ESL School

...quotes: "YY UR YY UB IC UR YY 4ME" ["Too wise you are, too wise you be, I see you are too wise for me"]. This predates the texting phenomenon, which many think is blighting the ability of kids to use English in its more standard form. As far as spelling is concerned, Crystal points out that you need to be able to spell it before working out an abbreviation. Of course that rather depends on whether kids are having a diet only of text messages. If they never read conventional words, they won’t be able to spell them.
Of course there is some truth in the idea that texting requires kids to be creative and witty. OIC, do I hear you say? Perhaps it actually makes them think about language and its potential. But this is not really the issue. Language as we know is constantly changing. We adapt it to our needs and texting suits what youngsters need to do.
But events also influence how language changes. Spelling became fixed with the invention of printing. Grammar rules had to be revised as Modern English emerged from Old English. What is happening now is as big a shift I believe as printing. The speed at which material has to be produced for texts and the Internet means that grammar and vocabulary are being adapted to the new pace.
There are indeed some casualties. You will find very few apostrophes on the Internet. This means that nouns, even proper nouns are used adjectivally. Thus I read recently: Shannon mother in court/terrorist attack in Mumbai/Obama team to be announced. I think the apostrophe has been sacrificed because it takes content writers too long to work out how to use it. Yet although this apostrophe-free zone is typical of the web and newspaper headlines, it is still expected in formal writing. But the rot has surely set in.
Another influence from the Internet is that colloquial language has spilled over to the written word, which traditionally has always been more conservative and more rule-based. Thus many terms that would be slow to enter the written language now come in immediately they are heard: it’s a big ask (when did the verb become a noun?)/meterosexual/renditions (extraordinary rendition). And of course there are lots of terms associated with Internet activities, whether good or bad: netiquette/chatroom/grooming/newbie/gaming.
Exactly how many changes will have a deep effect remains to be seen. As to whether they are harmful, that again is a separate point. Language change is inevitable; how to judge those changes is perhaps a topic for a separate article.