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Do you ever wonder how technology has influenced the way we use language?

Key learning points

• How email and text messages have changed our language
• The influence of emojis and emoticons
• How technology lets us use images to communicate
• How and why the tone of text messages might change

Technology has always had a big influence on language:

• When the printing press was invented (in the 15th century) the rules of spelling became more fixed so that people could read and understand what was printed.
• New inventions mean that new words have to be created to talk about them eg ‘computer’, ‘television’, ‘internet’, ‘laptop’ and ‘wi-fi'.
• Text messages mean that we can have conversations using short written messages instead of speaking.

Some people think that change in language is a bad thing, but actually it’s really natural for language to change to suit the needs of the people using the language.

Mobile phones are quite new inventions.

When SMS (Short Message Service) messages, or text messages as we now call them, were first offered on mobile phones, there was a 160 character limit. This meant that people had to use no more than 160 letters, numbers or symbols in their messages. This limit meant people had to quickly find ways to shorten (abbreviate) their messages to fit more into the space.

Some common abbreviations:

• BRB = I’ll be right back
• L8R = later
• LOL = laugh out loud
• 4 = for
• U = you

Lots of these abbreviations are still used today, as it’s quicker and easier to send shortened versions and most people can easily understand their meaning.

Speech and writing can often be very different:

• Speech is immediate – we don’t usually think too much before we speak and we often get an immediate response from whoever we’re speaking to.
• Writing is less immediate – we have the time to write in full sentences and think about the best way to communicate what we want to say. We don’t expect an immediate response to our writing.

Developments in instant messaging technology have changed this though. We can now send a short written message using email, social media or instant messaging services and receive a reply almost immediately. This means that this type of writing has become more speech-like, and has conventions not normally found in Standard English:

• Messages have a non-standard sentence structure.
• There is no need to punctuate sentences unless it adds meaning.
• Abbreviations and non-standard spellings are commonplace.
• Emojis and emoticons are used to add non-verbal information.
• The medium allows for quick responses, so we can ask questions more easily.

Because of the mixing of speech and writing (which are different modes), this type of speech-like writing is called multi-modal language.

A big limitation when using text messages is that it’s difficult to share non-verbal information. When you talk, you can use the tone of your voice and the expression on your face to add meaning to what you say. You can’t do this in written messages on phones or social media, but emoticons can help.

Emoticons started off in 1982 with very simple punctuation used to represent facial expressions:

• : ) looks like a smile and was used to suggest the sender was happy.
• : P looks a bit like someone sticking out their tongue, so was used to show the sender was being cheeky or silly.
• : ( looks like a sad face and showed the sender’s unhappiness.

Luckily, there are now a wide range of emoticons for a lot of different facial expressions and many other things. This can help make up for the lack of non-verbal communication in written messages.

The word ‘emoticon’ comes from the words ‘emotion’ and ‘icon’. They are now more commonly known as ‘emoji’, which comes from Japanese.

In recent years, people communicating online and using instant messages have started to use images as a form of communication.

Certain images become very popular and are often used to mean something similar: these are called memes.

Sometimes people will send an animated or moving image, these are called gifs.

Like all other types of communication, using images to communicate will only be successful if the person receiving the message understands what the image means.

Different groups of people might have different images that they use to communicate. The meaning of these messages might not be clear to people outside of the group.

In this way, using images to communicate can work a bit like slang. Find out more about slang.

The tone of text messages will depend on who they’re sent by and why.

For example, a text you get from a friend might be very informal and include emoticons, non-standard sentence structures and abbreviations. This is because you will both understand the message, even though someone else might not.

A text you get from the dentist reminding you of an appointment you’ve made, will probably be more formal. This type of text will use full sentences and standard spelling. This is because some people might not understand the message if non-standard, informal language is used.

With all types of communication, it’s important to think about the best type of language to use so that your message will be understood. In some cases, this will mean you can use emoticons, abbreviations and gifs. In other cases it might be best to use more standard formal language.

Find out more about formal and informal language.