Yoof Komunikation

The recent riots in London sent shockwaves throughout the world. Scenes of looting and gratuitous violence in this great city made many people question the values of the society in which we live. However one such question that didn't garner much attention, nor should it have done given the context in which it was occurring, was the manner in which the youth who took part in the riots chose to communicate. There has been much discussion surrounding the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to coordinate meeting points and to boast about ill-gotten gains, but what about the words and language used to convey these messages? To what extent has social networking butchered the English language as we know it?

On one hand the current trend to relentlessly abbreviate, devastate syntax construction and turn a blind eye to punctuation is a worrying development. Language is a universal means of communication which, to be effective, requires it to be applied and interpreted in a uniform manner. The modern development of text speech has meant that young people in this country are struggling to effectively communicate with others who are not familiar with it. This can create a damaging ‘us’ and ‘them’ culture, where we create a divide: a right way to communicate and a wrong way. However, this does not have to be the case.

Langwage evolves 2 meet societal needs. Dare av bin several signifikant shifts dat as alowd comunikashun to dvlp from grnts n sines all da way throo 2 speech. At prsnt we r always tryin 2 acheev da most in da leest amownt of time, n dis is evidenst in how we comunikate. Y use 100 karakters when U can use 25? Prvided dat da msg is undastud it wud apeer dat da disregard 4 spellin convenshuns is a nonishoo, as da purpus of langwage as bin achieved, i.e. 2 comunikate. Da only prblm arises wen it iz yoozd outside of da corect context; 4 xampel a job aplicashun form. Thus, provided that texting and tweeting keep their unique adaptations of the English language within the confines of their own digital sphere, it can exist very happily alongside the Queen’s English in modern Britain. Hwevr, me no tink dat dis is likleee to apen. Braaaap!