Number of Posts: 40
Posts 11 - 20
Mit dem Selfiestick im Späti rumeiern
(Egging around at the deli with the selfie stick)
Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 9.8.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | anglicisms, artificial intelligence, emojis, Facebook, fake news, language threat, selfie
Summary | The new German dictionary "Duden" has added 5000 new key words, many of which are originally English. Now, having been included in the most authoritative dictionary in German language, they are officially part of the German language as anglicisms. Such words include fake news, emoji, selfie, chatbot, and liking ("liken" in German with the English word stem "like" and the German infinitive verb ending "-en").
Image Description | N/A
Tablets and smartphones damage toddlers' speech development
Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 4.5.2017
Language | English
Topic Tags | addiction, childhood, language threat, research/study, smartphone, technology-free, threat
Summary | According to a study, giving toddlers digital devices before the age of two can hinder their speech development. In Britain toddlers spend about 44 minutes a day using digital devices, and it can impact their language skills.
Image Description | Two photographs of toddlers using and looking at a tablet.
Image Tags | female(s), tablet
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
President @realdonaldtrump
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 3.5.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | emojis, hashtags, politics, smartphone, Twitter
Summary | During his first 100 days, Trump tweeted a lot. His most used word in Twitter was "Great" (then: very, today, fake, news). His most common hashtag was "MAGA", the topic he most tweeted about was the media, and his favorite interjection is "Enojy!". Trump does not use a lot of emojis in his tweets, but his most common emoji is the American flag. Also, his most common hour for tweeting is 8am, and he mostly uses his iPhone.
Image Description | N/A
Erik Orsenna: «N'oublions jamais qu'une langue est un cadeau!»
(Erik Orsenna: "Let's never forget that a language is a gift!")
Newspaper | Le Monde
Date | 9.3.2017
Language | French
Country | France
Topic Tags | language threat, spelling, texting, word/writing
Summary | Writer Erik Orsenna talks about language and why it shapes us. He talks about the new French spelling reforms, the French Academy, the relationship between language and people's identity, rap music, useless anglicisms, and texting.
Image Description | Photograph of interviewee Erik Orsenna
Image Tags | male(s)
Facebook musste AI abschalten, die "Geheimsprache" entwickelt hat
(Facebook had to turn of AIs who developed their own "secret language")
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 28.6.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, Facebook, language threat
Summary | Facebook had to deactivate two artificial intelligence chatbots called Bob and Alice. They had begun communicating with one another in a knockoff language similar to English with sentences like: "I can can I I everything else." Because this communication is unintellegible for the developers, Bob and Alice were taken down for security reasons.
Image Description | Getty images of Mark Zuckerberg and cyborgs as well as a Tweet by Elon Musk.
Image Tags | male(s), Twitter
Vong diesem Mann her kommt 1 neue Sprache
(Fromg this man comes 1 new language)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 16.6.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | language threat, meme, social media, spelling
Summary | A meme is floating around in social media spaces. The "Vong" language is parodying serious language by incorporation orthographical and grammatical mistakes as well as tautology. It has become incredibly popular on social media and has even appeared in Germans' spoken language and advertisements. Common features of it are replacing the indefinite articles "eine/ein" ("a") with a "1" and adding the phrase "vong... her" usually including a redundant tautalogical statement and the misspelled preposition "von". An example would be: "The weather is really nice, sun-wise." Here, the "sun-wise" is the tautological statement and it would also include an orthographical error in "Vong" language.
Image Description | N/A
Hinter dem Hashtag #BlauerWal steckt eine verstörende Geschichte
(A disturbing story hides behind the hashtag #BlueWhale)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 18.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | (mental) health, hashtags, law, social media, threat, youth
Summary | Currently, a man is on trial in Russian courts for supposedly urging 15 teenagers to commit suicide. The case is connected to the #BlueWhale challenge that is said to circulate online on social media. It is a lethal game where one person gives another increasingly self-destructive tasks. Apparently, psychologically fragile teenagers are targeted online.
Image Description | Getty image of a blue whale and images of a man being arrested and in trial with his face pixellated.
Image Tags | male(s)
Dieser Chatbot reserviert den Tisch fürs Abendessen
(This chatbot makes dinner reservations)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 27.7.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, Facebook, language threat, youth
Summary | Facebook messenger now has the chatbot Botmio on offer which lets users make dinner reservations at restaurants. This is perfect for younger generations who are reluctant to pick up the phone to call a human to make a reservation - digital natives are "language lazy". They would rather just make a reservation online without interacting with another human.
Image Description | A hand holding a smartphone using a Facebook chatbot and a portrait of the Botmio inventer.
Image Tags | Facebook, hand(s), male(s), smartphone
Smartphones können Spracherwerb bei Kindern behindern
(Smartphones can hinder the language learning of children)
Newspaper | Welt
Date | 15.6.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | childhood, language threat, smartphone
Summary | Children learn language by being interacted with and spoken with. Smartphones can get in the way of that, say when a parent waits for the bus with their child. Before smartphones, the parent would comment on the surroundings and interact with the child. Now, the parent might check their messages and pass up a valuable learning opportunity for their child.
Image Description | A hand holding a smartphone.
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone
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