tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/new-language-23397/articlesNew language – The Conversation2020-09-28T19:58:52Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1455462020-09-28T19:58:52Z2020-09-28T19:58:52Z‘Virtue signalling’, a slur meant to imply moral grandstanding that might not be all bad<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359939/original/file-20200925-22-1k6uzlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C12%2C4137%2C2628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-businessman-megaphone-600w-264369653.jpg">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last month, on the centennial of the 19th amendment granting American women the vote, US President Donald Trump announced he would issue a posthumous pardon for Susan B. Anthony. A suffragette, Anthony was convicted of voting illegally as a woman in 1872. The response was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/18/903616273/trumps-plan-to-pardon-susan-b-anthony-angers-those-who-protect-her-legacy">mixed</a>. Some applauded the president, others <a href="https://twitter.com/shoe0nhead/status/1295798293201649664">accused him of virtue signalling</a>.</p>
<p>The term has been levelled in recent times at celebrities, politicians, and brands. But what does “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/30/opinion/sunday/virtue-signaling.html">virtue signalling</a>” mean? </p>
<p>The <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/virtue-signalling">Cambridge Dictionary</a> defines it as:</p>
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<p>An attempt to show other people that you are a good person, for example by expressing opinions that will be acceptable to them, especially on social media.</p>
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<p>So, virtue signalling is an expression used to call out an individual, company, or organisation - suggesting they are only backing an idea to look good in the eyes of others. The term implies that they don’t truly believe in the cause they publicly support. They are acting out of bad faith, because they have an ulterior motive. </p>
<p>The abundance and popularity of similar terms in the social lexicon, like <a href="https://simplicable.com/new/radical-chic">“radical chic”</a>, “bleeding hearts”, “politically correct”, “poseurs” or just plain “posers”, suggests many value honesty and integrity. We’re wary of fakes and possible bullshit. </p>
<p>However, like these labels, “virtue signalling” is highly pejorative: often wielded as a sneering insult by those on the right against progressives to dismiss their statements <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/moral-talk/202008/moral-grandstanding-and-virtue-signaling-the-same-thing">as grandstanding</a>. Some people accused of it may actually believe deeply in the cause they speak of, and back their words with actions.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sumbiotude-a-new-word-in-the-tiny-but-growing-vocabulary-for-our-emotional-connection-to-the-environment-136616">'Sumbiotude': a new word in the tiny (but growing) vocabulary for our emotional connection to the environment</a>
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<h2>Looking good</h2>
<p>A “virtue” is a trait or quality that is deemed to be moral or good. The word has earlier Christian connotations of <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c1a7.htm">theological virtues</a>, including humility, kindness, and charity, in opposition to the “seven deadly sins”.</p>
<p>In the case of Trump, infamous for his misogyny, the symbolic pardon of Anthony was construed by many as disingenuous. In a perceived attempt to garner female voters, he was displaying a virtue he didn’t have. </p>
<p>Before an AFL game in June this year, meanwhile, Richmond Tigers and Collingwood Magpies players and umpires <a href="https://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/704621/watch-players-take-a-knee-pre-match">knelt down on one knee</a> to show solidarity with Indigenous Australians. It was part of the worldwide <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/">Black Lives Matter</a> movement against racism.</p>
<p>Many fans interpreted the gesture as an act of support, unity, and respect. Yet some online critics <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8410547/Online-trolls-slam-Collingwood-Richmond-players-took-knee-support-BLM.html">rejected the display</a> as virtue signalling, telling the teams to “stick to football instead of politics”. </p>
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<p>Virtue signalling is often an accusation of “jumping on the bandwagon” of a popular cause. At the height of the #BLM protests, companies including McDonalds, Starbucks, and Nike were accused of “corporate virtue signaling” — or “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0743915620947359">woke washing</a>” — for issuing empty statements of support.</p>
<p>In the US, even mask wearing has been <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/05/face-mask-videos-culture-wars-trump-logic/612139/">branded by some as virtue signalling</a> — signifying <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/01/masks-politics-coronavirus-227765">to progressives a serious approach to public health but to the right an over-reaction</a> amid political culture wars. Indeed the term can sometimes say more about the person who wields it than its ostensible target.</p>
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<h2>Radical chic</h2>
<p>The origins of the term “virtue signalling” are disputed. British journalist James Bartholomew is often credited with coining the phrase in a <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/easy-virtue">2015 article</a> in the conservative publication The Spectator. It is more likely he popularised an existing term, as there are <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=thAzhaIbiHMC&oi=fnd&pg=PA35&dq=%22virtue+signalling%22&ots=PFxplkIToB&sig=b_FvzW_u1P9L_TBrnNuNmXUeiS8#v=onepage&q=%22virtue%20signalling%22&f=false">older academic references</a>.</p>
<p>The earlier expression “radical chic” — coined by <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Radical-Chic-Mau-Mauing-Flak-Catchers-ebook/dp/B003GFIVHK">Tom Wolfe</a> in 1970 and celebrating its 50th anniversary — describes association with a fashionable crusade, but without genuine commitment to it. Where radical chic described the adoption of causes by celebrities and socialites, virtue signalling is different because anyone can do it. </p>
<p>The slur of virtue signalling relates to older well-regarded idioms: “do as I say, not as I do”; “all talk, no action”; “talk the talk”; and “walk the walk”. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/where-woke-came-from-and-why-marketers-should-think-twice-before-jumping-on-the-social-activism-bandwagon-122713">Where 'woke' came from and why marketers should think twice before jumping on the social activism bandwagon</a>
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<h2>Claiming the higher ground</h2>
<p>“Virtue signalling” joins other right-wing slurs like <a href="https://www.anchoragepress.com/columnists/why-libtard-is-lazy-and-offensive/article_53ee2f38-b4c9-11ea-afbe-1f946cb08402.html">libtards</a>, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/the-human-beast/201210/why-liberal-hearts-bleed-and-conservatives-dont">bleeding hearts</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/24/team-trump-wants-you-own-liberal-snowflakes-your-family-christmas-party/">snowflakes</a>, and <a href="https://nypost.com/2016/11/19/in-trumps-america-social-justice-warriors-need-to-do-the-one-thing-they-hate/">social justice warriors</a>.</p>
<p>It is a cousin of accusations of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/30/political-correctness-how-the-right-invented-phantom-enemy-donald-trump">political correctness</a>. In their apparent sermonising and moral outrage against racism, sexual harassment, climate change and more, progressives are viewed as emotional and weak, or <a href="https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6085149236001">accused of being sanctimonious</a>.</p>
<p>Ironically, wielding the term sometimes serves as virtue signalling in itself. By calling out virtue signalling, the speaker publicly claims the moral high ground. </p>
<p>The term is often used as an <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/character-attack/">ad hominem attack</a> — a charge that dismisses an argument based on the character of the presenter, not the argument itself. </p>
<p>Does it matter if an individual or company signals virtue if it’s in the name of a good cause? Indeed, it can be argued that signalling a commitment to specific values <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-020-02653-9">helps moral discourse</a>.</p>
<p>As the Trump pardon of Susan B. Anthony shows, the same action characterised as virtue signalling by one person can also effect positive change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145546/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Stollznow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Accusing a person or company of ‘virtue signalling’ has become a common putdown. But slurs like these are not new.Karen Stollznow, Research fellow, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1218582019-09-06T11:35:42Z2019-09-06T11:35:42ZHow to build a ‘perfect’ language<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291153/original/file-20190905-175673-1bw9fq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5991%2C3988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A document in Tengwar, the script of the Elvish languages invented by JRR Tolkien, Dozza, Italy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Luca Lorenzelli via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s well known that JRR Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings cycle to create people to <a href="https://www.tolkienestate.com/en/learning/languages-and-writing-systems/tolkiens-invented-languages.html">speak the languages he had invented</a>. But, in the television age, artificially created or invented languages – we call them “<a href="https://conlang.org/">conlangs</a>” – have been gaining increasing attention with the popularity of television series such as Star Trek and Game of Thrones, and films such as Avatar.</p>
<p>Fantasy and science fiction are the ideal vehicles for conlangs. Marc Okrand, an American linguist whose core research area is Native American languages, invented Klingon for Star Trek, while Paul Frommer of the University of Southern California created the Na'vi language for Avatar.</p>
<p>The fantasy series Game of Thrones involved several languages, including Dothraki and Valyrian, which were created by David J Peterson, a “conlanger” who has invented languages for several other shows. Most recently, fantasy thriller The City and The City featured the language Illitan, created by <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-i-invented-a-new-language-for-the-city-and-the-city-94189">Alison Long of Keele University</a> in the UK.</p>
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<p>I teach how to construct languages and one question my students usually ask is: “How do I make a perfect language?” I need to warn that it’s impossible to make a language “perfect” – or even “complete”. Rather, an invented language is more likely to be appropriate for the context – convincing and developed just enough to work in the desired environment. But here are a few things to bear in mind.</p>
<h2>Who will speak this language and why?</h2>
<p>It is very important to be clear about the aims of the language and its (fictional or real) speakers. When conlangs are created for a specific fictional character, the aims and speakers are determined by the story, the author or producer.</p>
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<p>In some cases, fragments or descriptions of the language do exist. This was the case for Illitan, which was described as having “jarring” sounds in the novel The City and The City and there were a few Dothraki expressions in the first Game of Thrones novel. But what if there are no instructions? In <a href="https://search.proquest.com/openview/2128040261a9167704e671a8aca58ed7/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=636386">a survey I ran</a> a few years ago, many language creators pointed out that a sense of aesthetics and beauty guided them, along with the need to make the conlangs sound natural and a very pragmatic sense of how easily the languages could be pronounced.</p>
<p>There is also a strong link between language and culture, where some languages attract a large fan base because of the culture and community this language represents. <a href="https://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/download/610/512?inline=1">A good example is Na’vi</a>, which attracts many learners because of its welcoming community of speakers. In some cases the language itself has developed a strong culture and community, as is the case for Esperanto, which <a href="https://esperanto.net/en/what-we-do/">aims to bring people together</a> regardless of their background and supports a strong sense of solidarity. </p>
<h2>Start with sounds</h2>
<p>The sound system is typically the starting point for language creators. This makes sense, given that sound is usually the first thing that we encounter in a new language. Do we want our conlang to sound harsh, alien or even aggressive? In <a href="https://www.kli.org/about-klingon/sounds-of-klingon/">the Klingon sound system</a> this effect is achieved as follows: </p>
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<li><p>Fricative consonants – like the initial sounds in the words “chair”, “show” and “jump” or the final sound in the Scottish word “loch”.</p></li>
<li><p>Plosive consonants – such as “t”, “p” and “k” – ideally produced with a stronger puff of air than is customary in spoken English. </p></li>
<li><p>Sounds that are unusual – at least to the ears of English speakers, who are typically the primary target audience. So imagine a consonant that sounds like a “k” that is produced far back in the throat (a sound which exists in Modern Standard Arabic) or a “g” that is produced more like a “gargle” and exists, for example, in Modern Greek and Icelandic. </p></li>
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<p>These sounds all contribute to Klingon’s alien quality. On the other hand, Tolkien’s Elvish languages of Sindarin and Quenya were developed to sound aesthetically pleasing and – according to Tolkien himself – are intended to sound “of a European kind”. So Tolkien’s Elvish languages have systems which are much closer to those of European languages such as Welsh, Finnish and Old English, all of which influenced Tolkien <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-invent-a-tolkien-style-language-57380">when creating these languages</a>. </p>
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<h2>Words and customs</h2>
<p>Once we know how our language sounds, we can develop words. Here, the link to the culture of the speakers is important in establishing the most important words and expressions. For example, the Na’vi are deeply connected to nature and this connection is ingrained in their words, metaphors and customs. For example, when the Na'vi kill an animal they speak a prayer to show respect, gratitude and humility. </p>
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<p>In contrast, the Dothraki – nomadic warriors relying on horses – literally say: “Do you ride well?” when asking: “Are you well?”</p>
<h2>Grammar</h2>
<p>Now we need to put our words together in a sensible way, including expressing tenses and plural forms. We can do this by adding different endings – so, for example, Esperanto uses the verb ending -as to express present tense, -os for past and -is for future, as in <em>amas</em> (love), <em>amos</em> (loved) and <em>amis</em> (will love). </p>
<p>We also need to decide on the word order and sentence structure. English has a typical structure of Subject-Verb-Object, but an alien-sounding conlang like Klingon may use a more unusual structure like Object-Subject-Verb – for example, the book (Object) – my friend (Subject) – reads (Verb).</p>
<h2>Writing systems</h2>
<p>Writing systems are bound to the culture of the speakers – and not all languages are written. Cultures with purely oral traditions, like the Dothraki, do not write. However, where such writing systems appear, they are often an artistic endeavour in themselves. The most famous example is <a href="https://www.tecendil.com/tengwar-handbook/">Tengwar</a>, one of the scripts Tolkien developed for the Elvish languages. </p>
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<span class="caption">The first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in JRR Tolkien’s Tengwar script (transcribed from English).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alatius/Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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<p>Klingon maintains its alien quality <a href="https://www.kli.org/about-klingon/writing-klingon/">through very spiky characters</a> and Esperanto, developed to be learned easily, contained some symbols which have subsequently been changed <a href="https://omniglot.com/writing/esperanto.htm">as they were too cumbersome</a>. </p>
<p>So, like natural languages, conlangs change and develop (for example, all conlangs <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs/comments/5cqndy/how_do_i_create_new_words_logically/">regularly acquire new words</a>). What is important, though, is to keep the speaker community active, otherwise only fragments of your conlang may remain, <a href="http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Black_Speech">as is the case for Sauron’s Black Speech</a> in the Lord of the Rings. But given what we know about the evil Sauron, perhaps that is just as well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121858/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bettina Beinhoff does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From Lord of the Rings to Game of Thrones, writers and linguists have invented an array of new languages.Bettina Beinhoff, Senior Lecturer, Applied Linguistics and English Language, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/941892018-04-04T07:58:19Z2018-04-04T07:58:19ZHow I invented a new language for The City and The City<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212993/original/file-20180403-189798-dz19cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Georgian alphabet.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_scripts#/media/File:Beautiful_Georgian_Letters.jpg">rocketfall via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The BBC’s latest drama series, an adaptation of China Miéville’s 2009 novel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9Ds23M9-RE">The City and The City</a>, is a police procedural – but with a difference. The series is set in a fictitious divided city – Besźel and Ul Qoma – where the residents of each side are allowed no contact with each other. The main character, Inspector Tyador Borlu (played by David Morrissey), is a resident of Besźel – a slightly grubby, down-at-heel kind of place. During an investigation, he has to travel to the other city, Ul Qoma, and in order to heighten the difference for both the character and the audience, the Ul Qoman language of Illitan had to be completely different.</p>
<p>This is where I came in. As a linguist, I was called in to design a distinctive language for the series. This is not as uncommon as it sounds – there have been a number of languages created over the years, for various reasons. The American linguist <a href="http://arikaokrent.com/">Arika Okrent</a> lists 500 in her book <a href="http://inthelandofinventedlanguages.com/">In the Land of Invented Languages</a> which goes well beyond the usual suspects of Esperanto, Elvish and Klingon.</p>
<p>Constructed languages, or conlangs, have been gaining popularity in recent years, with their own society, the <a href="https://conlang.org/">Language Creation Society</a>, and annual conference. The seventh annual conference was held in July 2017 in Calgary – and even a brief look at the schedule of talks will tell you that these people take language construction extremely seriously (“(Ab)using Construction Grammar (CxG) as a Conlanging Tool”) but also have a sense of humour (“Someone from That Planet Might Be in the Audience”).</p>
<p>Of course, <a href="https://folk.uib.no/hnohf/howmany.htm">J.R.R. Tolkien created languages</a> for Lord of the Rings – and there is a huge amount of detail on those languages for anyone with enough interest to pursue it. But in what is now widely regarded as the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/68309b3a-1f02-11e7-a454-ab04428977f9">golden age of television</a>, with multiple providers needing content for their channels, there is a broader scope for invention and fantasy – which is where language invention comes into its own.</p>
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<p>The most famous example of a language created specifically for film and television is Klingon, originally created by <a href="http://www.startrek.com/database_article/okrand">Marc Okrand</a> for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Klingon has since taken on a life of its own, with a <a href="https://www.kli.org/">Klingon Language Institute</a> and translations of <a href="https://www.kli.org/activities/kli-press/the-klingon-hamlet/">Hamlet</a> and <a href="https://www.kli.org/activities/kli-press/much-ado-about-nothing/">Much Ado About Nothing</a>. More recently, HBO’s television adaptation of the Game of Thrones books required the creation of the <a href="https://www.dothraki.org/">Dothraki</a> and <a href="http://www.makinggameofthrones.com/production-diary/2014/5/8/high-valyrian-101-learn-and-pronounce-common-phrases">Valyrian</a> languages, for which David J. Peterson was responsible.</p>
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<h2>Talking points</h2>
<p>While Tolkien left some fairly detailed instructions regarding the structure and vocabulary of Elvish, most authors do not go into such detail. George R.R. Martin makes reference to the languages in his Game of Thrones novels, but Peterson created them. Likewise, while Miéville gives a number of hints about the sound and structure of Illitan, there was no grammar or dictionary to refer to. Having free rein to create a language – not purely as an academic construct, but one which will be used – is both a challenge and a joy.</p>
<p>The primary concern for what we might term “artistic” language creators is the ease of pronunciation for the actors. If we are being asked to produce a human language, then we have the luxury of our previous study of language and linguistics to guide us. If asked to create an alien language – as Okrand was – there might be limitless possibilities, but the actors still have to be able to physically say the lines; we are constrained by human physiology. This was not an issue in the adaptation of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/apr/24/featuresreviews.guardianreview23">Story of your Life</a> by Ted Chiang (which was filmed using the title Arrival), as the aliens communicated telepathically – although the writing system had to be created by the design team.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212986/original/file-20180403-189821-1cg0y0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C53%2C1170%2C730&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212986/original/file-20180403-189821-1cg0y0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212986/original/file-20180403-189821-1cg0y0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212986/original/file-20180403-189821-1cg0y0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212986/original/file-20180403-189821-1cg0y0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212986/original/file-20180403-189821-1cg0y0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212986/original/file-20180403-189821-1cg0y0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bilingual: David Morrissey in The City and The City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Des Willie/BBC/Mammoth Screen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Script reading</h2>
<p>In his novel The City and The City, Miéville tells us that Illitan uses the Roman script, having lost its original, right-to-left script “overnight” in 1923 (we’re not told how or why). We know that Borlu finds the sound of Illitan “jarring” (although we know from Miéville’s description of the character that he speaks “good” Illitan). In Besźel, meanwhile, people speak Besz, but for the purposes of the TV adaptation this is rendered as English and the written language, despite its occasional Cyrillic intrusions and diacritics (accents, for example), is still understandable to an English-speaking audience.</p>
<p>In order for the audience to share in Borlu’s sense of alienation in Ul Qoma, the decision was taken to use an entirely different alphabet for Illitian for the television series – and we eventually settled on the Georgian alphabet as it bears no resemblance to English.</p>
<p>The grammar of Illitan is made up of a mixture of Slavonic languages (such as Slovene, with its extra verb conjugation referring to two people: “we two are”, “you two are”, “they two are” as well as “we are”, “you are”, “they are”) and a system of infixes (like a prefix, but it fits into the word rather than in front of it) to denote tense and aspect. The word order remained roughly the same as English in order to help the actors know where to put the emphasis in their lines.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212989/original/file-20180403-189798-1ql6nvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212989/original/file-20180403-189798-1ql6nvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212989/original/file-20180403-189798-1ql6nvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212989/original/file-20180403-189798-1ql6nvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212989/original/file-20180403-189798-1ql6nvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212989/original/file-20180403-189798-1ql6nvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212989/original/file-20180403-189798-1ql6nvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maria Shraders as Quissima Dhatt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bbcpictures.co.uk/image/14970706?collection=14970888+14970706&back=L2ltYWdlL2NhbXBhaWduLzExMDAyODI3LzE2">Des Willie/BBC/Mammoth Screen</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One final problem when creating a language from a novel is one familiar to any adaptation – the expectations of the audience. With any adaptation, the audience is divided into those who know the original novel and those who do not. Those who do will always have their own ideas about how the characters look and sound – and this extends to fictional language. </p>
<p>My version of Illitan will not necessarily match up with that of a fan of The City and The City, but I hope it will add something for people who are new to Miéville’s work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94189/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Long does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Linguist Alison Long helped translate a best-selling novel into the latest BBC television drama.Alison Long, Programme Director, Modern Languages, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/927452018-04-03T19:45:39Z2018-04-03T19:45:39ZThe time it takes to learn a new language depends on what you want to do with it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212342/original/file-20180328-109190-41huap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Knowing how to ask for directions in another language is vastly different from studying and working using the language. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/RUJYUXwj3s0">Photo by Sebastian Hietsch on Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you go by <a href="https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/speak-a-new-language-in-3-weeks-with-this-app">the ads for some language learning apps</a>, you can “have a conversation in a new language in three weeks”. </p>
<p>But the experience of most Australians when trying to learn a new language is more likely to resemble that of our <a href="https://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/the-asian-century-and-learning-chinese-in-school">prime minister</a> who, a few years ago, wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Learning any language at school is…difficult because there simply aren’t enough hours in the school calendar for most students to achieve any real facility – as many Australians have discovered when they tried out their schoolboy or schoolgirl French on their first visit to Paris!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The time it takes to learn a language depends on what you mean by “learning a language”. If your definition is being able to order a “café au lait” or ask for directions to “les toilettes, s’il vous plait” on your next trip to Paris, three weeks is perfectly realistic. </p>
<p>But if you need to study using another language, perform your job with it and negotiate all your relationships through that language – the answer changes dramatically. You’ll be looking at <a href="http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199937240.001.0001/acprof-9780199937240-chapter-3">six years and more</a>, where <em>more</em> may well mean <em>never</em>. </p>
<h2>Doing things with words</h2>
<p>Language proficiency is therefore best thought of as the ability to do things with words. The things a tourist needs to do with words are vastly different from the things a migrant needs to do.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/linguistic-paranoia-why-is-australia-so-afraid-of-languages-43236">Linguistic paranoia – why is Australia so afraid of languages?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Not only do different people need to do different things with language but their proficiency is usually assessed differently. A tourist will be considered highly fluent if they can have an everyday conversation. But the same level of proficiency would be considered too low if they wanted to take up university study where a more mentally challenging use of language is necessary to succeed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210228/original/file-20180314-131591-7l5wr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210228/original/file-20180314-131591-7l5wr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210228/original/file-20180314-131591-7l5wr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210228/original/file-20180314-131591-7l5wr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210228/original/file-20180314-131591-7l5wr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210228/original/file-20180314-131591-7l5wr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210228/original/file-20180314-131591-7l5wr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Learning another language requires a considerable investment of time, effort and commitment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The problem isn’t just that the goal of “knowing a language” is variable but also that the pathway towards that goal is different for everyone. How much time and effort a person will require to get to a similar point on the spectrum depends on a wide range of linguistic and non-linguistic factors. </p>
<h2>Similarities and differences</h2>
<p>An important language factor is similarity. Similar languages are easier to learn than vastly different languages. From the perspective of English, Afrikaans and Dutch are quite similar while Arabic and Chinese are very different. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-languages-should-children-be-learning-to-get-ahead-74305">What languages should children be learning to get ahead?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Does this mean we should all be learning Afrikaans instead of Chinese? </p>
<p>Obviously not. And this is where non-linguistic factors come in. Many Australians are likely to be more motivated to learn Chinese than Afrikaans. They may find there are better Chinese learning resources (classes, textbooks, qualified teachers) within reach. And they may have more opportunities to practise Chinese than Afrikaans. </p>
<p>All this may align in a way that makes Chinese easier to learn than Afrikaans, despite the obvious difficulties of contending with the tones and the script.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210230/original/file-20180314-131587-13l5jwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210230/original/file-20180314-131587-13l5jwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210230/original/file-20180314-131587-13l5jwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210230/original/file-20180314-131587-13l5jwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210230/original/file-20180314-131587-13l5jwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210230/original/file-20180314-131587-13l5jwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210230/original/file-20180314-131587-13l5jwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210230/original/file-20180314-131587-13l5jwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Similar languages have been shown to be a lot easier to learn than vastly different languages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Individual learner differences also <a href="https://blog.oup.com/2016/07/challenge-of-adult-language-learning/">play a role</a> in making language learning more or less difficult, such as age. Adolescence and young adulthood are <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2006.00353.x">particularly good times</a> to learn a new language. At that age, the brain is still quite malleable as in the younger years. But adolescent and young adult learners have better strategies and problem-solving skills than younger learners.</p>
<p>Education, including good study skills and socioeconomic factors, also play a role. Being able to afford private tuition, for instance, will have an impact on learning a language.</p>
<h2>It’s an investment</h2>
<p>English speakers can actually find it more difficult to learn another language precisely because they speak English. This is because the world has <a href="http://www.languageonthemove.com/the-language-cringe-of-the-the-native-speaker/">relatively low expectations</a> of English speakers when it comes to their talent for foreign language learning.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wiradjuri-words-show-the-power-of-learning-australias-first-languages-38848">Wiradjuri words show the power of learning Australia's first languages</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>At the same time, there is no shortage of enthusiastic English language learners keen to make good use of practising with native speakers. These dynamics are likely to make it harder for an English speaker to learn Korean than for a Korean speaker to learn English – although the linguistic challenge involved is theoretically the same in both directions.</p>
<p>Learning a language requires a considerable investment of time, effort and commitment. But it’s well worth it because another language <a href="http://www.languageonthemove.com/on-learning-languages-and-the-gaining-of-wisdom/">opens a door</a> to another life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92745/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ingrid Piller receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Humboldt Foundation. </span></em></p>Some learning apps promise to have you speaking a new language in two weeks. But truly learning a language requires considerable time, effort and commitment.Ingrid Piller, Professor of Applied Linguistics, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/727522017-02-19T08:10:10Z2017-02-19T08:10:10ZWhy Africa must discard borrowed robes and embrace its rich cultural resources<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156845/original/image-20170214-19613-1kl7a0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A tourist market in Ivory Coast. Africa needs to harness its rich cultural and linguistic diversity to drive its development.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Legnan Koula</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people in Africa believe that “development” is essentially about embracing a European or North American way of reading and interpreting the world. More recently many have taken an equally unhelpful path of glorifying Asian models. This is often referred to as the <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/214035">“Look East Policy”</a>.</p>
<p>From these perspectives “development” is seen in purely economic terms. It’s measured on the basis of GDP, gross national product and similar <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17447143.2016.1277733?needAccess=true">indices</a>.</p>
<p>But not everything about development in every society <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-counter-populist-policies-the-world-needs-to-ditch-its-obsession-with-gdp-72746">is economic</a>. Instead, the measures of development must be seen as having multiple dimensions – among them cultural, social, linguistic and religious ones. </p>
<p>The late Ugandan professor <a href="http://link.library.deakin.edu.au/portal/Afrikology-philosophy-and-wholeness--an/-8msxpH2P6E/">Dani Wadada Nabudere</a> reminded us that Euro-North American scientific knowledge and theorisation is unable, on its own, to explain everything. This was because of a</p>
<blockquote>
<p>great deal of uncertainty in the way we understand the world, as well as in the way human beings understand each other in different environments and cultural contexts. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Following on Nabudere, I propose that one of the ways by which Africa can overcome problems of underdevelopment is by using its abundant linguistic and cultural resources. This requires breaking away from perceiving development as being connected to the use of ex-colonial languages such as English, French and Portuguese.</p>
<p>The point is that creativity and innovation are guaranteed when they are communicated in languages that are best understood and widely used by the majority of local populations. In particular, Africa’s diverse linguistic and cultural resources hold enormous potential for creativity and innovation. There are between 2,500 and 3,000 languages spoken on the <a href="http://www.njas.helsinki.fi/pdf-files/vol17num2/ndhlovu.pdf">continent</a>. These are massive resources. They can and should be the key drivers of sustainable development and social progress. </p>
<h2>What’s missing from development paradigms</h2>
<p>What’s missing from popular conceptions of development is an appreciation of culturally-specific concepts on how to live life and live it well. African people can use the power of their imagination to innovate and to contribute to their own social progress. They can do this by leveraging their diverse linguistic capabilities and centuries old cultural and experiential resources. </p>
<p>Innovation and creativity stem from people expressing their deepest values and thoughts through language, culture and local knowledge systems. It is through language that they form new realities and destroy old ones. This is also known as social progress.</p>
<p>It’s, indeed, through language that people inform identities and transmit senses of being in ways that open up opportunities for them to read and interpret the world on their own terms. They do so using those cultural and communication resources that they understand best. </p>
<p>Development is not only economic and political. It’s also cultural and linguistic. Wherever there’s development it has to show immediately in aspects of people’s every day social and cultural life. This finds expression through their every day lingo, both spoken and unspoken. This is because meaning – like values – is open-ended. It changes. It’s full of complexity and bound up with the historically and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17447143.2016.1277733?needAccess=true">culturally embedded</a>. </p>
<p>This complex and dynamic nature of culture is the one that forms the basis for creativity and innovation. </p>
<p>For the African people, the cultural embeddedness of development can be seen in the achievements of numerous African states and communities that thrived before disruptions by Euro-North American patterns of thought and biases.</p>
<h2>Africa before the white man</h2>
<p>Several anthropologists, archaeologists and historians of Africa (including European ones) have documented indisputable evidence which indicates that African people had produced hydrologists, prospectors and geologists through their understanding of the material environment. All this happened <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Africa-History-Basil-Davidson/dp/0684826674">prior to European arrival</a>. </p>
<p>On the mining side in particular, Africans – for example, those in the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Africa-History-Basil-Davidson/dp/0684826674">Zimbabwe plateau</a> –- had experts who had a clear idea of where to look for gold and copper in the subsoil. Its craftsmen worked the gold into ornaments with tremendous skill and <a href="http://abahlali.org/files/3295358-walter-rodney.pdf">lightness of touch</a>. </p>
<p>Also as early as the 11th century, the people of the Zimbabwe plateau were already involved in large-scale external trade with Arab and Indian traders at the Mozambican <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17447143.2016.1277733">channel of Sofala</a>. There were several other similar pre-15th century civilisations across the African continent. These were in places such as Egypt, Ethiopia, Nubia, the Maghreb, the Western Sudan, and the <a href="http://abahlali.org/files/3295358-walter-rodney.pdf">Inter-lacustrine Zone</a>. </p>
<p>At the turn of the 15th century, their levels of development were comparable to those of <a href="http://abahlali.org/files/3295358-walter-rodney.pdf">many parts of Europe at the time</a>. </p>
<p>These early African societies achieved their high levels of development by leveraging the diversity of local languages, cultures, traditions and philosophies of life. </p>
<h2>Discarding borrowed robes</h2>
<p>No society has ever made significant and meaningful advances in development through the use of borrowed robes. There is no doubt that Africa has much to learn from Northern and Eastern models of development. But the continent stands a better chance of making major progress by not relying solely on imported models. </p>
<p>Rather the solution lies in a smart integration of these with homegrown, Africa-centred philosophies that are rooted in endogenous linguistic and material cultures. This will enhance the unlocking of local creative capabilities and potentials for innovation. </p>
<p>African local knowledge systems should become the growth engine that promotes a new dynamic evolution instead of simply imitating Western or Eastern models of development and social progress. </p>
<p><em>This article is a significantly condensed version of the author’s recent paper <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17447143.2016.1277733?needAccess=true">Southern Development Discourse for Southern Africa: Linguistic and Cultural Imperatives</a> published in the Journal of Multicultural Discourses.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72752/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Finex Ndhlovu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One of the ways by which Africa can overcome problems of underdevelopment is by using its abundant linguistic and cultural resources.Finex Ndhlovu, Associate Professor of Language in Society, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/617922016-07-19T10:07:40Z2016-07-19T10:07:40ZWhy does using a period in a text message make you sound insincere or angry?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130955/original/image-20160718-2144-8y8nnc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">And you thought it just indicated the end of a sentence...</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-371447425/stock-vector-vector-dot-pattern-geometric-color-background.html?src=YjwAyc-vZWeGAtn1yqyIcw-1-89">"Dots" via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When it comes to texting, the period, full stop, point – whatever you call it – has been getting a lot of attention. </p>
<p>People have begun noticing slight changes to the way our smallest punctuation mark is deployed, from declarations that it’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/world/europe/period-full-stop-point-whatever-its-called-millennials-arent-using-it.html?_r=1">going out of style</a> to claims that it’s <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/115726/period-our-simplest-punctuation-mark-has-become-sign-anger">becoming angry</a>. </p>
<p>What they’re actually noticing is written language becoming more flexible, with texting possessing its own set of stylistic norms (sometimes informally called “textspeak” or “textese”). </p>
<p>The period is merely one example of this shift, a change that has opened up new possibilities for communicating with written language. Just as we have different styles of speaking in different situations, so do we have context-dependent styles of writing. </p>
<h2>Reading between the periods</h2>
<p>Though periods can still signal the end of a sentence in a text message, many users will omit them (especially if the message is only one sentence long). This tendency now subtly influences how we interpret them. </p>
<p>Because text messaging is a conversation that involves a lot of back-and-forth, people add fillers as a way to mimic spoken language. We see this with the <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2013/07/ellipses_why_so_common_what_are_they_really_for.html">increased use of ellipses</a>, which can invite the recipient to continue the conversation. The period is the opposite of that – a definitive stop that signals, as linguistics professor Mark Liberman <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/115726/period-our-simplest-punctuation-mark-has-become-sign-anger">has explained</a>, “This is final, this is the end of the discussion.” </p>
<p>For some, this can appear angry or standoffish.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, psychologist Danielle Gunraj <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563215302181">tested</a> how people perceived one-sentence text messages that used a period at the end of the sentence. Participants thought these text messages were more insincere than those that didn’t have a period. But when the researchers then tested the same messages in handwritten notes, they found that the use of a period didn’t influence how the messages were perceived.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.american.edu/cas/lfs/faculty-docs/upload/text-messaging-and-im.pdf">a 2007 study</a> by linguists Naomi Baron and Rich Ling, multi-sentence text messages often had punctuation to indicate where the sentences stopped, but only 29 percent of these texts had punctuation at the very end of the message. The reason, Baron and Ling explain, is that “the act of sending a message coincides with sentence-final punctuation.” </p>
<h2>Situational switches</h2>
<p>But of all the things to feel when seeing a period at the end of a text message – why <em>insincerity</em>?</p>
<p>The answer could have something to do with a term used by linguist John J. Gumperz: “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=aUJNgHWl_koC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=gumperz+1982+situational+codeswitching&ots=jBD__PL91f&sig=txN5bW8diZlhQblV7-_z5A6IMm0#v=onepage&q=situational%20codeswitching&f=false">situational code-switching</a>,” which is when we change how we talk depending on where we are, who we’re talking to or how we’re communicating. </p>
<p>A common example is the way we talk in a job interview versus at a bar with friends. Typically, a speaker will use much more formal language in an interview than when hanging out with peers. If you talked to your friends the same way you talked during a job interview, it would probably give a stilted, distant feeling to the conversation.</p>
<p>Scholars originally investigated situational code-switching in <em>spoken</em> language because spoken language was used in both casual and formal settings. In the past, written language was almost always tinged with a level of formality because it was associated with permanence in books and written documents.</p>
<p>However, now that text messaging and social media have given their users an outlet for casual written language, differences between writing styles can be seen. </p>
<p>The use of the period is one example of situational code-switching: When using one in a text message, it’s perceived as overly formal. So when you end your text with a period, it can come across as insincere or awkward, just like using formal spoken language in a casual setting like a bar.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130956/original/image-20160718-1906-1gb1ab4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130956/original/image-20160718-1906-1gb1ab4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130956/original/image-20160718-1906-1gb1ab4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130956/original/image-20160718-1906-1gb1ab4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130956/original/image-20160718-1906-1gb1ab4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130956/original/image-20160718-1906-1gb1ab4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130956/original/image-20160718-1906-1gb1ab4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Social norms dictated by code-switching could explain why using proper grammar in a text might make you look insincere.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-267024407/stock-vector-ditsy-vector-polka-dot-pattern-with-scattered-hand-drawn-small-circles-in-bright-gold-pink-blue.html?src=YjwAyc-vZWeGAtn1yqyIcw-1-58">'Paint Dots' via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A different form of sincerity</h2>
<p>Another example of language change in casual written forms is the repetition of letters. Communication scholar Erika Darics <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211695813000330">has observed</a> that the repetition of letters or punctuation marks adds intensity to messages (“stopppp!!!”). She writes that this creates “a display of informality through using a relaxed writing style.” </p>
<p>Linguist Deborah Tannen <a href="http://press.georgetown.edu/book/languages/discourse-20">described a similar phenomenon</a>, noting that repeated exclamation points in a message can convey a sincere tone, like in the following text message:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>JACKIE I AM SO SO SO SORRY! I thought you were behind us in the cab and then I saw you weren’t!!!!! I feel soooooooo bad! Catch another cab and ill pay for it for youuuuu </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Note that this message does not contain a message-final period, since that may convey insincerity that would contradict the apology being presented. Instead, the sender uses the non-standard long vowels in “soooooooo” and “youuuuu” as well as five exclamation points at the end of one sentence. </p>
<p>Compare this to a standardized version of the text message:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Jackie, I am so sorry. I thought you were behind us in the cab and then I saw you weren’t. I feel so bad! Catch another cab and I’ll pay for it for you. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This more formal version, according to the arguments made by Tannen and Darics, reads more like a work email sent to a colleague than one to a friend sincerely and fervently apologizing for a transportation mishap. </p>
<p>It’s a bit counterintuitive, but using formal language may undermine the sincerity of the apology; in order to convey the “right” message, it’s important to know the proper protocols. This may explain why some people’s text messages seem stilted or awkward: they’re used to writing with a formal style that doesn’t translate to the casual medium. </p>
<h2>Will texting erode our writing skills?</h2>
<p>In the media, there’s been a fair amount of debate about whether texting – or using overly casual language – can “ruin” someone’s writing ability. (Examples include the <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/02/business/la-fi-tn-texting-ruining-kids-grammar-skills-20120801">LA Times</a>, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/2815461.stm">the BBC</a> and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2241980/How-texting-history-ruined-language--plenty-marriages.html">The Daily Mail</a>, to name a few.) </p>
<p>However, past research into situational code-switching in spoken language has shown that a person’s ability to code-switch <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15235882.2004.10162613">can signal social competency</a>, can <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01434632.1992.9994487">affirm one’s sense of identity or membership in a community</a> and <a href="http://jeg.sagepub.com/content/30/1/7.full.pdf+html">may be an indicator of high intellectual ability in children</a>. </p>
<p>Studies like <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2016-09370-001/">the recent work of psychologists Gene Ouellette and Melissa Michaud</a> have shown that the use of text messaging and “textese” has little relationship to how someone will score on spelling, reading and vocabulary tests. Meanwhile, <a href="http://crx.sagepub.com/content/37/3/420">a study out of California State University</a> found little use of “textisms” in formal letter writing assignments completed by students. This observation supports work like <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-4369.2008.00489.x/full">a study by psychologist Beverly Plester and colleagues</a>, who found that an increased use of textese was correlated with higher scores on verbal reasoning ability tests. They suggested that the preteens in their study were able to “slip between one register of language and another, as they deem it appropriate.”</p>
<p>This shows that frequent and fluent users of casual written language can often readily code-switch: they know to put that period at the end of every sentence in a formal writing assignment. Some educators are even beginning to incorporate <a href="http://www.readwritethink.org/resources/resource-print.html?id=31158">lessons about formal and informal writing into their classrooms</a>, which can help students identify those situations that require the use of different styles. </p>
<p>Instead of ignoring or deriding the variation in written language, embracing the change in language – and the ability of speakers and writers to code-switch – can lead to better communication skills in all contexts.</p>
<p>Knowing when a period might indicate insincerity is just one of them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61792/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren B. Collister does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For centuries, written communication was tinged with formality and finality. But since the emergence of casual forms like texting, using proper grammar can be fraught with misinterpretation.Lauren B. Collister, Scholarly Communications Librarian, University of PittsburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/520372016-01-03T11:16:28Z2016-01-03T11:16:28ZDinter, bitz and gwop: a guide to British youth slang in 2016<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105782/original/image-20151214-9523-ndt486.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/delete08/8180361720/sizes/l">delete08/flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you struggle to understand the teenagers and young people around you when they call their schoolfriend a <em>durkboi</em> and try to cadge some <em>peas</em>, you are not alone. The idea that they are communicating in a different language from their parents has been the subject of excited chatter on <a href="http://parentinfo.org/article/online-teen-speak-updated">parenting websites</a> and among some <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/social-media/10171672/Teenagers-online-language-baffles-parents.html">researchers</a>. </p>
<p>A defining characteristic of youth slang is thought to be its faddishness – the fact that terms have a rapid turnover, quickly coming in and out of fashion and then disappearing before parents and teachers have time to decode them. The reality is more complicated: novelty is all-important but for each generation the expressions they encounter will be new to them. So although each age group and almost every local clique do invent their own words, there is a common core of slang that persists for years: such as <em>cool</em>, <em>wicked</em>, <em>solid</em> and <em>sick</em> for good, and <em>chilling</em> for relaxing.</p>
<p>The new language used by the young is not one unified dialect but an intersection of styles, with vocabulary drawn from a number of sources. There is the edgy street language of gangs which has given us <em>shank</em> and <em>jook</em> for stab; and <em>merk</em> to hurt or humiliate. There is also <em>boyed</em> for shamed, <em>durkboi</em> and <em>wallad</em> for fool, dozens of terms for drugs and money and the greeting <em>braap!</em> picked up and used by innocent teens who may not have realised that it imitates the sound of an automatic firearm. </p>
<p>Many other words belong to <a href="http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fss/projects/linguistics/multicultural/">MLE</a> – multi-ethnic or multicultural London English – sometimes derided as <em>jafaican</em>, the speech variety strongly influenced by Caribbean usages and non-European accents and parodied by Ali G and TV comedy Phoneshop. Among the most pervasive are <em>bruv</em>, <em>mate</em>, <em>bare</em>, <em>fam</em>, <em>gwop</em> or <em>peas</em> (money), and <em>chirpsin’</em>, <em>linkin’</em> and <em>lipsin’</em> – flirting, dating and kissing respectively. </p>
<p>Another component of the teen lexicon, quite impenetrable to outsiders, is the jargon of videogamers, origin of <em>campet</em>, an inert person (someone who “camps” on the fringes of the game); <em>glicther</em>, a cheat (a corruption of “glitch”), and <em>zerg</em>, to aggress (from the name of a race of hostile aliens).</p>
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<p>US imports such as <em>bae</em>, sweetheart; (on) <em>fleek</em>, attractive, and <em>turnt</em>, excited or inebriated quickly, cross over from song lyrics, TV and movies into global English and are understood if not perhaps widely used. Homegrown expressions reflect teen habits of overstating: <em>devs</em> or <em>devo’d</em> for devastated (mildly inconvenienced); and feigning indifference – <em>wotevs</em> or <em>whevs</em>. <em>CBA</em> or <em>ceebs</em> (short for “can’t be arsed”) and the contemptuous exclamations <em>meh</em> and <em>feh</em> are other examples. </p>
<h2>A wealth of words for the same thing</h2>
<p>In fact, a large number of slang terms can be classified under relatively few headings. There are insults and terms of disapproval such as <em>wasteman</em>, <em>gasman</em>, <em>neek</em> (both nerd and geek) <em>dinter</em> and <em>bell</em> for males; and <em>sket</em>, <em>THOT</em> (that ho’ over there) and <em>meg</em> (a dowdy introvert) for females. </p>
<p>Supposedly ugly contemporaries are condemned as <em>busted</em>, <em>finished</em>, <em>flames</em>, <em>hangin’</em>, <em>bruk</em> or just <em>uggz</em>. Gangs and cliques are often territorial, so terms such as <em>endz</em>, <em>bitz</em>, <em>yard</em> meaning neighbourhood, or <em>road</em> and <em>roadboy</em>, someone accepted as local, are especially important. </p>
<p>A feature <a href="http://studopedia.info/6-85656.html">noted by</a> some linguists is “hypersynonymy” whereby many competing coinages express the same notion. This can be seen in the dozens of words for good and bad and multiple synonyms for drunk or drugged (used by older students as well as schoolkids) such as <em>carnaged</em>, <em>wazzed</em>, <em>hammered</em>, <em>hamstered</em>; and for exhausted: <em>wreckaged</em>, <em>bonked</em>, <em>spanked</em> and <em>clappin’</em>.</p>
<p>The many acronyms and abbreviations used online and in messaging have alarmed parents who can’t interpret them and educators who think they are contaminating standard English. But SMS texting is no longer fashionable and <a href="https://theconversation.com/signs-of-our-times-why-emoji-can-be-even-more-powerful-than-words-50893">emojis</a> are increasingly replacing txtspk, though it isn’t likely to disappear completely as recent additions such as <em>FOGO</em> (fear of going out), <em>SMH</em> (same here), <em>ICYMI</em> (in case you missed it) and <em>y/y?</em> – an all-purpose question tag like French <em>n'est-ce pas</em>, or a slightly more elegant <em>innit?</em></p>
<h2>Variations on a theme</h2>
<p>So what will the next crop of slang terms look like? It’s quite impossible for young users or for trained linguists to predict which expressions will catch on and for how long they may survive. What we can expect is that the most popular terms will come from the same categories as before: sex and dating, dissing and shaming, gushing and moaning and indulging covertly in all sorts of illicit hedonism. </p>
<p>For young people who are socially deprived, the use of street slang and ungrammatical codes <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2013/dec/09/should-schools-ban-slang-video-debate">could undermine their ability</a> to manage the prestigious forms of language required in exams or job interviews. Most slang users, though, only employ exotic terms and abbreviations sparingly and grasp what linguists <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8388545.stm">call</a> the skill of “appropriacy”, using the right language in the right context. </p>
<p>Knowing that “secret” codes and highly informal language exist in all cultures and given that <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27816819">studies show</a> that those who use texting conventions and emojis can be skilled communicators, adults should not despair. They could choose to <a href="https://soundcloud.com/kings-college-london/know-your-granny-slang-from?in=kings-college-london/sets/news#t=0:00">find out more</a> about language varieties which, technically if not socially, are not deficient at all but complex and creative. What they must not do – under any circumstances – is to attempt to use them to “get down with the kids”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52037/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Thorne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The young have a rich, linguistic vein – just don’t try and copy them.Tony Thorne, Director of Slang and New Language Archive, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.