Number of Posts: 4
Posts 1 - 4
What Happened to Who?
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 8.4.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | abbreviations, grammar, language threat, politics, Twitter
Summary | More and more politicians have begun replacing the relative pronoun "who" with "that" in sentences like ''people that come with a legal visa and overstay''. Although some dictionaries say this is an acceptable for, the New York Times' style sheet does not condone using "that" instead of "who". It denies the mentioned persons their humanity. This trend is unsurprising considering that our communication is increasingly happening on platforms like Twitter that only allow 140 characters so that we invent loads of abbreviations like "LOL" and "TTYL".
Image Description | Artwork copying Edvard Munch's "The Scream" and a few high-profile Tweets with spelling mistakes.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), Twitter
Jetzt kommt die Sticker-Schwemme
(The sticker flood is on its way)
Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 15.11.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | abbreviations, emojis, Facebook, language threat, marketing, social media
Summary | Emoticons (f.i. ":-D") and abbreviations (f.i. "LOL") have trickled down from "geek speak" and established themselves in the mainstream. Emojis are nowadays ever present in our digital communication as well as in other arenas such as film or advertising. Now various social media platforms, among them Facebook, offer users various palettes of stickers. They are larger versions of emojis and are sent as an image file rather than included on the keyboard as a letter. Because many sticker palettes need to be purchased, a whole economy is beginning to form: The Japanese messaging app Line has sold over $250 mio worth of stickers last year. We do not need to fear that emojis and co. will replace language as we know it.
Image Description | Commodified emojis in various forms (as balls, as tattoos, as bed sheets, as food, on clothing, as masks, etc.) and Facebook messenger chats using/purchasing sticker collections.
Image Tags | emojis, Facebook, male(s), social media
Kommunikation ist alles
(Communication is everything)
Newspaper | Frankfurter Neue Presse
Date | 4.2.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | abbreviations, childhood, language threat, smartphone
Summary | Many young children already have smartphones. It is problematic if youths spend too much time on new media - they don't learn how to interact face-to-face so that they whip out the phone even if they are hanging out with a friend. They increasingly write in abbreviations which makes them do badly in school. Parents are part of the problem, because they demand that their children be available on the smartphone at all times. It is important to give children positive offline experiences.
Image Description | Image of a man holding a cell phone and holding his thumb up.
Image Tags | cell phone, hand(s), male(s)
«Jpp», «wtf», «oklm»... maîtrisez-vous le parler jeune?
("Jpp", "wtf", "oklm"... do you master teenagers' language?)
Newspaper | Le Figaro
Date | 25.8.2016
Language | French
Country | France
Topic Tags | abbreviations, language threat, texting, youth
Summary | Young people tend to use a lot of words and abbreviations that are unintelligible, according to many parents and professors. Their language is very creative and is influenced by our ancestors' language. Writer Stéphane Ribeiro claims that young people's language is a melting pot; it is a mix of American and historical expressions. Moreover, the language used by today's youth has been influenced by new technologies and the texting culture. It is not a threat to the French language; language is constantly changing and evolving
Image Description | Photograph of five young people looking happy, screenshots of two tweets depicting the use of abbreviations, and "Top Wesh" video.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), text, Twitter
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