EPCAR 2014

TEXT II

LEARN ENGLISH ONLINE: HOW THE INTERNET IS

CHANGING LANGUAGE

Online, English is now a common language for

users from around the world. In the process, the

language itself is changing. Noah Webster thought that a

common language brings people together and helps

create a new identity.

Webster’s dictionary, now is in its 11th edition, adopted

the Americanized orthography familiar today “–er” in

place of “–re” in theatre, not using the “u” from colour,

losing one “l” in traveller, and listed new words for

example, skunk and squash.

The Internet is creating a similar language

evolution, but at a much faster velocity. Some linguists

anticipate that in 10 years English will dominate the

Internet, but in very different forms. That’s because

people who speak English as a second language are

more in number than native speakers. And they use it to

communicate with other non-native speakers, particularly

on the Internet where people don’t pay so much attention

to grammar and orthography and users don’t have to

preoccupy about their way of speaking.

Users of Facebook, for example, ____________

in a number of different “Englishes” including Indian

English, or Hinglish, Spanglish (Spanish English) and

Konglish (Korean English). For a long time, these

variations existed in individual cultures, but now they are

expanding and becoming popular online. “On the Internet

all that is important is that people can communicate –

nobody has a right to tell them what the language has to

be,” says Baron.

The intensification of the use of the Internet in

everyday life means that language online is not a zero

result game. On the contrary, it permits multiple

languages to show up and they are mixing into English

that is becoming the world’s lingua franca.

Adapted from http://www.bbc.cokh/news/magazine-20332763 Acessado em 25/03/2013

Glossary:

To lose: perder, retirar Lingua franca: idioma usado globalmente para a comunicação