Internet English is an emerging language system whose rapid development and complexity has implications for the evolution of grammar
By Calley Pierce
Course: Morphology and Syntax (Ling 4420)
Advisor: Jared Desjardins
LURA 2019
The Oxford comma. 鈥淎sk鈥� instead of 鈥渁ks.鈥� There, their, and they鈥檙e. The legitimacy of 鈥渁in鈥檛鈥� and 鈥測鈥檃ll.鈥� These are familiar, if sometimes contentious, issues in the usage of the English language. Users decide what is correct and tend to impose it upon others, and the same principle has understandably been applied to Internet English. Many of us look at Internet English through the lens of conventional written English and familiar forms of spoken English: we may be hard pressed to see the following as "real English" as it is so different:
Early in life, I had begun to suspect there was something very special happening with language on social media. I had heard many people dismiss language on the Internet as degraded and lacking intelligent meaning, but I struggled to believe this was the case. I wondered what the nature and significance of Internet English was, and how it may impact our understanding of the evolution of language.听
I began my research by looking at literature on the evolutionary emergence of grammar. When we know how something began, that can inform how fast it will change. While the expression of grammar differs widely from language to language, the purpose of grammar is ubiquitous. Grammar is what makes language constructible and communicable; we need to produce language and have it be understood. Grammar is a finite system for conveying infinite meanings鈥攁ll languages can (and must) be able to express absolutely anything. So since new meanings are constantly being generated on the Internet, grammar adapts in order to express those meanings as fast and as well as it can. Internet users can reference, in a variety of forms, a meme, a quote, a story, a world event, and so on. Accordingly, grammar, punctuation, and the general appearance of text are rapidly being restructured to accommodate this expansion.
Example (1)
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The text in (1) includes emojis and repurposes punctuation both to imitate speech and for comedic effect. It captures meaning that would not be conveyed by its traditionally written counterpart, which may go something like: 鈥淗ow do people put on false eyelashes? I try putting on one and I鈥檓 so bad at it, it鈥檚 laughable.鈥�
Example (2)
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The text in (2) is an example of one of the key innovations in Internet English, the keyboard smash. It is usually used to capture a strong emotion, such as laughter or fear. This meaning has no counterpart in standard written form, nor can it be said aloud.
I would suggest that Internet English is best understood as a language that is 鈥渟een鈥� rather than 鈥渞ead.鈥� While Internet English is basically a form of written language, it pulls strongly in the direction of spoken language. Consider how prosody, or the sound of a voice going up and down, is imitated by altering the look and shape of text in (3):
Example (3)
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Punctuation can also be used to the same voice-like end, as in (4):
Example (4)
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Along with focusing on qualities of the text, emojis increasingly play a very real and sophisticated grammatical function in Internet English. While sometimes emojis are simply contextual 鈥渄ecoration,鈥� as in:
they can also function as individual, meaningful units as in (5):
Example (5)
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The emoji used here functions like a word due to its placement and interpretation in the sentence.
Another word-like, grammar-like quality of emojis is how they can function as an abbreviation. For example, someone may tweet a link to an article and caption it with
and anyone conversant in Internet English would know what this means听(see translation here)听 听is shorthand for a meme of Kermit the Frog drinking tea, usually captioned 鈥渂ut that鈥檚 none of my business.鈥� It can be interpreted as saying, tongue-in-cheek, 鈥渘ot that I was paying attention or being petty or anything鈥︹��
My goal was to investigate just how linguistically innovative Internet language is and how its development may inform our understanding of the evolution of language. Internet English is, despite its young age, used and understood by millions of people, and users know that there is social capital in properly or creatively using emojis, as well as omitting punctuation or reinventing its purpose. Internet English is not poorly written English; it is a new way to produce language.
Opening photo credit:
Calley Pierce
Calley Pierce graduated in December 2018 with a degree in Chinese and linguistics, and she now works at Rocky Mountain PBS. She loves to dance and cook, but not at the same time. She is a prolific writer and tries to go on long walks every day.