language and the internet

[Mithrandir]

* I just noticed there's no differinate in the dictionary, have I misspelt it that bad?

Are you looking for "differentiate"?

Now, as to the first post...

1 - Can internet language (Netspeak, aka "1337-speek") be considered a new form of language, or is it just jargon or at best a dialect?

Well, let's look at what exactly "language", "jargon", and "dialect" are defined as according to good 'ol Webster.

Main Entry: lan·guage
Pronunciation: 'la[ng]-gwij, -wij
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French, from langue tongue, language, from Latin lingua -- more at TONGUE
Date: 14th century
1 a : the words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a community b (1) : audible, articulate, meaningful sound as produced by the action of the vocal organs (2) : a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings (3) : the suggestion by objects, actions, or conditions of associated ideas or feelings
2 a : form or manner of verbal expression

This is interesting because "internet language" certainly does have a specialized way of combining certain sounds and words to form new words that defy the normal rule of English grammar and is also certainly "a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings".

The implication here is that each language is utterly distinct in its pronounciations, grammar, etc. In practice this is not true of course, but theoretically it is a sound definition. Another thing to ponder: the use of various characters (@, 4, 5, and so on) for sounds not associated with their meaning in the English language would indeed tend to suggest that Netspeak qualifies as a different language. What hurts Netspeak's cause here is that it is certainly a stretch to qualify it as "conventionalized". As adamantine quoted above, Netspeak is almost entirely based upon the whim of the typist. In English, you would generally not be understood if you changed spellings and pronounciations based upon your mood - however, in Netspeak you would because Netspeak is more about getting ideas instead of words across.


Main Entry: 1jar·gon
Pronunciation: 'jär-g&n, -"gän
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French
Date: 14th century
1 a : confused unintelligible language b : a strange, outlandish, or barbarous language or dialect c : a hybrid language or dialect simplified in vocabulary and grammar and used for communication between peoples of different speech
2 : the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of a special activity or group
3 : obscure and often pretentious language marked by circumlocutions and long words

This, I think, may be the money definition. Netspeak easily falls under all 3 qualifications without any of the ambiguity present in the "language" definition.


Main Entry: di·a·lect
Pronunciation: 'dI-&-"lekt
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle French dialecte, from Latin dialectus, from Greek dialektos conversation, dialect, from dialegesthai to converse -- more at DIALOGUE
Date: 1577
1 a : a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and coinstituting together with them a single language

This definition fails unless you begin to consider the internet a unique and seperate "region" of the world. I won't open that can of worms here, but suffice it to say that the definition is intended for geographic regions. Even if you managed to convince your readers that the internet falls under the definition of a "region" as intended by the definition, you would still have to deal with the underlying problem that if something is a dialect, it is also a language (and all the problems that are associated with defining Netspeak as a language crop up here as well).


That analysis aside, I would personally define Netspeak as 'jargon' just because it fits so well into the definition.


As a side point, a large motivation for the evolution and creation of what we now refer to sa "Netspeak" was to defeat IRC parsers that can go through huge amounts of logged IRC text searching for keywords. Depending on which script kiddie you asked, everyone from the FBI to other "hackers" (AKA, script kiddies) were constantly trying to monitor them, steal their secrets, or whatever particular delusion they had. Introducing symbols, random capitalizations, and numbers into words was viewed as a way to (at least temporarily) defeat these parsers.

Throw in the fact that the vast majority of these individuals are less-than-mature social semi-outcasts searching for something whith which to identify, and it seems almost inevitable that this "clubhouse" language would develop as a way for these individuals to recognize each other (the secret handshake of the new millenia I suppose?) and communicate "in secret".