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Using The Web For Linguistic Research
prostoalex writes "The Economist says linguists are gradually adopting the World Wide Web as a useful corpus for linguistic research. Google is used, among other resources, to research how the written language evolves and how some non-standard examples of usage become more or less acceptable (The Economist quotes the phrase 'He far from succeeded,' where 'far from' is used as an adverb). LanguageLog is a resource linked in the article, where linguists discuss current peculiarities of the English language."
When we might actually say words like 'lol' out aloud.
I've heard it done. I've also heard 'roffle' (an attempt at pronouncing ROTFL I guess). Bizarre, really, since those terms are attempts to turn physical real-life actions into a verbal-only form.
This is not the first time when Google (and search engines in general) changed how we do things.
Nowadays copyrighters use Google to search for potential violations of their intelectual property. Plagiarism is easy to detect nowadays thanks to Google as well. Instead of using rather expensive systems in order to search for duplicate work, teachers are now one search away in distinguishing original work from the rest.
There are more non native speakers on the web then
native speakers.
In the European community the native English
speaking persons are by far a minority. That way
French expressions are poring into the language
in an unstoppable way. Those expressions are then
used by native speaking politicians and are
broadcasted by television. That way they enter the
mainstream of the English language.
Regards
I think that for most of the 20th century, English, and most languages in the industrialized world, was largely static, dominated by the written word which was dominated by proper grammar. Since WWII, popular culture and faster communications have increasingly exposed us to local vernaculars, mostly through radio and television. The written word lagged behind in its cultural evolution.
Thanks to the internet (initially email, BBS's and IRC, but more widely known on the Web), we now have a hybrid of the spoken and written word: the "typed word". This form of language evolves at the same rate as the spoken word, and injects its own vernacular as a side effect of the medium: acromyn and abbreviation "words" (rofl, how r u), along with common misspellings (pwned), and mixing letters with numbers or punctuation (133t, n00b). All of these serve at least one purpose, whether as a form of super shorthand, insult, the appearance of being "cool", or are merely the result of laziness on the part of the author. Most typed-word terms don't transfer well when spoken.
One of my hobbies is studying (European) languages and how they are related. Sometimes I worry about the damage the typed word is causing to the spoken and written word (and any proper linguist should at least be interested in the phenomenon). Luckily, most typed word expressions aren't pronounceable, and the ones that are sound absurd, because they are removed from their original context when spoken, and everyone recognizes gibberish when they hear it. How the typed word affects the written word remains to be seen. Yes both are typed now, but only the written word has a chance of going through an editorial process. I think it will take a very long time for the formal lexicon and rules of grammar to embrace, however reluctantly if ever, the typed vernacular.