Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 70
Posts 61 - 70

La révolution numérique et nous

(The digital revolution and us)

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Newspaper | Le Temps
Date | 20.7.2014
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, school
Summary | Our vision and perception of the world is not only influenced by our body and conscience; it is also strongly affected by our surroundings and the world we live in. Nowadays people perceive the world through screens, they buy, play, communicate, and have access to masses of information. What comes out of the digital world is virtual as opposed to real. It is a “possible real” that didn’t find its true form concretely. Today’s man is constantly interacting; he sees the world differently than our grandparents. Should schools follow this path or get way from it?
Image Description | N/A

Le langage sms, éternel accusé de tous les maux des mots

(Text message language, always blamed for the ills of the words)

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Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 30.8.2014
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, research/study, school, smartphone, texting, youth
Summary | Although we can now send unlimited texts on our smartphones using the spellcheck feature, text message language is still widely used, especially among the younger generation. Should we be worried about that? Researchers claim that we shouldn’t be worried; texting does not threaten the French language. According to a study, young students can make the difference between a text message and a written school assignment; they can adapt their language according to the medium. Although no study has demonstrated that text messages have any deleterious effect on spelling skills, more research is needed.
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L'usage des mots

(The use of words)

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Newspaper | Le Temps
Date | 13.2.2015
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | texting, threat, word/writing
Summary | People tend to misuse certain words in order to be politically correct, but this is not necessarily a good thing. For example, saying “Daech” instead of “Islamic state” leads to a denial of any religious affiliation –in this case: Islam. People also intentionally misuse certain words, which is the consequence of a shrunken vocabulary imbued with text message features. As a result, emotions and thoughts are not as rich.
Image Description | N/A
Image Tags | female(s)

La bataille de l'orthographe

(The spelling battle)

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Newspaper | PME Magazine
Date | 30.9.2015
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, marketing, spelling, texting
Summary | Spelling mistakes are everywhere around us. One of the reasons that can explain the invasion of spelling mistakes is the global usage of new technologies: now people write more. The phenomenon touches every social and professional classes. This leads to problems in the work space; people write their emails or resumes with a lot of mistakes. As a result, some companies now offer spelling classes to their employees in France and in Switzerland.
Image Description | N/A

Marre de ces émoticônes qui remplacent nos emotions

(Fed up with those emoticons that replace our emotions)

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Newspaper | Le Matin
Date | 24.4.2015
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, threat
Summary | The emoji phenomenon is global and growing very fast. Those smiley faces are everywhere and have invaded our lives. They are not just used to express our emotions alone, they also replace them. Yes, emojis are young and fun, but they are also a way to “disempower” human relationships and to be emotionally correct.
Image Description | Photograph in black and white of the author of the article.
Image Tags | male(s)

Le monde se parle désormais en émojis

(The world now speaks emoji)

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Newspaper | Le Matin
Date | 3.5.2015
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, youth
Summary | The use of emojis is a global phenomenon; everyone uses them to express actions and emotions. There was a time when we only had words to exchange; now we also have emojis. The “heart emoji” was the “word” used the most on the Internet during the year. Emojis were first mostly used by young people, but now everyone uses them. They also take several forms and portray the world’s diversity.
Image Description | Digital image of emojis: tears of joy emoji, heart-shapes eyes emoji, face throwing a kiss emoji, and "diversity" emojis
Image Tags | emojis

“Pic speech”: le parler ado

(“Pic speech": teen talk)

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Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 30.5.2015
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, Facebook, language threat, selfie, Snapchat, social media, WhatsApp, youth
Summary | Nowadays teenagers mostly express themselves through visual modes (e.g. Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat) and thus create their own language: “pic speech”. Images do not necessarily replace words; young people claim that words are still important since they contextualize images. Regarding emojis, teenagers use them for their “affective” purpose. This new language is a way for youth to become autonomous and emancipate themselves.
Image Description | Series of screenshots of different teenagers' snaps (selfie + Face Paint feature).
Image Tags | male(s), Snapchat

Un retour aux hiéroglyphes?

(A return to hireoglyphics?)

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Newspaper | Le Matin
Date | 24.4.2015
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, grammar, language threat
Summary | The use of emojis is a global phenomenon that is rapidly growing. Should we be worried about it? A linguist from the University of Zurich claims that it is almost like “a return to hieroglyphics”, but that “emoji” is not a language: there is no grammatical structure. The linguist also states that nowadays, “emojis replace words and are not just a complement”. However, linguists do not seem to be worried. Another linguist from the University of Lausanne talks about the advantages of such visual communication: it fosters creativity, and adds nuances and precisions.
Image Description | Digital image of a chart representing which emojis are used the most in the world.
Image Tags | chart, emojis

On rigole toujours mais on ne LOL plus

(We still laugh but we don't LOL anymore)

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Newspaper | 20 minutes
Date | 10.8.2015
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, Facebook, research/study, youth
Summary | According to a Facebook study investigating the different ways to translate “laugh” online, the use of “lol” is outdated. People prefer using “haha” or “hehe”, and 34% of participants would rather use emojis, especially young people. Only 2% of participants still use “lol”, and they are a little bit older; their average age is 30.
Image Description | Digital image of the "face with tears of joy" emoji.
Image Tags | emojis

Les émojis, ces drôles de petites bêtes virtuelles

(Emojis, those funny little virtual creatures)

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Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 6.2.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, research/study, texting
Summary | Emojis are becoming a “global” phenomenon. For example, Facebook recently introduced a set of emojis, companies use them in their advertisement campaigns, and some people would like to create a “language” with emojis. Should we fear an impoverishment of “traditional languages”? Some linguists claim that emojis do not replace words but serve as complements in our communication. They can substitute a gesture or an intonation that we usually have in our oral exchanges. Another study concluded that text messages are not a threat to orthography, and that we have always used images to express ourselves.
Image Description | Digital image representing different emojis: sick emoji, cowboy emoji, tongue-out emoji, winking eye emoji etc.
Image Tags | emojis

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