Group items tagged

Emoji, however inelegant as they may seem, have become a language of their own, a way to transcend the limits of one's native tongue to communicate with others worldwide. Instagram found that as emoji use rose across the app, the use of Internet slang formed from English letters went down, and that the two phenomena were strongly correlated. That could explain why you may be seeing fewer instances of "Lol" on Instagram photo captions, while smiley face emoji are becoming more prevalent. "It is a rare privilege to observe the rise of a new language," Thomas Dimson, a software engineer on Instagram's data team, said in a company blog post on Friday. "Emoji are becoming a valid and near-universal method of expression in all languages." Even as the limits of emoji characters are reached by the number of available emoji - around 700 by most standard shared measures - users are finding new ways to use them to communicate. Pairing two or more emoji together, for instance, can form rudimentary sentences or sentiments for others to understand.

New and unexpected acronyms are taking over our texting universe. "Any idea what 'IWSN' stands for in Internet slang? It's a declarative statement: I want sex now." I honestly didn't know what "IWSN" stood for and it's surprising to see that teenagers are actually using these acronyms as secret codes for illegal/inappropriate actions.

As language evolves and new terms enter the mainstream, teenagers are often blamed for debasing linguistic standards. In some cases, their preferred forms of communication-like text messaging-are attacked. But, teens don't actually influence language as much as is often claimed. That's one of the key findings in the latest linguistic research by Mary Kohn, an assistant professor of English at Kansas State University. How much a person's vernacular changes over time may have as much to do with personality and social standing as it has to do with age. The extent to which teenagers are credited with (or blamed for) driving lasting change to language is, she says, "grossly overstated." The same factors that prompt teens to experiment with new language are applicable to people at many stages of life.

This article is essentially explaining that teens aren't the main cause for a dramatic change in our language but actually innovators bringing in new words into our daily vocabulary. It also says that everybody can change language, as some words become "dated" and others don't. Teens aren't the only ones to blame for modern lingo.

This article from the LA Times talks about how the Corona Virus has changed our language during this time. It also includes the slang people are using and developing.

This NYT article talks about how language use is actively being shaped by the COVID-19 (or coronavirus) pandemic. With some words carry new weight and meaning, and entering more mainstream usage. In other areas, some words also rise to prominence over others. The author likens the spread of new words to a kind of linguistic 'contagion' where the most apt/popular words and their meanings are rapidly adopted and spread becoming ingrained in everyday usage. It also talks about how the most vivid uses of language, rather than more dull, though still objectively correct uses, has spread more.

This article talks about how coronavirus is changing our language. In this article, new lingo appropriate to the coronavirus. However, the new lingo takes more of a humorous tone that explores the new words as novelties rather than everyday slang. One funny exam was the word "covidiot" referring to someone who doesn't comply to coronavirus restrictions.

This New York Times article was very interesting. It talked about the effect that the corona virus has on our language, and how the stay at home order is causing a plateau in the English dictionary.

謝謝, Michael Chang ʻ22, for discovering this fun Mandarin Chinese weekly column, which examines various pop culture elements of Mandarin Chinese and teaches vernacular, vocabulary, and other linguistics aspects that Chinese learners are unlikely to learn in a classroom setting. A sampling: Chinese Internet slang, Chinese gastronomic terms, sarcastic phrases, traditional Chinese children's games, poetic terms for snow, anti-COVID virus health propaganda slogans.

This article goes through the 6 distinct ways of using "like" and how society changes their views on filler words based on gender.

The author examines the meaning of rizz, which is derived from "charisma." This term, rizz, proves how dynamic language is. Rizz also emphasizes the role of online platforms, such as TikTok, where younger people can own and coin their linguistic expressions.