It would seem that the evolutionary language we call english is changing... as always. The current generation, however, is pumping steroids into this process. Many ideals such as youth rebellion, secrecy, necessity, and speed are now being wrapped around communication among youths. A simple analysis of todays communication and language reveals a lot of change in a rather short amount of time.
One of the most broad, and obvious, changes is the sudden rise in words such as LOL and BRB. These new symbols are brought about by not only a need for them but also a social acceptance of their use and the social cohesion that comes with it. Today information exchange is light speed and accessible from virtually anywhere. Because of new, fast methods of communication such as texting and instant messaging require quick responses, phrases that would take a long time to type or even say are being replaced by abbreviations and are essentially becoming 1 short word. The same is true for words and shorter phonetic spellings. Words such as you and your are becoming u and ur. Text combinations of symbols are also developing much different meaning than they would have if you were to say them out. For example the statement I <3 chocolate would translate to "I love chocalate" if one were to see it in text but if one were to say it out, "I less than three chocolate" one would probably get a lot of strange looks. Because the new rapid exchange of information is so tied in to this generation, this generation has modified the language in extreme ways. Now instead of "Hello, who are you with today?", one would say "Hi, who r u w/ 2day?"
Another major shift in communication arrives out of rebellion, secrecy and a necessity for both. This new skew on the english language is a little less broad in its social effect but has definately influenced it as a whole. The name for this new sub-dialect is 1337. If you pronounced that one three three seven than you probably don't know what it is. 1337 is actually pronounced "Leet". It is a form of writing english words in as many numbers and symbols as possible so that the numbers and symbols resemble the letters that they are replacing. 1337 originally was used on online bulletin boards in the eighties but didn't really hit the mainstream until recently. Then as well as now the purpose was to evade text filters and administrators online. This way people could communicate secretly with an very easy to learn language. Like english, 1337 is also dynamically changing but at a much faster rate. The difference you may find between 1337 one year and 1337 a year later may be equivalent to the difference found in the english spoken at one time and the english spoken 10-20 years later. Within 20 years the term went from Elite to Eleet to 31337 to 1337. Leetspeak such as 0\/\//\/, refering to the domination of something, has changed to []D\/\//\/ or pwn. This particular shift actually came about by mistakingly hitting the 'p' key on the keyboard instead of the 'o' key. This shift reflect the chaotic morphology of 1337. 1337 has developed its own grammatical morphology such as adding the suffix -xor and introduced new words such as n00b to society. The new abreviations such as LOL and rly discussed above are considered products of 1337.
15|\|'7 17 (R4Z'/ |-|0\/\/ d1PhPh3R3|\|7L'/ 0|\|3 (4|\| 5'//\/\B0L1Z3 7|-|3 3|\|9L15|-| L4|\|9U493?!1!!1!1!
Translates to:
isn't it crazy how differently one can symbolize the english language?!
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7 comments:
Well many languages like Greek or Chinese are commonly written with different alphabets. A language is exclusive from a its written representation. What your writing about 1337 reinforces that. However, I would disagree that this generation is especially changing our language. Before the invention of the printing press a language changed dramatically more during the course of its existence. English has remained relatively similar throughout its existence,specks of change like shorthand or 1337 are of little importance on a larger scale.
*you're
I find that people use "1337" as more of a joke, replacing every letter with a different symbol representing the letter is too tedious. But replacing a coupl3 l3tters here and ther3 when it does not detract from the legibility shows that you are, to some a extent, a part of this growing subculture and not some older man or woman who doesn't belong to this generation. It does, however, make you look like a dork. (no offense intended)
I liek <3 the n3w lang, i7 giv3s me someth1ng to do and makes eng liek fun 4ga1n. But not really. It's more of a meme, a passing trend that happened to be popular among those from the internets. Encyclopedia Dramatica is full of language memes, and although it is not appropriate for school, it is a treasure trove for evolving language and symbols. It publishes wikis about pop-culture, again mostly the internets culture, but it provides a key element that inevitably comes along with it - the language. It is full of slang that often comes up in everyday conversation for many in this generation, and with growing popularity, these words permeate into other spheres of life. It defines almost every single internet slang word there is, and many that originated far from the internet. When viewed from a scholarly perspective, it is quite a cultural encyclopedia - that is of course in the name, but it is meant as a spoof of that for those looking for entertainment.
last post by Colin.
Here's an article about "Fursecution," a word started on the internets that is detailed in Encyclopedia Dramatica:
A portmanteau of "furry" and "persecution" (compare fursona), following the extremely annoying habit of furries who treat the language with the same respect shown by the Smurfs. (not to be confused with Jeffree Moon's"Jstar persecution")
Oh yes, a furry is someone who thinks they are animals. Or at least have a strong connection to them.
It seems strange to think that people can actually understand the 1337 language. Looking at some of the words, I have no idea what is trying to be said. However if you think back to when using texting abbreviations became popular, it took a while for everyone to become accustomed to them as well. Like Mr. Lazarow said in class, language is going to change to become easier to communicate. However it may just take time to familiarize ourselves with it. I would'nt be surprised if soon the 1337 language became the commonly used abbreviations that people use.
-Alexis
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