Hey guys,
I realized today that I haven't actually written an English Language essay in like.... a month. Hence, I quickly wrote one up today to hopefully get myself back into the routine of writing them. As my teacher hasn't replied to any of my essays that I emailed her, I was hoping to get some feedback from the awesome community we have on this forum. So any feedback on the essay below would be largely appreciated - even heavy criticism. I apologize for the poor quality essay in advance!
Electronic Communication is so prevalent nowadays that it is undermining the very nature of both written and spoken language. Discuss. Refer to at least two subsystems in your response.
Communication is often categorised into two forms, written and spoken language. Language, therefore, varies not only with each individual, but also with its usage between spoken and written communication. Spoken language is typically associated with low social distance and unplanned speech, evident in communication between social groups, friends and in school classrooms. The other variety, written language, often depicts high social distance with formality and planned lexemes, which indicates a poorer relationship between interlocutors. However, language is developing along with time, which is causing certain features of both varieties of communication to change. In modern society, the rise of electronic communication is blurring the distinction between these two forms, by adding impulsive written communication and planned speech.
Spontaneity, a concept characteristic of the spoken form of communication, is often displayed in written communication because of the development of technology. This characteristic shows low social distance between interlocutors, and in spoken language, is also accompanied by paralinguistic features, such as body language and eye contact. Spontaneous speech can be observed in formal situations, such as police interrogations or even when meeting new individuals. However, it is often used in less formal registers for education, interviews and most commonly, social interaction. Electronic communication, particularly the internet, has introduced spontaneity to written language. Online chat rooms, such as MSN messenger, have allowed interlocutors to communicate through writing. The language used in such interactions is very similar to that of writing and is causing the natures of both written and spoken language to combine. Conversational strategies and turn-taking features are all present in online communication. The use of “…” to indicate a hesitation and pause is often shown on the internet, in statements, which could cause offence, such as “You… misinterpreted my question.” Like spoken language, online communication can also have repairs and false starts, which can result from typing errors. Such repairs are indicated by the asterisk (*) sign, such as “He, she* was also at the party.” It is these non-fluency features, which continue to appear in electronic communication, which are causing the loss in distinction between written and spoken language.
This spontaneity is also fabricated in some forms of electronic communication, but it is in fact planned, written language. This is particularly the case in the media on television and by politicians. In several cases on television, newsreaders will appear impulsive with comedy and the arousal of laughter from co-workers. However, this communication is planned and often a result of written speech. This is very similar to politicians in modern society, who memorize much of their speech in order to execute them perfectly to the public. The Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard announced in August 2010, that she would be making a speech without any written notes. However, it was confirmed afterwards that she, in fact, had written aids, which she had typed, to reduce any errors she may have made and to assist her speech. Therefore, any spontaneity shown in electronic communication to a public audience, may appear spontaneous and spoken in nature, but has been planned. Thus, the differences between spoken and written communication is being undermined as a result of electronic communication.
Spoken and written language is also being undermined by the addition of certain lexemes in both varieties. The names of various technological systems, such as the ‘intranet’ and ‘emails,’ have featured in conversations. However, certain idioms, which are derived from company names, have begun to rise in usage. The words ‘facebooking’ and ‘tweeting’ have resulted as a morphological change from the social networking websites, ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter.’ Technology has largely affected language because of its lexical contributions, which consists largely of acronyms, used to limit space and cost in SMS messages and also due to the laziness of users on the internet. Certain words such as ‘cbs,’ an abbreviation for the slang expression ‘can’t be stuffed,’ have entered oral communication through social interactions. In many cases, the term ‘cbs’ has even been transformed into an acronym, pronounced as ‘ceebs.’ When non-standard, slang terms, originating from written language enter the spoken variety, the boundaries and rules that govern these forms of communication are broken and hence, the nature of both types of language are undermined.
Due to the emergence of commentary systems on the internet, many users of technology have begun to write as they would speak, introducing non-standard utterances, which would not normally be seen in writing. The internet allows individuals to blog, which is similar to a diary, and also allows people to post pictures and videos of themselves. This feature has allowed others to comment on this blog and picture, which are written and typed just as they would be spoken. A comment, typically made on various Facebook pictures, includes “Wow, you look so good!!!” The term, ‘Wow,’ which was once observed in spoken language for its spontaneity, has also been shown in written language. The commenting system on the internet, also implies a given context and hence, features various discourse features, including ellipsis, such as ‘(you look) cute.’ The function of the comment is still understood because it is written under a given context and is a feature, characteristic of spoken language. Hence, the distinction between spoken and written language are disappearing as a result of technology.
Spoken and written varieties of language have developed significantly over time. As stated by David Crystal, “In Shakespeare’s time, you could spell more or less as you liked.” Since then, the notion of a standard has been created and hence, written and spoken language forms have divulged from each other. However, in contemporary society, technology has been a large influence on language change, which has caused a blurring in difference between written and spoken language, as was the case in olden times. Therefore, the prevalence of electronic communication has caused the nature of both spoken and written language to be undermined.
P.S. I actually took a few examples from this forum! Haha - because of my lack of imagination/research.
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