Language And Technology: Text Speak

Texting has evolved from being used for communication within a business to being one of the most popular and widely used medium of communication in the world. Communication is becoming more global and electronic, generations are beginning to completely rely on concepts like texting in everyday life. The link between texting and language has been highly controversial within different linguists. The adaptation of "text speak" , a form of language that is used in digital communications and is dominated by abbreviations and non-standard grammar use, has been thought to influence our linguistic abilities. Although they interpret and describe it in different ways, David Crystal and John McWhorter disagree with this belief. 

David Crystal argues that such condensed messages, "text speak," enhance and enrich language skills. He firstly disagrees with the fact that the use of text speak is associated with laziness or low vocabulary, Crystal explains how texters seem to be aware of the high and low information values of consonants as opposed to vowels and the values of punctuation marks. From this, we can interpret that this certain way of writing is perceived to Crystal as a language to suite a texter's specific needs rather than a illustration of their literacy skills. Secondly, Crystal mentions the use of abbreviations. He mainly believes that tester make these changes consciously and they are aware of what the abbreviations mean. Additionally, he states that the more people text, the higher their literacy scores areas it provides practice in regards to writing and reading. Overall, it is believed that Crystal is trying to convey texters to be linguistically creative, which results to an evolution and development in the english language. 

On the other hand, John McWhorter believes that text speak does not have a negative impact and should not be seen as the leading cause of poor spelling and lack of grammar, rather than associating it as having a positive influence like Crystal. It is believed that his main message is to urge people to think of text speak as a new form between writing and talking rather than a "scourge of the English Language." "Generally there’s always been casual speech and formal speech, and people can keep the two in their heads." McWhorter suggested that text speak is circumstantial depending on your environment; textures are aware of the casual form of writing when they text. This is similar to Crystal's belief of text speak to suite a tester needs in a certain situation. Additionally he states that, from 63 B.C, teachers have been complaining about students spelling and punctuation and that it will always stay like that no matter where 

Overall, both McWhorter and Crystal view the concept of text speak as an evolution in language and a non-negative process. Both define it as a new dialect rather than a lazy form of non-standard english. McWhorter delviers a speech that defends the idea of text speak while Crystal further associates it as being a benefit to the english language. Crystal argues that