The Issue: Are words like ‘hashtag’ destroying the English language for youngsters?

Recently published author Annie Boon

First, it has to be accepted that a new form of language has sprung up via social media.

It is now possible to message hundreds of people at one time using a ‘shorthand’ made up of symbols like # and emoji, and it is the prerogative of young people so to do, no-one would want to deny such creativity.

But communicating with masses of friends via symbols is not the same as using conventional language, and an over-reliance on the former could restrict the ability to communicate with others on a one-to-one basis and with members of a family unit.

To such end, this new tech-speak should be regarded as a skill, an addition to the correct grammatical use of language and not a replacement for it.

The ability to express oneself articulately both through speech and the written word is a vital skill to be appreciated as one travels through life.

The ability to succinctly present a well reasoned argument requires an in-depth knowledge of the construct of language.

High value is placed on such skills in the world of employment. Unfortunately, this competence cannot be acquired by a quick fix in higher education.

It is gained through the experience of learning the language as part of growing up, where there is time to creatively experiment with the use of language and its application. This creativity has its own personal pleasures through the use of the vast array of words and phrases available for expression of feelings and the deliverance of knowledge.

The loss of the correct use of language or the lack of being taught it in the first place means the loss of grammatical construction.

Such a loss makes learning a second language, a vital skill in this era of global networking, extremely difficult.

Latin, essentially a dead language, is coming back into fashion because it teaches logic as well as strong grammatical construction.

Yes, let’s all communicate widely using symbols, and enjoy the fun and the benefits. But at the same time never let us lose touch with our spoken language and an appreciation of our beautifully written heritage.

NO

Waverly March, of Waterstones’ children’s books department

This isn’t the first time we’ve had this conversation.

It isn’t even the second.

Star Trek, of all things, managed to prompt a bout of international linguistic soul-searching with its opening narration, to boldly go, of course, being a dreaded split infinitive.

The fact is that language is a living thing.

It grows and changes in response to new ideas, new technologies, and new developments.

And it’s easy enough to see what happens when we try to stifle it.

The Academie Française is a body dedicated to preserving the integrity of the French language.

Thanks to its efforts to keep the language pure, more and more foreign loan-words have entered the language.

Meanwhile, the population struggles to express new concepts its language can’t accommodate.

So why shouldn’t language expand to incorporate online communication, one of the greatest innovations of our time?

Why shouldn’t the next generation make their mark on it, why shouldn’t they make it work for them, the way we’ve made it work for us?

I was an impressionable high-schooler when acronyms like ‘LOL’ first came into common use, not only in written communication but in speech as well.

At the time, I didn’t care for it. I didn’t have much access to the internet and my parents (predictably) weren’t the greatest fans of all these new and confusing quirks of language.

But as an adult, I can see what started with Generation LOL, and has continued to flourish under Generation Hashtag.

All this online jargon is really just trying to inject tone into written communication, the kids who use it elsewhere, as a part of their everyday speech, are translating that online vernacular into new ways of clarifying their meaning out loud.

It’s new, and it’s creative, and most importantly, it’s not ours to criticise.

Linguistic change is going to happen whether we like it or not.

The best we can do for the up-and-coming generation of English-speakers is to let them create a language that reflects their world, a world that’s half-online, where the inflections of written and spoken language can overlap and interact.