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      @ItsShivaniii

Ok, let’s be honest. How many of you would be able to recognise these: OMG, BTW or TTYL? If you are able to identify even one of these, let me tell you, you are more “with it” than me.

A language dies every two weeks, according to the British linguist, David Crystal. But the real question is, who’s guilty? It has been said that, by the end of the century, almost 92% of the native languages currently spoken worldwide will end up as “dead languages”. Our leading examples are Greek and Latin (which, of course, used to be the top two languages in the world). What we have spun ourselves into is “linguicide”. A language catastrophe.  Is the English language going to be a part of the same legacy?

It doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to solve this mystery. Over the last couple of centuries, it is an understatement to say that we have been bombarded with a colossal pool of new words, ranging from Americanisms to the nation’s favourite, slang. And yes, the culprit causing this linguistic massacre is the never ending evolution of technology.

Technology is responsible for introducing thousands upon thousands of new terms in this century alone. Terms such as “alpha geeks” soon became the ubiquitous buzz-word. The Oxford Dictionary defines them as: “denoting a person with the greatest expertise in a particular area of activity”, so to you and me, a miserable tech-savvy who becomes a hero every time something goes wrong in the office.  Whenever a need for new word arises, i.e. a Lexical gap, a part of society, if not the other, will invent a new word, expression or phrase to satisfy it. Undoubtedly, technology has been the cause of the largest change to the English Language in the 21^st century.

Initially risen by technology, we were phased by the biggest threat to the English language yet, also known as, Social Networking Sites. Despite only being a few years old, these social media monsters have revolutionised communication as we knew it. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and the rest, have dominated society. Let’s take twitter for example, everywhere you go, any company you work with or are a part of, any programme you watch on the telly, you will never fail to spot the famous #hashtag. 

Another thing Twitter encourages is the initialisation of words. Having only 140 characters to express your thoughts in single tweet has prompt the excessive use of initialisations such as OMG, BTW, GTG, BRB. It freely allows and emboldens tweeters to use non-standard forms of English. What makes it even more ludicrous is the Oxford Dictionary; Instead of scrutinising Twitter, they seem broadly supportive of the whole thing, with the term “tweet-up” which wormed its way in to the dictionary in 2010. What is the point in teaching pupils at school vowels, if we are perfectly capable of comprehending words without them?

However, on a more positive note, when Twitter was first introduced, most of society seemed irked at the concept of conveying something which is meaningful in a couple of words. Eventually, we got over this bizarre idea and most of us, including myself, realised that Twitter pushes us to get the crux of what are trying to say. There’s no theory proven which shows you need to be a grammar goddess to make a point. As the famous saying goes, “less is more”.

The real question is, when does a trend transform itself into an acceptable form of language that we can practise?

Which brings be on to the one thing that never fails to please us, yes that’s right, the good old TV. In my mind there is nothing more comforting than Corrie and a cuppa. Flicking through the channels one day, I came across a huge number of Reality TV shows.  Reality shows were never a first pick TV show to watch, especially when it was your turn to watch TV, however, somehow, for some reason, because of some people, they have become so overwhelming that one even bagged a BAFTA last year. Words like “reem” heavily used in “The Only Way is Essex” (or should I say TOWIE)  are becoming common colloquial terms used every day, especially amongst the younger generation, yet nobody quite knows for sure what it means. 

The horizons for new technology are endless. Unbelievably, the television was only born in the 1950s. 

The BBC with their monopoly position was focussed on providing good entertainment in what was referred to as “BBC English”. Publishing a copy of what the BBC expected from their workers, especially regarding their usage of language, was once given great importance. Little did we know that (forty years on) SKY digital TV would transform TV as we knew it. Alongside this new invention, a multiple selection of channels were easier to access. The BBC’s dream to maintain perfect Queen’s English was soon overridden.

We always knew that the Americans had an influence on us, politically and socially. But who could have guessed that they would influence the English Language as well. Americanism have slowly ‘snuck’ their way into the English language; and American discourse fillers are of particular delight. I’m sure we’ve all heard people say “Kinda” or “ya’know” or “sorta” or “check it out”. They are heard as frequently in London as New York City. And of course, there is no escaping from this façade, as the media proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, who has the Sky in his hands, is American himself. 

Alternative popular media cultures like the radio have also given English speakers an opportunity to adopt new words, for instance, via regional dialects. What was once the most prestigious of accents, RP, has been drowned out by regional accents used by most TV presenters. Presenters who speak regional dialects are becoming more and more accepted.

Ant and Dec, two important people on TV, have been crowned the kings of presenting (well almost) for 10 years running. Yet, neither of them speaks with this prestigious RP accent. In fact, they seem happy entertaining us with their Geordie accent. Our society has welcomed regional dialect speakers with open arms. The condoning of regional dialects to be witnessed widespread has permitted individuals to express their own culture and comfort. 

The possibilities of our evolving language are endless. Having this leeway may not necessarily be endangering English, but the opposite. This new insight blossoms to give people opportunity to converse in a way that is advantageous to them. However, is it worth it? Does it develop the English language or deplete it? Ask yourselves.