TED Talk: Txting is Killing Language. JK!!!

In the TED Talk by John McWhorter, he begins to tell us how people believe that texting is a terrible thing and that it is the sign of doom for literacy and language. But he tells us straight forward that he believes that it simply is not true. He says that language has existed for thousands of years and in that time speech, a thing that we were genetically made to do, has always been changing. Slang words that we use in texting are only the latest evolutions in our speech. McWhorter say that writing has existed for a much shorter time than speech, and the way we write is beautiful but that it is not the way we would speak on a normal basis. Speech is more short and sweet compared to writing, which is much more reflective. Sometimes people speak like their writing, but not in normal casual conversation. An example of this would be in giving a formal speech. In some cases we also write like we speak. The reason that this was not so common before, is that technology had not lent itself to do so. The technology was not fast enough to keep up with the speed in which we talk. Speech is very loose in structure and so is texting. We do not put much thought into the little things such as punctuation when speaking, and this is also how we text. Texting is “fingered speech”. Words we use in texting have different meanings when used in different contexts. This change is not the decline of language but an evolution in it. Language is speech and the way we speak is always changing.

Texting is another form of language that has evolved because of society, just as though technology is evolving. We chose this article because it is an example of evolution and how it is affecting the public. Texting is not formal language but it is still a language that the people use on a regular basis and scientists think it has impacted the way we speak formally, but it does not because it is not a formal dialect. Key words such as fingered speech, linguistics, literacy, advantages, and bidialectal show how texting is a technology that is a method for efficient speak and conversation. It is speech that is evolving around the public.