The Fate of The Sentence: Is the Writing On the Wall?

nostrich:

Hey, look everyone, another news article about how text-messaging children are killing the English language.

People who don’t write and speak in coherent sentences, Morreau says, don’t succeed in communication. He is especially concerned about “the death of the good sentence” — one that imparts clear and concise information.

And this is where the idiocy of this claim really comes to light: the people perpetuating this risible notion that stupid children will be responsible for the downfall of English are missing the point. So called “txt speak”, if anything, has the exact opposite effect these people seem to think it has; it aids communication. Cutting a long sentence down to only a few characters means all the cruft gets cut and only the essential facts remain. As far as communication goes, txt speak is a particularly useful tool. Our beloved children may not be littering their prose with perfectly-formed sentences and polysyllabic locution when they send a text message, but that fact is not synonymous with losing the ability of critical thought. Nor with the demise of the English language. If there’s a problem with young peoples’ grasp of their language, it’s the teaching that’s at fault, not the technology.

Reports of the death of the English language have been greatly exaggerated.

ETA, now that I’ve actually had time to read the article (which has an irritatingly precious ending, by the way):

No, prescriptivists, the English language is not dying. The reason your kids can’t write is because you’re not teaching them the basics, not because they’re texting. Yes, I used ‘text’ as a verb, because saying ‘sending SMS messages back and forth to each other’ is too unwieldy. Suck it. Language evolves.

1. chriscantwell reblogged this from ewilcox and added:

   Wilcox: Text shorthand provides a phenomenal efficiency for basic communication. It streamlines instructions, thought...

2. ewilcox reblogged this from nostrich and added:

   I have a feeling I may be taking an unpopular position here, but … I agree with this article.

3. unsympathetic reblogged this from nostrich and added:

   exactly. and if i get one more comment telling me i must not be an english major because my blog posts are littered with...

4. stillife reblogged this from rach
5. veiledyellow reblogged this from rach and added:

   writer’s getting at here, but at...day, its language. It’s supposed to evolve

6. brilliantology reblogged this from nostrich and added:

   (Empasis mine.) While...nostrich’s commentary on...very...

7. supernice reblogged this from rach and added:

   Harper’s class...little stunned at how much we praised the

8. eush reblogged this from nostrich and added:

   Reports of the death of...have been greatly exaggerated. ETA, now

9. nostrich reblogged this from rach and added:

   Hey, look everyone, another news article about how text-messaging children are killing

10. yzzzz reblogged this from rach and added:

    Wouldn’t “the...programmers” be carefully thought out

11. rach posted this