It’s not unusual to see someone plugged into an electronic device in the form of a smartphone or laptop. We are in an age in which we observe the transformation of culture by technology, rendering the ability to communicate and access information expediently and more efficiently. But with regard to our language, it may prove degenerative, making it so we have to think less as technology does more.
Even before the computer or information age, writers such as George Orwell criticized what he saw as the degeneration of the English language. He observed that modern English contains many bad habits, as people become lazy with it. In his 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language,” he writes that, “the slovenliness of our language makes it easier to have foolish thoughts,” going onto point out that this “slovenliness” is leading to the political and economic degeneration of modern civilization.
Many are probably more familiar with Orwell’s dystopian fictional world created in his book 1984. In his novel, Orwell demonstrates how language can influence peoples’ thoughts and society as a whole, through the simplification of English in what he calls “Newspeak.” Orwell’s Newspeak (his fictitious language) reflects his cynicism expressed in the previously referenced essay, and predicts a decline of language through its simplification via slovenliness.
Newspeak eliminates words deemed unnecessary in order to express a thought in the most simplistic way possible. For example, “bad” becomes “ungood,” and “excellent” or “extraordinary” become “doubleplusgood.” Thus, all complicated words used to express the same or similar meaning are eliminated.
Using this system of language, Orwell surmises that there will be “every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller.” This simplification limits language, which subsequently limits one’s range of thought as well.
Through our generation’s urge to exuberantly text and tweet, we can observe this simplification of language through what I like to call “Textspeak.” This new language eliminates unnecessary vowels or words, and ignores traditional grammatical rules such as complete sentences and proper spelling. For example, words like “you” are simplified to “u,” and homonyms such as “to” are replaced by the number “2.”
This new language also consists of a series of acronyms (i.e. TTYL or WTF), which can evolve into new words altogether, and the addition of auto-correct, which eliminates the strain of having to know how to spell.
However, not everyone is convinced technology is dumbing down our language, with some in fact claiming the complete opposite. Linguist John McWhorter believes that texting is “an emergent complexity,” and is an evolved type of “fingered speech” which he says has transformed into an entirely new language. For example, the acronym “LOL” has evolved from its original meaning of “laughing out loud” to being an empathetic when written as a word on its own in lower case (lol), according to McWhorter.
With that said, I am not convinced. Yes, new words are emerging, but old words are also being eliminated. In addition, shortened versions of words are replacing more lengthy, complicated ones as well. In order to text faster, or squeeze thoughts into a prescribed 140 character tweet, complex thoughts are becoming degenerated through this simplification, and so is our written language as a consequence.
Though it’s apparent that the English language is changing through the advent of technology, this may not constitute as an evolution as McWhorter suggests, but rather the “slovenliness” that Orwell warned about instead.
