Comments on: ?4U: Is Twitter killing the English language?

By: Marikah

Marikah — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 15:26:37 +0000

First, I would like to extend my appreciation as I find this article very engaging and significant, and I couldn’t agree more with the points presented in the commentary. Social media is undoubtedly one of the most used communication platforms these days. People use social media to promote, advocate, advertise, or simply for personal purposes such as expressing and sharing stories and ideas. I also believe that social media significantly contributes to shaping ideologies and can be used to learn. I support that statement that what is important is that users learn to know when to use the proper level of formality in a given situation.

Further, from how I see it, I think social media has become a popular medium for language researchers to investigate due to its vast data for new coinages, internet slang, and the like. Additionally, as pointed out by Professor Pillar, language changes and no one speaks the same way as the people from the 60th century do. Linguistic diversity and language change can most definitely be observable in social media. Thus, social media is an exciting platform to explore due to its richness in language research opportunities. I see how some would see social media as a platform that can potentially kill the English Language; however, rather than killing a language, I can see it more as an evolution of a language.

By: Siqi Wang

Siqi Wang — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 00:19:03 +0000

The Internet can be an extremely valuable resource for language learners who have limited access to native speakers, but in my opinion, it could be challenging for beginner-level learners to actually use this resources efficiently. Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are great for getting familiar with western culture, communicating with people who are from different backgrounds and have different perspectives, but in terms of the language itself, it can hardly be a valuable learning tool.

By: Anas

Anas — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 23:33:47 +0000

I wholeheartedly agree with the points made by Professor Pillar, that in its essence, language users are able to adapt to the various medium usage of language. I am still a relatively new learner but I have read a bit on discourse and genre. I do believe, as I am aware of various written genres and as an avid user of social media, I am able to switch from using a certain writing style in Twitter, Instagram, Facebook to writing texts to my parents, friends to writing an academic assignment. As mentioned by Professor Pillar, “That includes adapting our level of formality to suit the person we are talking to, the situation or medium we are in, and the purpose we are trying to achieve” and “Social media use is relatively irrelevant to the size of a person’s vocabulary,”. The same applies in language discourse where I will not be speaking to Professor Pillar, in the same manner as I would speak to my classmates, friends and family. Even within the context of my classmates, there are varying degree of communication from formal classroom discussions to informal outside classroom conversations.

By: Xinyue Ji

Xinyue Ji — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 01:58:38 +0000

I partly agree with some points in this essay. For instance,” the level of language decreases when the language social media use in an informal way but it has formal language criteria. Generally speaking, in the contemporary world, because of the development of technology, more and more people concentrate on the social media, especially what it speaks and shows. Following from this situation, the language social media use can wildly spread and people will imitate it as well.

By: Nana

Nana — Sun, 26 Aug 2018 09:43:39 +0000

I agree in some way that social media may be killing the English language; many people would not say personally things that post on social networks, so it is a way of save face and at the same time, a way of expressing ideas to a bigger amount of people than it was possible in the past. the point now is the focus of the communication through social network; if it is used to share knowledge, it is fine; but when it is used to be rude it it wrong. I also agree that it is required that people decide about the appropriate language to use in every occasion. there are situations in which a formal use of language is needed and some others in which people may have the right to use the language their own way.

By: Ary

Ary — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 12:23:54 +0000

I’d like to thank the writer for having provided such an interesting and refreshing perspective towards one of the world’s current trends. Also, I’d like to comment on Ralph Fiennes’ opinion. For someone like Fiennes to make such statement would not be that surprising, since he has been among the famous actors who are involved in bringing fantastic silver-screen works such as The Duchess and, the one above all, Harry Potter series into life. Such theatrical works highly involved itself in the use of “old” and “standard” English with, to a certain large extent, extremely formal language usage. However, it’s the ever-changing nature of technology and its complex involvement in the ever-expanding society of ours that we should take into account. Tow decades ago, “look-it-up” was the term to use when one needed to find some source of reference. And, most often, dictionaries would be associated with such concept, yet, now, “googling” does even more than the abovementioned term. The act of “googling something” leads the register’s tenors into a world full of all sorts of multimodal information. In the same manner, with a role of social media in particular and of technology in general, twitter would be able to contribute to the changes of the language as it changes how the language appears/exists in the society.

By: Thi Bach Tuyet Nguyen

Thi Bach Tuyet Nguyen — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 11:33:25 +0000

I have to admit that social media has a significant influence on people’s lives, especially in terms of literacy. However, I do not agree that Twitter is killing the English language. What about the sites like Facebook, Instagram and so on? They have distinctive names but they are regarded as a forum for discussion, a source of information and news. Back to the time when I taught English, most of my students say that they have had the habit of writing some posts in English or sharing their daily stories in English on those sites to practice learning vocabulary and spontaneously extending their vocabulary from reading other stories on Twitter and Facebook. We should not blame social media for killing the English language. Instead, we should look back and see how effectively we use these sites and English to reduce and/or diminish those negative impacts.

By: Natalie Estrella

Natalie Estrella — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 08:44:54 +0000

Languages are dynamic and adaptable according to purpose, tone, register etc and we can clearly see this with the use of shorthand, acronyms and emojis in texting and tweets. I have seen first hand how my 13 year old teenager texts his friends with no care for punctation, capitalisation, sentence structure etc however he is also able to produce well written sentences when necessary for homework assignments. One area he does struggle with is developing his point or elaborating his ideas with examples however this may be due more to laziness rather than a negative consequence of learning to text before learning to write an essay or paragraph. As long as younger generations are taught and appropriately educated about what is appropriate and what is inappropriate regarding formal and informal language use, I don’t think we need to be concerned about the degradation or destruction of modern day languages.

By: Lai Ng

Lai Ng — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 04:55:29 +0000

I don’t think Twitter is ‘killing’ the English language but transforming it in the new era. ‘Cyberspeak’ language forms like 20 years ago and our language is just ‘improving’ with our technology. It depends on how we measure our ‘quality’ of language. From the social media language use point of view, our spoken and written language is rather informal but it doesn’t mean our language ability is degrading. Our level of formality depends on the situation, the purpose or medium we are in. ‘Cyberspeak’ language rather is a function of education with the advantages of increasing our vocabulary bank, expanding our specialist knowledge and improving our adaptation of our language to the context.

By: Lai Bin NG

Lai Bin NG — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 04:47:33 +0000

I agree with the writer that the meaning of literacy transforms and being multiple all the time. No matter in which era, it always closely connects to ‘competence’. Simply, it is the ability to use written language to achieve purposes. It makes the link with social practices obvious. It is a way to do things with words. It is a tool of power, helps us to manage our social affairs and organize our social lives. Once we investigate the power relationships from literacy practices, we must study the semantic field. We find that reading is associated with thought and cognition early in human lives. In a literate society, the power code is either written or writing-based speech.

By: Khoa Nguyen

Khoa Nguyen — Thu, 23 Aug 2018 14:17:29 +0000

I totally agree with the points that Professor Piller made in this post about the way we treat informal written language used in social network pages. As they always say, “You can judge a book by its cover”, it is impossible for a person to judge anyone for their uses of such languages. It is true that when society changes, the languages change, too. And if you want to be part of that society, you need to adapt yourself into what considered to be the new “things” that it provides. Especially for ones who is keen to learn to use social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, learning to adjust yourself by becoming accustomed to a new type of language is just what you have to take for granted, making you able to find ways to “survive” in a world that never stops moving.

By: Marie

Marie — Thu, 23 Aug 2018 07:26:42 +0000

Statistics show that Twitter had 335 million monthly active users on average in the second quarter of 2018. It makes Twitter a perfect example of language/literacy being a power tool, as discussed in ‘Literacy – the power code’ in this research blog. The recent social media scene has given me the impression that ‘a language on the move’ can be compared to fluid which can easily change its form. Many would agree that language used in technology-based communication recently became a genre of its own. While some fear that the boundless freedom to alter the English language may lead to the doom of it, others would lean more towards Ingrid Pillar’s argument that the language users are perfectly capable of changing modes according to contexts and purposes. Often, users of social media platforms are drawn to the instantaneous nature of their services, thereby creating unique language patterns and sequences which led to producing a condensed, symbolised and modified language specific to the online world. This, however, does not necessarily mean it will kill the English language; rather, it should be treated as a new discipline abundant with possibilities. We, the beneficiaries of this micro-blogging service, are not only here to learn the English language, whether formal or informal, but given the change to gaze into the horizon and beyond on these platforms.

By: Ting

Ting — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 04:15:27 +0000

Social media can facilitate the creation of language. We used social media to share more personal information and communicate with more people. As a result, our ways of communication have become more formal, open and fast, and the influence of social media has permeated other areas of life and culture. BBS, weibo, Facebook and other social media channels have a wide range of instant mass interactions, and there’s never been a better way to get information without leaving your house.

By: Nidhi Dhir

Nidhi Dhir — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 01:45:38 +0000

In this technical era social sites have great impact on communication skills of layman, there is no doubt that a clear difference can be seen in formal English of Shakespeare’s times and now when technology is dominant and the way of thinking or communicating is changed. It is true that language is variable and blaming social sites because of level of informality used by its users is not fair. it has bright side that people who are not native speakers even they can express their views and the obligation of word limit has made people expressing maximum in minimum words. Apart from this, we must not forget the increase in popularity of English language at global level after the introduction of such websites.

By: Yan Yan

Yan Yan — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 07:48:51 +0000

Halliday have said Language is a semiotics and meaning system. Members of communities not only utilise language, but also enrich it, so that language can be used to accurately communicate in different contexts. Also, a Twitter language has been created within typical community, for example using initials of phrases in texting, CBC (cannot be bothered), ATM (at the moment), NWs (No worries). When language is used in the most appropriate way, its power would be maximised, and hence people in a community are able to communicate most efficiently.

By: Thuy Linh Nguyen

Thuy Linh Nguyen — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 13:44:04 +0000

I do not think that social media is killing “the English language”. This may be because the way some linguists define errors in learning language. In my opinion, errors are not nonnative-like uses of language but the failures of making listeners or readers draw on text producers’ assumptions. As long as individuals or speakers can express their ideas successfully and switch the level of formality based on contexts, using social media is even beneficial to their learning as it provides a huge platform for them to practice and expose to their target languages.
Thuy Linh Nguyen