Linguistic evolution keeps happening over time influenced by social, cultural, as well as technology-related changes. In recent years however, the digital medium has significantly impacted languages and literature that are produced in contemporary times.
In linguistics, neologism refers to new word or phrase that has come into common use.
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Platforms like Twitter have smaller character limits for sending messages which forces users to write using a condensed form. While that may seem like a limitation, the users eventually adapted to these constraints. As a result, many users ignore grammar and use creative abbreviations.
Communicating on other instant messaging platforms often requires quick exchanges of messages which forces users to adopt a more informal and conversational style of messaging instead of using standard written forms. People now also commonly use emojis that refer to digital visual icons and GIFs that are file format for animations in regular communication.
So, communication style has become more informal, especially on digital platforms such as social media where users commonly use slang, contractions, sentence fragments that are commonly used in informal speech, and emojis and GIFs to supplement text.
The evolution of language in the world of digital communication can be explained through several theories.
The Sociolinguistic theory suggests that language evolves based on social dynamics and that all variations of speech are equally valuable.
Functionalist theory suggests that language evolves to meet the communicative needs of the society.
Cognitive theories suggest that language evolves based on human cognition.
Prescriptive and Descriptive perspectives are two fundamental perspectives in the study of language and grammar. Prescriptive perspective suggests there are “correct” and “incorrect” ways to use a language. Descriptive perspective appreciates that use of a language can vary among different speakers and contexts.
References
Coupland, N. (2014). Introduction: Sociolinguistic theory and social theory. In Sociolinguistics and social theory (pp. 1-26). Routledge.
Lin, M. C. (2013). A new perspective on the creation of neologisms. Acta Linguistica Asiatica, 3(1), 47-60.
Question: What is the impact of digital communication on languages and literature? How has it influenced the way language is used and how literature is produced in contemporary times?
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