I am shocked that it is possible to monitor the use of key words or phrases in digital text. It just seems like something that would be hard to attain data for because of the broad uses of the internet. It also seems unfair that conclusions can be drawn on by languages used because of the type of platform many people are using the internet for in their expression. I know for sure that I do not concern myself with grammatical decisions as much when typing on social networks or blogs.
I thought it interesting how Gander took note of the wide span of internet users that do not speak the written language that they are typing. Therefore, there speaking lanugage conflicts with what they are researching or typing on the internet. In this data, however, it is dated 2005 and earlier. The formula used relies on a formula from the Global Reach webiste. It would seem that much of this information would be hard to gather with trying to manage the cenus information, first language spoken and along with internet access.
In comparing Herring (1999) to the linguistic study, I found that face to face communication remains the key ingredient in communication. There is still a gap among people in their written skills and using the internet.
I agree Niki, the platform used my internet users is horrible! I get a headache just by reading some of the crap.
ReplyDeleteI don't make great concern about the language usage, but I am puzzled by the person that writes it.
I suppose people are relaxed when on the internet and believe that they don't have to be correct in english usage when on the internet.
Yes I agree. i think you can be more relaxed on the internet. even right now i'm not really using capitalization like i should be. but at least i dont say things like "omg u r 2 cool". when people use "u" instead of "you" or "2" instead of "to, two, too" i go crazy.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Grammar on blogs and social network sites is not as important as in "proper" written communication, but you still should be aware of it. Not everyone is an English major but just like you are what you eat, you are what you write from the readers point of view.
ReplyDelete"wide span of internet users that do not speak the written language that they are typing "
ReplyDeleteIt's funny sometimes to read what people (who don't speak English as their first language) post on sites either asking for help with a problem or in commenting on other posts. I work at UT and we have a lot of researchers who are Asian and for some of them their English is so broken it is hard to understand them. I cringe when they call me because I know it will take 5 minutes to get a simple question asked. It must be hard living someplace where you don't speak the native language well. I couldn't imagine them posting a question on a web site and having it make sense.
I love face-2-face communication too! Because if you are going to use short words at least you can explain to them what it means verses them over a social network. Sometimes people make their own slang and short words up which is probably one of the reasons some people language and writing skills are in danger.
ReplyDeleteI believe very much the same thing, Niki. The internet is creating a gap in language. If all we are doing is studying the gap by using the internet, how are we going to fix the gap? Even if we could do something about it, wouldn't it be illegal to do so anyway?
ReplyDelete