麻豆淫院

Linguist says the digital age is changing communication in ways that enrich rather than degrade communication

In听text messages, you can express gratitude by saying 鈥渢hanks,鈥� with no period. But your meaning can be cloudier if you plop a period behind 鈥渢hanks.鈥�

The former means all is OK. The latter could suggest the writer is miffed.

The digital age is changing how people communicate鈥攚ith emoticons, acronyms, memes and apparently haphazard punctuation鈥攂ut University of Colorado Boulder Professor Kira Hall sees the move as academically compelling, not linguistically alarming.

That鈥檚 why Hall, a professor of linguistics and anthropology, gives students the chance to study the changing language of the digital age through her seminar-style class called Language and the Digital Media. The course focuses on the effects that new and changing language within digital space has on society and written communication.听

鈥淚t鈥檚 a new kind of change, we鈥檝e never had so many people participating in a kind of written communication that is so broad and extensive,鈥� Hall says.听

鈥淚t used to be that written communication was for academics or writers, people who had certain kinds of elite education, at least for the ones whose writing would be heard and circulated. But now everybody鈥檚 writing. All of their ideas can circulate. And so, you have a kind of democratization of written language that we haven鈥檛 seen before.鈥澨�

In this emerging democracy, writers enjoy liberty in their punctuation. During the course, Hall鈥檚 students found that in informal modes of digital communication, punctuation serves many of the same functions that 鈥済esture or tone of voice serve in face-to-face communication,鈥� she says. In fact, scholars of digital communication have named this phenomenon 鈥檛ypographical tone of voice.鈥欌��

Canadian linguist听听uses that phrase in her book听,听arguing that punctuation, emojis, non-standard capitalization, memes and the like do the work that hand gestures, body language and tone of voice serve in oral communication.

Older generations tend to use periods online as they do on paper: to conclude a sentence. But younger generations tend to use line breaks to conclude a sentence, she notes. 鈥淪o, when they do use a period, it means something.鈥�

But students in Hall鈥檚 class found that, even among younger generations, the use of periods is not static, that the rule has exceptions.听

鈥淔or example, when communicating about serious emotional topics (when texts tend to be longer), they do use periods. Similarly, when communicating with superiors about work-related issues, they also readily use periods,鈥� Hall says.

As with other kinds of democratization, the linguistic sort simultaneously unleashes freedom and anxiety.

鈥淚 would say that my students and younger generations are possibly more aware of the kind of style shifting that needs to go into written language to target different kinds of media or sources or people.鈥�

麻豆淫院 of Hall鈥檚 class praised the course: 鈥淚t was a great space to come into. We all sat in a circle, which I really enjoyed, and we would just discuss things,鈥� says one of Hall鈥檚 students, Mae Cosgrove. 鈥淓verything in this class was so subjective, and it was really interesting to hear the perspective of some of my classmates.鈥澨�

Throughout the course, Hall鈥檚 students learned techniques to help them understand how digital communication like emoticons and memes has evolved to mimic the complex emotional expression of face-to-face interactions.听

鈥淚 think now digital users have adapted and created ways of expressing that complexity that also exists in face to face,鈥� Hall says. 鈥淥ur task as researchers is to figure out what that complexity is, and it is a new terrain that is comparatively unestablished. So that鈥檚 why a class like the one I taught (last) semester was really exciting for all of us.鈥�

Hall鈥檚 prior research with language patterns and youth in India led her to recognize that language patterns were largely facilitated within digital media. Texting, videos and smartphones were relevant within every conversation.听

鈥淚 started to see how important digital media is in everyday life, and so my book that I鈥檓 writing and my research that鈥檚 coming out of this is really about how digital media is so intimately incorporated into everyday interaction now that you can鈥檛 study interaction without it.鈥�

This intimate incorporation of digital media into society has caused a moral panic among older generations who believe that youth are ruining the English language, according to Hall and her students. They acknowledge that much of this panic stems from a false impression of how younger people use language.听

鈥淵ou鈥檒l often see news accounts that show text messages that make no sense. A lot of those examples are fabricated,鈥� says Hall.听

鈥淚t鈥檚 that kind of exaggeration of what text messages look like that makes youth seem foreign, and it also makes them look like they鈥檙e doing something scary and wrong that we can鈥檛 understand. 鈥� Any linguist will tell you that language always changes. The fact that we have new forms of language that are emerging in digital media is not a bad thing; it鈥檚 just the way things are.鈥澨�

Hall鈥檚 students say the course helped them grow a deeper understanding of the language change brought about by digital media.听

鈥淔or us as linguists we find this language change very fascinating,鈥� says Cosgrove. 鈥淚 would absolutely recommend taking this or any course you can take with Kira. She really makes sure that you know the material, know the concepts and know what you鈥檙e talking about and that鈥檚 why I would recommend it. She鈥檚 a phenomenal teacher.鈥澨�听