Skip to main content

Big Ideas: Evolving English and the role of social media

Posted 
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
Professor Kate Burridge
Big Ideas: Evolving English and the role of social media

SUBJECTS:  English

YEARS:  9–10


How many times have you heard teenagers berated for using the term 'like'?

Yet this term has existed at least since 1586 when the term, 'Yon man is like out of his mind' was written into history.

The truth is, our language is constantly evolving, with new words added, others dying off and some resurfacing again.

In this clip, linguist Professor Kate Burridge explores the role of technology in contributing to this evolution.


Things to think about

  1. 1.What is the job of a lexicographer? Find out what this term means. The development of social networking forums such as Twitter has led to new words, or neologisms, such as 'tweeps' or 'celebritweet'. What others have you come across?
  2. 2.What does Kate suggest caused the rate of change to English to slow over most of the last 300 years? What single technological advancement has caused a sudden increase in language evolution? According to Kate, how has this technology had an impact on language? Note examples of persuasive techniques used by Kate, such as examples and expert opinion.
  3. 3.Kate suggests that the online world has 'freed language from the anchor of writing'? Why does she see writing as an anchor? Has Kate been successful in convincing you that digital media has made an enormous impact on the evolution of English? What made her argument convincing? Kate constructs a standard three-point argument in her speech. Why do you think she adopts this structure for a listening audience?
  4. 4.Twitter has an enormous impact on language as we abbreviate significant thoughts to 140 characters. Craft a thoughtful response to Kate's speech that could be posted on Twitter. In the absence of personal contact, our online identity is defined by the language we use. Examine your own online identity. What sort of language do you use? What does this say about who you are?



Date of broadcast: 13 Nov 2011


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Posted