Text 18B

TXTNG:
the gr8 db8
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anguage changes and the damage that texting can when discussing children who
evolves constantly. do: ‘Texting is bleak, bald, have real problems with
Some people get very sad shorthand which masks literacy. It you have difficulty
worked up about this; dyslexia, poor spelling and with reading and writing you
most quietly use new coinings mental laziness’, one are hardly going to be
because, very often, they are commentator claimed. Another predisposed to use a
useful. But the arrival of said ‘Texters are vandals doing technology which demands
text-messaging on mobile to our language what Genghis sophisticated abilities in
phones seems to have Khan did to his neighbours reading and writing.’
introduced a new threat to the 800 years ago’.
The truth is, he claims, that
language which many people
All this is to be seen, of older adults feel excluded
seem to believe will be fatal.
course, in the context of an because they do not know
An extraordinary amount of
anguished national debate what ‘LOL’ stands for when
rage has been generated – at
about declining standards of their grandchild uses it to end
least in the kind of
literacy among young people, a text (does it mean ‘Lots Of
newspapers read by older and
and the alleged replacement Love’, or ‘Laugh Out Loud’? It
more conservative readers – by
of reading in a whole all depends on the context).
the use of simple
generation by addiction to But would they rather receive
abbreviations to save time
computer and mobile phone no communication at all?
(and money) in text messages.
screens. But old people have
In any case, Crystal points out
Now David Crystal, our most always decried the new crazes
that many of the popular
respected commentator on of the young, generally
beliefs about texting may be
contemporary language and its without understanding them.
unfounded. Some of the

C
uses and abuses, has entered
rystal’s view is, first of abbreviations have been in
this contentious arena. He is
all, that we have been existence since long before
also honorary professor of
here before, many times mobile phones were invented, Part 5
linguistics at the University of
over the past century, and and are extensively used in
Wales, so if anyone knows
that the English language has e-mails. Some of the more
what he is talking about in
proved remarkably resilient. extreme examples appear in
the ‘Great Debate’ about
Secondly, he argues that texting ‘dictionaries’ but are
‘texting’ (or ‘txtng’) it should
texting actually helps rarely, if ever, actually used.
be him. And his position, as
children’s literacy, because for More than half of all text
stated very clearly in this
many it is a new functional messages consist of one
persuasive book, is that the
form of communication which sentence at most. There are,
whole issue has been hyped
is written and not verbal. So he concludes, more worthy
absurdly - largely by those too
what if they introduce some targets for people to turn
old to use texting at all.
abbreviations? Crystal writes, their indignation against.
Crystal’s opponents have made ‘I do not see how texting
some extravagant claims about could be a significant factor

© Cambridge University Press 2010 Unit 18 Google generation 105