Abstract – The article presents an attempt to trace some new tendencies in modern English word formation caused by the computer technologies development. A short review of language changes reasons has been made. A new type of word-formation brought to life by computer technologies development has been singled out and analyzed under the suggested term puzzling.
Object of the article is special words created by PC users as a cipher, or cryptic form of spelling: replacing letters with numbers, symbols, and other letters that look or sound alike. Topicality. Since a wide range of new words appear in the process of new technologies development it is essential to study and analyse the way they were formed. Word formation has always been a challenging task for the linguists therefore the analysis of puzzling newly presented term for the modern type of word-formation in the article is important and remains topical. Key words – word-formation, countercultural phrases, e-communication e-medium, leetspeak, interactivity, multimedia, hypertext.
I.Introduction
Language is always changing, evolving, and adapting to the needs of its users. If English had not been changing since, for example, 1950, we would not have had words referring to modems, fax machines, or cable TV. As long as the needs of language users continue to change, so will the language. The change is so slow that from year to year we hardly notice it (except to grumble every so often about the 'poor English' being used by the younger generation!). But reading Shakespeare's writings from the sixteenth century may cause difficulties. If you go back for a couple of more centuries, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are very tough sledding, and if you go for another 500 years back trying to read Beowulf, it will be like reading a different language.
The reasons of language changes can be briefly summerised as follows:
- Firstly, it changes because the needs of its speakers change. New technologies, new products, and new experiences require new words to refer to them clearly and efficiently
- Secondly, because of existing varieties of language. There are no two people who have had exactly the same language experience. We all use a slightly different set of words and constructions, which depend on our age, job, education level, region of the country, and so on. We pick up new words and phrases from all the different people we talk with, and we combine them to make something new and unlike to any other person's particular way of speaking. At the same time, various groups in society use language as a way of marking their group identity - showing who is and isn't a member of the group.
II. Main Part
Many of the changes that occur in language begin with teens and young adults. As young people interact with others of their own age, their language develops through including words, phrases, and constructions that are different from those of older generation. Some words have a short life span, but others stick around to affect the language as a whole.
The speech patterns of young people tend to grate on the ears of adults because they are unfamiliar. Also, new words and phrases are used in spoken or informal language sooner than in formal, so it is true that the phrases you hear that teenagers use may not yet be appropriate for business letters. But that does not mean they are worse - just newer.
We get new words from many different places. We borrow them from other languages (sushi, chutzpah), we create them by shortening longer words (gym from gymnasium) or by combining words (brunch from breakfast and lunch), and we make them out of proper names (Levis, fahrenheit). Sometimes we even create a new word by being wrong about the analysis of an existing word.
The technological development has probably the most significant impact on the language. And the computerization is the most noticeable feature of the technological progress of the last decades.
Earlier technological developments left their mark on the language. The railroads gave rise to expressions like going off the rails and getting sidetracked; the steam engine produced working up a head of steam and full steam ahead; and the automobile left us with pedal to the metal, firing on all cylinders and eatin' concrete. Not surprisingly, phrases generated by the computer age tend to be more sardonic and pejorative. Brainstorming refers to group discussions devoted to the assignment of blame; the acronym kiss means keep it simple stupid; and ego-surfing alludes to Internet searches for someone's own name.
Cyberland has been heavily influenced by pop culture and it boasts its share of counterculture phrases drawn from comic books, children's stories, sci-fi movies and New Age movements. Deep magic (meaning "an awesomely arcane technique central to a program or system") comes from C. S. Lewis's "Narnia" books; the online abbreviation TTFN (meaning "ta-ta for now") comes from "Winnie the Pooh"; and "fear and loathing" (meaning the state of mind "inspired by the prospect of dealing with certain real-world systems and standards that are totally brain-damaged but ubiquitous") comes, of course, from Hunter S. Thompson.
But for all its playful love of puns and cool disdain for suits, the high-tech world is, at heart, a cruel, unforgiving place ruled by the merciless dynamics of the marketplace. There are multiple terms for success (including winnage, winnitude).
III. Part II
Electronic communication (or e-communication) places new demands on language that lead to interesting variations in written language use [2]. The language of e-mail, chats, Web-based discussions and SMS messages is marked by features of both informal speech and formal writing, a host of text-based icons and acronyms for managing social interaction, and changes in spelling norms. In addition, the electronic medium (e-medium) provides a new context for the writing process and to the language as a part of it.
Hailed as a powerful educational resource, the e-medium has not only revolutionized the composing process but has also been found to encourage participation in writing activity. One reason for this is that e-mail and online chats provide a non-threatening atmosphere in which writers feel less inhibited about expressing themselves, encouraging even timid students who usually refuse to speak in face-to-face discussions to actively participate in online chats [4]. Another reason is that the Web provides an arena for writers to present their work to a real and larger audience that extends beyond classroom and school boundaries [3]. When students realize that they are going to put their work on the Web for readers in the real world, they are motivated to write [5].
The e-medium has been found to increase collaborative writing activity, although there are mixed views on whether it has had a similar effect on the quantity and quality of writing done by individuals. Because the e-medium reduces the intimidation factor and offers attractive features, it improves one’s attitudes towards writing and practicing the language and encourages to produce more text [6].
E-communication requires some special environment and processes which are named both as by specialists so by inexperienced (but regular) users. You can notice that people do not necessarily use the type of English that you learned in class! In fact, the Web is full of constantly changing colloquial expressions that are very difficult to understand [1]. E-language brings to life new types of word-formation, especially in slang.
While it has many nicknames, information-age slang is commonly referred to as leetspeak, or leet for short. Leet (a vernacular form of elite) is a specific type of computer slang where a user replaces regular letters with other keyboard characters to form words.
Leet, usually written as "1337" in Leetspeak, is an online culture and/or attitude, as well as a language code, among the Internet population. The word itself is derived phonetically from the word "elite", and is a cipher, or cryptic form of spelling replacing letters with numbers, symbols, and other letters that look or sound alike. Leetspeak was first used by hackers on Bulletin Board Systems, and then later adopted by users of Online Multiplayer Games and other Internet communities. Leet first appeared in the demoscene of the 1980s, applying to people belonging to large groups who had access to a (then rare) 28.8k baud modem and would be allowed to use "elite BBSes".
The first example of leetspeak is known to be the 1981 Journey album "Escape" spelled E5C4P3.
Spelling variation does not always follow a set convention. The same word may be spelled differently by different people, or even by the same person to confuse others even more. This is symptomatic of the desire or affected desire to elude comprehension by others unfamiliar with the foreign art form.
Many consider it a pointless affectation, and as it has become widely used it is less useful as a way of showing membership of an "elite" group. It is nonetheless a cultural phenomenon well-known amongst hackers and many other Internet users, especially gamers.
Leet words can be expressed in hundreds of ways using different substitutions and combinations, but once one understands that nearly all characters are formed as phonemes and symbols, leetspeak isn't difficult to translate. Also, because leet is not a formal or regional dialect, any given word can be interpreted differently, so it is important to use discretion when evaluating terms. The following serves as a brief (and by no means definitive) introduction to leet through examples.
Key points for leetspeak interpreting:
- numbers are often used as letters; the term "leet" could be written as "1337," with "1" replacing the letter L, "3" posing as a backwards letter E, and "7" resembling the letter T. Others include "8" replacing the letter B, "9" used as a G, "0" (zero) instead of O, and so on;
- non-alphabet characters can be used to replace the letters they resemble. For example, "5" or even "$" can replace the letter S. Applying this style, the word "leetspeak" can be written as "133t5p33k" or even "!337$p34k," with "4" replacing the letter A;
- letters can be substituted for other letters that may sound alike. Using "Z" for a final letter S, and "X" for words ending in the letters C or K is common. For example, leetspeakers might refer to their computer "5x1llz" (skills);
- rules of grammar are rarely obeyed. Some leetspeakers will capitalize every letter except for vowels (LiKe THiS) and otherwise reject conventional English style and grammar, or drop vowels from words (such as converting very to "vry");
- mistakes are often left uncorrected. Common typing misspellings (typos) such as "teh" instead of the are left uncorrected or sometimes adopted to replace the correct spelling;
- non-alphanumeric characters may be combined to form letters. For example, using slashes to create "/\/\" can substitute for the letter M, and two pipes combined with a hyphen to form "|-|" is often used in place of the letter H. Thus, the word ham could be written as "|-|4/\/\";
- the suffix "0rz" is often appended to words for emphasis or to make them plural. For example, "h4xx0rz," "sk1llz0rz," and "pwnz0rz," are plural or emphasized versions (or both) of hacks, skills, and owns.
Conclusion
Thus leetspeak community encourages new forms and awards individual creativity, resulting in a dynamic written language that eludes conformity or consistency. The special type of presenting words in an above analysed form can be termed puzzling, as it presupposes introducing some special elements making the new word a little like a riddle.
The digital age arrives with a set of big communication challenges: new relations with audiences (Interactivity), new languages (Multimedia) and a new grammar (Hypertext). But this media revolution not only changes the communication landscape for the users, most importantly, it opens the mass communication system to a wide range of new participants.
References
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