CMC + Conclusion

H3LL0 3V3RY0N3!

Okay so I can’t do L33T speak so well. Still the point is that the internet is one avenue through which language is rapidly evolving. Dr Deng explained the ways in which males and females differ in their use of language online, and I thought that was really interesting. The internet is maybe a place where people are freer to express themselves outside of sociocultural norms – it’s its own world, isn’t it? Hence the labeling of a ‘virtual world’. I would think that in this virtual world, maybe the issues of language and gender (as highlighted in the previous class) becomes less apparent, since the possibility for anonymity and thus gender-bending is much higher. There may not be such a need to maintain politeness or conform to the expectations of gender online. Maybe it is in the virtual world that we really have a homogenous culture that is reflected in language.

I think one of the best things about the internet is that the language is always changing and accommodating to new lexical entries. For this, I think the best place to see it is http://urbandictionary.com … All kinds of new words are invented and people use them on a daily basis when online. Very interesting!!

Final Thoughts…

Class has been really fun and the topics are very interesting. I think my favourite topic was last weeks on Gendered Language just because it’s something that’s so imbibed in us we take it for granted and just use language without realizing that it could potentially be problematic. It’s good to know that stuff we’ve learnt can actually be applied/observed in real life, instead of it all just being pure theory. So the best part is that I can actually apply the stuff learnt to life, and it won’t go to waste.

Looking forward to all the presentations!