At Our Peril (ATA News Dec 2010)

At our peril




December 1, 2009



Marty Rempel



I believe we are witnessing the de-evolution of the English language through text messages and e-mails. I’m guilty of participating in this grassroots linguistic terrorism as I become more proficient at wrtng n sntnc frgmnts wth n vwls.



My generation has seen the death of cursive writing. I’m no longer able to write paragraphs like the one you are now reading in longhand because my hand will invariably cramp up and go into spasms. I have given up handwriting skills for the comfort of the keyboard, and after much practice I can now type faster than I can write by hand. Yes, the typewriter—yet another dinosaur, along with carbon paper, LPs, cassettes, landlines, phone booths and telegrams—is quickly becoming extinct, thanks to technology.



The year 1981 was pivotal for me. That’s when I was introduced to my first home computer while teaching in Ashmont, Alberta (a small village of 70 inhabitants and an epicentre for technical change). It was an Apple IIe computer with a monochromatic screen and a dot matrix printer. I recall that the school’s staff were in absolute awe of the new technology. At the time, I didn’t think the portable computer had a future; I thought it was just a fad. I thought the same thing about self-serve gas stations with convenience stores. After all, who would buy bread and dairy products at a place that sold petroleum products?



Where will technology and culture take us in terms of the evolution of language? Language evolves and changes over time from region to region and from culture to culture. Shakespeare wrote in a distinctive cadence and rhythmic pattern that must be interpreted to frustrated students in English classes around the world today. We have gone from the sonnet to the rap song.



Apparently, more than one million words exist in the English language, but most people are functionally literate with a vocabulary of just a few thousand. Words are dropped from everyday usage as new technical and scientific dialect and slang terms are added, resulting in continuous change in language use and adaptation. Language is dynamic. It has a life of its own and it is ever changing. Let me make my point with the following metaphor: just as coastal tidal flats are exposed to the elements prior to the imminent arrival of a tsunami, so, too, is our language exposed to the eroding forces of change. The tsunami can’t be stopped.



Most people do not speak in descriptive terms nor do they elaborate on details and observations from daily life. A mother will ask her child: “What did you learn in school today?” The child will likely respond: “Nothing.” But it is the communication between child and parent through body language (in this case) that conveys the real message. Sometimes we don’t even need words.



To our peril, linguistic de-evolution will, in the near future, result in students submitting their assignments by text message in essays consisting of 25 words or less without the use of vowels or proper citations.

Marty Rempel