Punctuation was developed as a guide for the interpretation of text, in particular for reading out loud. Well what happens in a medium where we don’t have access to gesture? Krauss and Yihsiu Chen’s 1996 study on gesture and lexical access, that the ability to gesture during spontaneous speech enhances a speaker’s access to the mental lexicon allowing speech to flow more easily. Without the advantage of facial expressions and body language to convey social cues, it can be tricky to convey emotional intention through text. One of the more interesting aspects of internet culture is the transformative ways people engage in creative language play, particularly when it comes to expressing emotions and reactions through words alone. The more prescriptivist among us may end up face-palming, head-desking, or table-flipping at the bewildering array of novel ways of speaking in certain subcultures, that differ from the standard language.įor most linguists, it can be eye-opening and simply fun to observe these signs of nascent language change, as discussed in this great TED talk by Anne Curzan on neologisms and what makes a word “real.” Though it is debatable whether all of these neologisms will enter mainstream language on a more permanent basis, it’s fascinating to track the emergence of these new words and phrases and their linguistic structures. Language enthusiasts who have spent time in the more avant-garde regions of the internet may develop “ all the feels” at the abundance of neologisms arising from internet culture.
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