Phonetic Punctuation: A spoken/text hybrid
One point that stood out to me was O’Donnell’s (1999) comment on apocalyptic language and the reaction at the extremes of doom and utopia. Technology, whether in the form of a hammer, pencil, book, or computer, should be used as a tool. Tools are meant to improve and support activities or experiences; they should not cause more problems than they are created to solve. Yet, some people view technology at the extremes (Engell & O’Donell, 1999): technology is a no-good, culture-clashing hindrance to society, or, technology is the greatest thing since sliced bread (ironically, also improved by a piece of technology to simplify the slicing process). O’Donnell stresses that in order for any outside influence to be useful and successful, one must maintain a strong hold of personal beliefs and worldly understanding in order to make rational decisions of implementation. Will the benefits of using a bread slicer out-weigh the costs? Are you more likely to slice your fingers while using the technology? Perhaps a decision should be made against using technology this time. It is important to view technology for what it is and not be ‘hypnotized’, as O’Donnell puts it, by the threats or benefits.
Engell (1999) drew my attention to how to integrate and balance technology with everything else going on in the world. Similar to O’Donnell’s view, Engall points out that one cannot integrate and utilize technology at the extremes. To refrain from using technology entirely is first of all difficult to implement, but also a detriment to everyday life. As I said before, technology is available to act as a tool to improve life; to avoid its benefits would almost make life more difficult. Similarly, to solely use technology for all life functions would affect one’s ability to interact in a socially acceptable way as well as other costs to staring at a screen at all times. Where the balance lies is using technology to supplement face-to-face experiences, such as email used to correspond with a classroom teacher. Engall also points out that there are certain limitations that we need to be mindful of. Take storage systems, for example, and their limited shelf-life of anywhere from 5-10 years. Do you really want to be choosing to store documents or priceless photographs on a storage system that will likely become obsolete before your child even hits kindergarten?
One listener’s question resonated with me in particular concerning the impact of abbreviated language. I once wrote a paper in my undergrad researching the impact of textual abbreviations such as “LOL”, “BTW”, “F2F”, etc. on social behaviour and literacy skills. It’s interesting to note that even “hello” began as a slang used by 18th century people (Engell & O’Donnell, 1999) to use as a neutral greeting when answering the telephone. Every year new words get added to the dictionary based on their usage and worldwide acceptance (words such as “selfie”, for example, which, I might add, my word processor views as a typographical error), but every year a similar number of words fall by the way side because they never become accepted into everyday language.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is updated four times a year, most recently in March 2015. Jonathan Dent (2015), assistant editor of the OED, explains that most of the changes have to do with updates to phrases and senses, but some entries include brand new words such as ‘laters’ (informal for ‘see you later’) and ‘earwigger’ (someone who is eavesdropping on a conversation). He also explains that some words are added to the dictionary based on new understandings of the lexicon, but other definitions that are updated date back to over a thousand years ago.
As language’s lexicon evolves and adapts to the current culture, so does the mobile lexicon. The list is absolutely endless with abbreviations, some so obscure and difficult to remember I wonder whether it would just be easier to type the entire sentence. For example, GSYJDWURMNKH is short for ‘Good seeing you, just don’t wear your monkey hat’. I’m not sure who would feel the need to say that sentence, nor feel the need to create a shorthand for it, but nonetheless it is out there.
My concern is the impact these textese abbreviations are having on students’ written and verbal communication skills. One issue is that students refrain from using appropriate punctuation, grammar, and spelling and thus do not practice the skill (Dansieh, 2011). Continaul use the SMS (short messaging system) lexicon will allow students much practice in this area, but little practice in actual, proper English (or whatever language). When required to write an academic essay or something similar, it is more of a struggle to use proper capitalization and place a comma in the appropriate place (if at all). Some argue that substantial SMS texting is not all that detrimental (Crystal, 2008) since any practice of writing will improve the skill, but the issue still lies in the misuse of of the SMS language. I would agree that if students were at least using appropriate spelling and the odd grammatical symbol it would be an ideal way to practice writing skills in an informal setting.
On a slightly related note…
Engell and O’Donnell’s (1999) audio program had me thinking about a segment presented by Victor Borge, a comedic pianist, on phonetic punctuation. His basis for inventing phonetic punctuation was that when conversing person-to-person it is sometimes difficult to clearly convey punctuation such as exclamation marks and underlines. Borge’s view on the difficulties of conveying punctuation person-to-person is an interesting dichotomy from the current concern of conveying body language and other visual modalities in textual messages we use today.
If you’re interested, the video is just over 4 minutes long. It’s an interesting view on spoken/written language! Take a look!
References:
Crystal, D. (2008). Texting: The Gr8 Deb8. National Association for the Teaching of English, 12(1), p. 60.
Dansieh, S.A. (2011). SMS Texting and Its Potential Impacts on Students’ Written Communication Skills. International Journal of English Linguistics, 1(2), p. 222-229.
Dent, J. (2015). New words notes March 2015. Accessed June 15, 2015. http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/recent-updates-to-the-oed/march-2015-update/new-words-notes-march-2015/
Engell, J. & O’Donnell, J. (1999). From Papyrus to Cyberspace. [Audio File]. Cambridge Forums.
Netlingo – The Largest List of Chat Acronyms & Text Shorthand. Accessed June 2015. http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php
Victor Borge: Phonetic Punctuation. Accessed May 24, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6bpIbdZhrzA
Hello!
I believe you brought up some valid points! Well said. It seems the use of technology should be monitored and moderated so that we can rationalize the threats and/or benefits.
I also was interested in the questions regarding the impact of abbreviated language. Specifically it surprised me to think how these changes are only effective when viewed. This is such a simple, yet powerful statement. I was immediately reminded of a Jimmy Fallon skit where Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon had a normal conversation… but with the silliness of hashtags added to the end of every statement.
Our language is forever changing and I believe this audio recording (like your comments) touched on so many important points.
Cheers,
Matt
Hello,
I also noticed the emphasis on balance. I think that reasoning is very sound. Technology is supposed to improve our lives so it should provide some benefit. At the same time to implement something new often means losing something old. It all comes down to which item or process is more useful to you. I think one of the aspects of technology that worries a lot of people is that it is unproven. As you mentioned a storage system will become obsolete in a very small number of years, and as things keep changing so rapidly it can be hard to keep pace, especially if you don’t always want to be buying the latest gadget.
I also enjoyed the part about the word “hello”. I had no idea that was the origin of the word. The thing about slang is that is comes and goes unless it fills a void. For example, I think that “selfie” will probably stick around in one form or another because people have been taking pictures of themselves for a long time and will probably continue.
Catherine
I just made a related comment on Mehdia’s post, but let’s consider this: If language is a technology, aren’t ‘selfie’, LOL, BRB, etc. technological advancements? I shared in Laura’s post a Ted talk precisely about that. How would O’Donell and Engall remarks sound from this “language as technology” perspective?
On a side note:
Recently, Google used an animated gif to respond to a journalist. I personally loved it.
Victor Borge was an amazing and talented man. I never tire of his intellect, wit and skill. Sad will be the day that these videos can no longer be accessed.
Terry
What I have gotten from your replies to various posts (from peers) that ” writing was invented to communicate feelings and thought instead of saying or act of orality”. The post google gif is a modern way to say “Nay” .The modern form of this technology is pictorial presentation of communication.
Rakhshanda
I am so very glad that you mentioned the imminent problems with storage. As technology continues to evolve, so do storage options. However, I cannot help but wonder about the vortex we have created. No sooner do we transfer VHS to DVD, when “blue ray” comes out. Next things are being saved in digital formats. Will it ever come to a stop? At what point do we become satisfied? Humankind has been evolving since the beginning. Technology has continued to evolve. But the pace at which new ideas are becoming reality is staggering. We are regularly reminded that we are teaching children for jobs that do not even yet exist. Which brings me back to my original thought on storage. I think we need to each consider the realities of technologies in our individual lives; what we need, what we do not need. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement and hype, but at what cost? From 2000 to 2003 I lived with my husband and toddler son on an isolated island, teaching in a one room school house. No internet, no phone, no satellite, limited radio, yet the happiest children I have ever met.
Tina, you make some excellent points. I don’t know that we (humans) will ever be satisfied – technology or otherwise. The possibilities are so extremely endless that it would be a detriment to society to hold back on advancements, yet I do agree that there needs to be some boundary of some kind. Otherwise, where will we stop? We will continue to change storage techniques as you said and information will begin to be lost will all of the change-overs. But, just based on the evolution of vehicles, for examples, there must be some point in time where the technological advancements stabilize and the changes become minor (such as adding Wifi accessibility to vehicles – so crazy!). The basics of vehicle manufacturing have stabilized and we are only tweaking the “nice to have” features. Though, I suppose that’s what we are doing with Internet features in the form of storage options and such.
Do we need all of these features? Like I tell my students, I survived just fine without a cell phone growing up, and they can too. Features make life more exciting/productive/”insert-perk-here”, but they really are not necessary to function in life. I wonder if our (human’s) choice to use technology in and all-consuming fashion will follow the same ebb-and-flow of the size of cell phones: extraordinarily huge to itty-bitty and back again to large. Are we eventually going to go back to the basics before technology takes off again?