How can mobile technology influence a language?

The way we speak today is, by and large, the way we spoke before the internet became what it is, albeit with an enriched vocabulary. Conventions of telephone conversations have, to my mind, changed little: we still use the same methods - if not words - to greet and sign off, for example.

What is hugely different, however, is the way we write today. That is the area where technology has had the biggest impact.

Email altered the structure of the letter as a communicative tool. It brought with it a whole new etiquette, as well as new conventions and new abbreviations, such as IMO (in my opinion), FWIW (for what it's worth), IIRC (if I remember correctly) and FYI (for your information).

And it introduced the idea that WORDS IN UPPER CASE MEAN WE ARE SHOUTING, while lower case writing is the accepted form.

But email English is nothing compared to the impact upon language driven by mobile phone users. The rate and extent of change this has had is truly astounding.

The way we write our text messages is now so widely accepted that it has infiltrated mainstream advertising. Here's an example :

Virgin Media, the British company, ran a campaign several months ago for its provision of broadband (or Brdbnd, as it called it) and, a little more locally to me, a council campaign advised us: 'Dnt B Wstfl'.

Source: http://www.englishlanguageexpert.com/articles/technology.php

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