Dang, is Lang devolving? Aside from the silly presentation of this question, the fact of the matter is that the serious topic posed by this is a real problem. In today’s world, people are almost overcome with simplicity, having new slang and shortened words to describe what people want to say. The modern world hits everyone almost like the cup of coffee you may be drinking as you read this, it puts people on edge and pushes society faster and faster. What is meant by this analogy is the fact that everyone sees value in the speed of activity. Whether it be making newer model cars to see how fast their engines can go, or simply sending a few-word text full of abbreviations such as the infamous “lol,” people want to see how quickly they can accomplish a task while still maintaining the idea.
Some scholars, such as George Orwell believe in the idea of modern prose being quite on the other side of the spectrum, full of unnecessary “fluff” which takes away from the overall meaning of the prose. Although excess is also a problem that can hinder language, a more pressing matter is apparent in today’s society: that of restraint. Today’s people restrict themselves to abbreviations and shortenings, which can end up doing the same amount of damage to the original meaning of the prose as excess can….only without the pride of making a 10 word sentence with 60 syllables. Everywhere people go, they are always reminded of this underlaying social motif of speed. This motif is now beginning to show in today’s written language, with paragraph meanings having to be portrayed with abbreviations or even emoticons. On the topic of emoticons, these visual representations not only take the basic foundation of language away from it (the written language part), but then try to convey a message, most times too complex for the visual representation. Although one may notice a person’s happiness by their smile alone, they are unable to see why they are happy, or to what made them happy. Complex ideas such as “why” are unable to be conveyed through these emoticons in the timely manner that our rushed society has put us under. And even if one was to try and convey a complex prose in emoticons, the receiver would still have to merely guess based on observation and abstraction the original context of the sentence, rather than the concrete basis of proper written language. The ideas of abbreviations and emoticons are all examples of influence from this rushed world everyone lives in, and are just now starting to be seen as a problem.
Ultimately, the replacement of clear yet complex prose to faster and almost meaningless abbreviations are the first signs of the collapse of modern refined language. If people begin to lose value in the better but longer way, taking only the easy but riskier way of abbreviation, modern english will be replaced totally with faster shortcuts. Although yes, this would mean information could get to someone faster, it also means that this information could be incorrect, meaningless, or sometimes not even information at all, simply garbled gibberish as seen by the receiver.
-With best wishes, Kieran
