Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Blog 1: Research
Research, based on the brief discussion held in class on the topic, specifically in regards to the world of writing, seems to be a general tool that writers use in order to obtain data about whatever it is that they will be writing about. From writing fiction and researching the history or geography of a certain area, to writing about childhood education and researching the home lives of students, the possibilities of research in writing are limitless.
For myself, I find it hard to articulate just what it is that interests me in terms of research. I like many things, and have the Achilles' heel of finding practically everything interesting. To try and narrow it down, I would say that I am interested in language as a whole, and possibly the current state of the English language. The development of the internet, highlighting the rise of social media, has put language in a state of flux. Linguists have always known that language is an ever-changing monster, one that adheres to the necessities of a culture, but never has language been able to change at such a rapid pace. I would like to research a bit more, see what people think about the popularity of acronyms (lol, omg, wtf) and abbreviations (u, r, gr8) and see what kind of divides are created by these new trends.
Major casualties in this new world of language are grammar and word choice. Individuals are misusing the forms of "there," "they're" and "their" as well as "your" and "you're" and there has been an insurgence of people condemning those who are doing this. But, if language is always changing, is it actually a "bad" thing that the rules of old are changing? Are we on the precipice of a new age of language where rules conform to the individual? Will this make communicating with one another more difficult? There are some things that interest me. Then again, I might want to write about weather patterns in South Africa tomorrow, so who knows?
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Researching to write a paper does have limitless possibilities; however, what methods are used in order to perform this research? I am very much like you where everything thing you read catches your attention and you find it to be very educational. I will say that the evolution of the English language is very fascinating, but even more so, the origin of words and how when they are formed, they give credence to what people are attempting to convey to one another. Another very interesting item concerning the English language is the origin of sayings that have become everyday meanings or how they have been used to express various ideas or situations.
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with you that the English language is constantly evolving and the question of it being for the better can only be left up to future; however, if what you are pointing out concerning the current state of the evolution of the English language I fear that it may actually be for the worse due to the fact that there is a growing trend of improper English. It will eventually evolve into a kind of dialect among certain regions within not only the United States, but English speaking nations as a whole. I believe as well that even within these regions, there will be divides as to what one group interprets a word to be versus a different group, thus forming a sort of click. The best observation I will say would be in middle and high schools when one takes a look at the division between the students and the teachers. The students have been able to form their own sort of language to which the teacher is not able to decode since it is unique only to the students since they are the ones who invented it. Only if the teacher is able to either decode it or is taught it, the teacher will not be able to decipher what the students are talking about. The same goes for groups of students versus another group. There are overlaps as to what is common knowledge, but then there are words that would place one group in the same position as the teacher since they do not know how to decipher the code. This can even be said about parents and their children when it comes to certain subject matters that one party does not want the other party to overhear about. Not only does this hold true concerning families, the school environment, and groups of friends, but also nations as well, but if one takes a look at the language barrier between the United States and England, many of the words between us and them are very common words; however, there are many differences. For example, in England, blagged means robbed or in England, chips mean French fries where as in America, chips mean potato chips. There is a divide between where the English language originated from and where it has spread to. I have to say very interesting questions to ponder about at the very end there.
Hey Brian! Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate the well-thought-out comment.
ReplyDeleteYour response to current trends in language being negative, or "worse," is exactly what I'm intrigued by in the current evolution of language. Many of my friends and colleagues have expressed a disdain for the way language has "devolved" and that proper English is in a state of decline. I, personally, don't see it as negative or positive, but I see where the viewpoint comes from. The interesting side of this is that proper English is generally restricted to specific settings (you, hopefully, won't see too many people using the wrong forms of words in their thesis papers) and the way we communicate is widely improper English (as is the nature of the language). With the advent of social media we are seeing people misuse English left and right, but people would be misusing it in speech anyways. The difference now is everyone is typing and texting and we can all visually see the mistakes. In speech we are granted the freedom to say whatever we want however we want, because speaking and writing are two completely different forms of expression, so why should it bother some that people are using the wrong form of "there" while writing on their friend's Facebook wall?
Just playing Devil's Advocate, I find the topic interesting, and especially intriguing in regards to exactly who finds the change of language worrisome. I, however, don't know my particular stance on the subject just yet. I like to stand on the sidelines and watch how things unfold before tossing my hat into the ring and whatnot.
Thanks again for the excellent comment!