In Harbeck’s Will We Stop Speaking and Just Text, he discusses live internet vernacular English and how texting may become closer to speech than the formal English language.
Harbeck took a really interesting approach to this article and used graphics, news articles, and pictures to exemplify his points. The use of both words and images is very interactive and allows the reader to apply what is read in the article to real-world examples. Harbeck begins by discussing how text has become a large substitute for speech. When text is said out loud, Harbeck claims “you defy the conventions of text.” In some languages like Arabic, Harbeck exemplifies, the standard spoken and written speeches have diverged and become two separate dialects. Internet vernacular English, like Arabic, has gained features such as emojis and punctuation which gives different tones to text messages than what can normally be spoken or written. Harbeck gives examples of Tweeting and texting to highlight this claim and shows how we perform differently through technological platforms. For example, “wtf” is seen as an acceptable acronym on text rather than typing out the full meaning. However, saying “wtf” out loud makes the acronym lose its effect, and the meaning changes. This live internet vernacular becomes referred to as “Live” by Harbeck and he consistently uses this term to show how the English language is developing and changing.
This article, as short and sweet as it is, offers a very unique perspective on the texting world and touches on points that are seemingly applicable to most people. Personally, I can relate to many of the examples he provides and I think his points are completely valid, almost a little too valid. The article offers a very clear objective and uses images, words, and text slang to bring all of Harbeck’s points to life. At the end of his article, he claims that a new dialect of English may arise/branch off due to internet vernacular. It is intriguing to think of this possibility and I wonder if this will ever occur, like Arabic, or if text-language will merely take over parts of the formal English language.
I find it interesting that you raised the question of whether text-language will take over parts of the formal English language. I feel as though text-language has already done just that. Every year the Merriam-Webster dictionary adds hundreds of words to the dictionary that they find are relevant and popular in common language. They have recently added words such as “finna,” “yeet,” and “ASMR” which have all been used on social media or over text.
I agree that text language sometimes finds its way into our spoken vernacular, but I’m not sure that adding words such as “finna” and “yeet” are things we should be excited have been added to the English language. Text language is a super cool evolution of the English language, but it’s important that we keep terms like these out of our formal communication or we risk losing control of it completely.
I also agree, I think text language has found its way into proper English language. My friends and I have an ongoing joke to say things like “LOL” or “LMAO” out loud when speaking to people. This has become so normalized in our friend group that we often forget this is not something people normally say in our english language. I agree with Max, I do think these should not become our formal communication because integrate itself into our everyday language.