Language and Technology

Key terms/ Concepts

Globalisation- The international spread of ideas and information, sped up by the internet

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Technological determinism (Marshall Mcluhan)- McLuhan proposed that our identity and ideologies are shaped around the media that we use

Canonical opening (Schelgoff)- Most telephone conversations follow a similar structure, especially openings and closings

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The typographic man (McLuhan)
McLuhan also suggests that globalisation is leading to a collective mindest (links to Technological Determinism)
Clay Shirky believes that social media is a positive thing: it creates communication between groups, not just individuals. It also gives ordinary people the chance to become producers and gain control; this is especially useful in overcoming oppression in some countries.

Turn Taking (Fairclough)
Computers can imitate, and are becoming increasingly good at imitating human interaction, including turn taking.
For example, pop ups on computers with interrogatives like “Are you sure?”

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Descripitism (David Crystal and Carrington)- This theory suggests that language naturally changes with society, and this is a positive thing. Crystal identified language features that show our language is becoming linguistically compressed: acronyms, variant spelling and nonstandard grammar. Carrington then added vowel deletion, phonetic spelling, initialisms and number/letter homophones to the list.

Prescriptism (Dr. Johnson, Lynne Truss) This theory suggests that language is decaying and technology is making us lazy. In Dr Johnson’s proposal for the dictionary to his patron Lord Chesterfield in 1947, Johnson described his goal to bring about “rule and order to the English Language”. In the book “Eats, Shoots & Leaves.” (Lynne Truss, 2003) Truss describes how rules are being relaxed in today's society. Her goal is to remind readers of the importance of punctuation in the English language by mixing humor and instruction.

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