Is texting killing the English Language?
In this TED Talk, John McWhorter tries to convince us that texting is not ruining the English Language; in fact it is helping to do the opposite. Teenagers and youth today aren't replacing sophisticated English Language with their more informal texting language, they're simply using it side by side with the traditional way of writing and speaking. This essentially allows them to be bilingual, using regular English in professional situations and using texting language in regular, social situations, and the youth know when to use one or the other. McWhorter also claims that texting is not writing at all; instead, it is "fingered speech" - or writing how you speak, just like how people attempt to speak how they write when they deliver a speech. The fact that the youth of today can advance language in this way shows hope in the future for the English language, much to the objection of the older population.
Watch the full TED Talk here.
In this TED Talk, John McWhorter tries to convince us that texting is not ruining the English Language; in fact it is helping to do the opposite. Teenagers and youth today aren't replacing sophisticated English Language with their more informal texting language, they're simply using it side by side with the traditional way of writing and speaking. This essentially allows them to be bilingual, using regular English in professional situations and using texting language in regular, social situations, and the youth know when to use one or the other. McWhorter also claims that texting is not writing at all; instead, it is "fingered speech" - or writing how you speak, just like how people attempt to speak how they write when they deliver a speech. The fact that the youth of today can advance language in this way shows hope in the future for the English language, much to the objection of the older population.
Watch the full TED Talk here.
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