary in our language and by simplifying it puts the hard work to waste. Textisms should be kept in our social lives and not in formal situations. Please comment on this post. I invite you to challenge my point of view.
Hi Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteI have read your post and the part about the french language was very interesting; where they have people picking out English words from their vocabulary and introduce a new word to replace the English word. It is definitely a good way to preserve the language would it work the same way for English? Personally, I think that there are way too many different areas that speak English, Canada, U.S.A., England and other places, for the process to work effectively. I believe that it would be insanely difficult for the English language to exclude words that degrade the language and also keep it unified. Since England's definition of a word that degrades the language may be different from Canada or USA's definition. But even if it works how would textism be kept out of the language? No one can control how a person texts or type on the internet especially in a fast paced society. That being said, most people do know that textism is informal language and should not appear in formal situations but there are others who use it in formal situations. I think that people who use it will just put themselves in a less respected position since they sound uneducated compared to others if they put use textism in formal situations like their resumes.
Nice post :)
Hi Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post! I agree with you that simplifying words is destroying the beauty and the hard work put into creating a wonderful piece of work. There is a reason why writers choose to use each and every word. The word's etmology could possibly have a very important meaning, or convey a special message. Words are used to create an atmosphere and a picture. If all of these little details are taken out of a piece of work, what will be left? I also believe that translating Shakespearean works into textism is unfair to the creator. By doing so, people are practically ripping his work into pieces and transforming it into something that is easy to understand. I find this very insulting to the writer because time and heart was put into creating the piece of work, and just because people have a hard time understanding it, we take it apart and simplify it.
Jonosan
ReplyDeleteWhile I understand why some people would think of these language trends as harmful to English, because of it's lack of standard English conventions. However, I think "textisms" and computer slang are mainly kept in social environments, as nobody with common sense would hand in formal assignments or resumes littered with this slang that is mainly used by kids and teenagers. As I said though, I believe it to be more of an oversimplification than a degradation, and is impractical for anything else than casual conversation.