PERSPECTIVES ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE INTERNET ON LANGUAGE CHANGE
PERSPECTIVES ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE INTERNET ON LANGUAGE CHANGE

Summary/Abstract: The Internet is undeniably something that has changed people’s lives in many aspects, language included, leading to the appearance of what is called nowadays Netspeak. Even though there are numerous opinions regarding the emergence of this linguistic variety, it is without doubt that changes in language due to the Internet are a growing phenomenon. In this paper I will approach the issue of the emergence of Netspeak, the changes that appear in language in order to form this linguistic variety, and the issue of it as a worldwide phenomenon. We will see that, even though the English language undoubtedly dominates the Internet today, other languages as well have the potential to, and do go through similar changes and form an Internet linguistic variety of their own. The paper will tackle the issue of globalization in the context of the Internet seen as a social construct rather than a technological one, which helps people connect with each other, with the dominant language being the English language, as well as the issue of regionalization, as different language communities are shaping their own identities on the Internet.

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