We have two forms of English, written and spoken, period. Not so, says a prominent linguist. There’s a new form in town, that he calls “Netspeak.” In the minds of many, it’s little more than linguistic vandalism, online expression where grammar is gone and spelling is superfluous. David Crystal, the editor of the Cambridge Encyclopedia database says, in fact, we’re on the brink of the biggest revolution in language ever. Now, if you don’t use the letters AWHFY in regular communication to ask your correspondents “are we having fun yet”, and in case you’re not deep in the land of Furry Mucks speaking moo-code, TMOT, that is “trust me on this,” this change in the language affects even those who don’t, on a regular basis, logon.
Guests:
David Crystal, Honorary Professor of English Language Studies at the University of Wales, Bangor, and author of “Language and the Internet” and John McWhorter, associate professor of Linguistics at UC Berkeley, and author of “The Word on the Street: Fact and Fable about American English” and “Spreading the Word: Language and Dialect in America.”