Paper 1

Competitive Linguistic Research Journal (CLRJ)
2019, 1 (1), 1-15

ISSN: 2710-3064 (Print), ISSN: 2710-3072 (Online)
https://www.clrjournal.com
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A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF NETSPEAK ON THE WRITING SKILLS OF

GENERATION X AND Y
Rameen Tahir, Fiza Hassan
Kinnaird College for Women University Lahore
ABSTRACT
The research focuses on the impact of using Netspeak on the formal writing skills of users as it is
labelled as the hub of slangs and informal language content by many experts. The analysis in this
part is based on 5 aspects i.e. the prime causative factors for deviation in the use of standard variety,
the appliance of impact of Netspeak on formal writing, the nature of impact (positive or negative),
the impact being age neutral or not and on the basis of the kind of response Netspeak receives from
the living generations determining its sustainability factor. The attainment of these objectives is
done through a questionnaire, collecting responses from X and Y generation. The whole research
is carried out with a perspective that though Netspeak impacts the user’s writing skills, but it is
more inclined towards being a friend and might be used to help the modern generation in learning
language. The study has managed to get a thorough outlook of social media sites discovering a
bunch of pages for learning English and other life skills in the most unconventional way, making
social media emerging as a whole new institution for learning anything and everything. The entire
research reflects the hype Netspeak has created where people are spellbound of it. The variety has
managed to prove its popularity where neither the platform (the digital world) is losing its power
nor the users are in the mood of giving up on it anytime soon. It could be said that it’s a budding
variety for the people by the people, born to live.
Keywords: Millenial, Netspeak, Generation X, Generation Y, Language 1, Language 2, CMC

(Computer Mediated Communication)
INTRODUCTION
Technology and the century is going hand in hand, with every passing day it is surpassing a new
milestone, the history has never witnessed. The flowing time is making it smaller, slimmer,
compact, wide scale and convenient in usage. At one side, inventions like Personal computers and
smart phones has given technological access to the general public where on the other side,
invention of the internet and thousands of social media applications has managed the technology
to peek into everyday life of a common man e.g. online education, marketing, online shopping,
bookings, web-entertainment industry, gaming or chatting over a million miles. This has stretched
the circle of web-technology beyond its birth areas to the barren grounds of the universe. However
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“since its launch in 2004, Facebook has grown to 175 million active users by the year 2009.
Furthermore, according to Facebook company info, the number of daily users that engaged in the
sites’ services during December 2016 reached 1.23 billion on average, with 85.2% of activities
taking place outside North America. Instagram services which reached 700 million active users
in April 2017 since starting its’ services in 2010, with 80% of those users being outside the U.S.A.
(Jimma, May,2017)”. Such vast population interacting and interchanging at a single platform
called for a single-familiar language which was set to be English, the lingua franca. However like
the spread of English in the world has tasseled its structure, leading to its new varieties, the English
over the internet has gone through many twists by users coming from vaguely different linguistic
backgrounds over the years. This has created a new variety of English called the Netspeak,
possessing quite distinctive features than the standard variety (particularly informal in nature).
However every invention has its impacts and excess of anything might cause some
drawbacks especially, when it comes to children. “Children’s access to this technology is higher
than ever before and is still increasing. According to a 2007 survey carried out by the U.K.
Government Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), more than 4 in 5 children,
ages 5–15 have access to a home computer, and levels of Internet use are at 46% for 5- to 7-year-
olds and 75% for 12- to 15-year-olds. Furthermore, children in the 12–15 age groups reported that
use of the Internet was the most important technology in their lives—more important than
television (Watt, 2010)”. The emergence of Netspeak (a hub of slangs and informal language
content) and the increased ratio of young, immature users have raised concerns of experts and
parents regarding its negative impact on them. Following questions were formulated for
conducting the current research:
• What are the main factors that have contributed to the deviation in use of the standard
language, leading to Netspeak?
• How does Netspeak affect the formal writing skills of youth? Does it disturb their
academic variety of English?
• What is the sustainability of Netspeak?
• What is the ratio of positive/ negative impact of Computer Mediated Communication
(CMC) on users? Can it be fully inclined towards one pole?
• Netspeak is generally associated with the younger generation, it would be interesting to
find whether this particular case of Netspeak is age neutral or not?
• Whether the duration (years) impacts the amount of Netspeak one uses while
communicating in formal and informal environment?
This research will throw light on the concerns that experts express regarding the evolution of
Netspeak and its dangers for the standard variety. It tends to help in clearing out the ambiguity that
what is actually the dominant impact (positive /negative) of computer mediated communication
on the users. And will help to figure out whether netspeak has the potential to be used as a language
learning tool in future or not.
Reading different previous researches conducted on this topic, the researcher has analyzed that
“Netspeak is a foe or friend” and the sustainability of netspeak has been the most important
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questions. Many linguists have worked on it since the past 20 years; however experts still are
unable to generate a concrete statement regarding this. It has always been a debate and is still going
on. The researcher in this research is enthusiastic to get an answer for these questions. The
researcher will conduct the research with the mindset that though netspeak impacts the user’s
writing skills, but it is more inclined towards being a friend and might be used to help the modern
generation in learning language.
The delimitation of this research was that the questionnaires were solved by two groups, in order
to find the impact of netspeak is age neutral or not. First group included users of age 15-25 years
(students of intermediate, undergrad and post grad) ;while the second group included users of age
40 years and above. This helped in gathering the results from two different generations. Moreover
for both the generations’ only those individuals have been involved who have their personal
account on different social sites and were habitual of using social media daily. In addition, for
generation X only those individuals were preferred who were literate enough to have competency
in the standard variety of English.
According to the researcher some limitation were faced again in the sub dimension i.e.
finding age neutrality for this research. As some elements of generation gap could be seen in every
society (no matter how liberal or literate it is), in Pakistani society it can be marked by the
refinement of language from slangs or colloquialisms. We can also name this the “digital
generation gap”. Thus though senior citizens might be using some of Netspeak or absolutely not,
explaining the whole idea of Netspeak and this research was quite challenging.
LITERATURE REVIEW
One cannot deny on the fact that social media has altogether altered the way how we use English
language, in public domains, for personal communications as well as in the academic
environments. Starting from enlisting our point of views, to sharing the minor details of our day,
social media is a powerful tool causing the deviation in language use.
Social media is considered to be a platform that allows real time conversation over vast
distances in real time. The medium provided though was originally written but to increase the
speed of conversation like in spoken discourse, the language is so molded that it saves time and
prompt productivity where no grammar/language Nazis have given the right to police people.
The budding variety of English can be distinguished with 12 main linguistic features, actively
practiced by the internet users.
• Contractions: Shortening of spellings e.g. I’ve = I have, didn’t = did not

• Linguistic reductions:
➢ Word comprising of only prominent phonetic elements, e.g. pics (Pictures), cause
(because).
➢ Words with their first syllables only, in order to cut length. E.g. pls (please), mic
(microphone)
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• Numeric Reductions: Substituting numbers with alphabets, e.g. B4 (before), w8 (weight)
• Acronyms: Comprises of initials of a phrase e.g. IDK (I don’t know), BTW (by the way).
• Special signs:
➢ @ (at the rate of): It refers to an address on social media sites, also used for “at”
in sentences. E.g. @gmail.com, @username, I’m @ school.
➢ # (hashtag): A key word to refer to a topic. E.g. #womenempowerment.
➢ *: To highlight a correction. E.g. I feel exaustid. I feel exhausted*.
• Spelling exaggerations: To express emotions, e.g. ohhhhh myyyy gooooodness (oh my
God)
• Interjections: hahaha, ewww.
• Improper Punctuations and Capitalizations: The number of punctuations parallels the
strength of emotion, e.g. What????, so many ChoCoLATES!!!!!
• Emojis and Emoticons: :-) (classic smile), :s (confused smile), thinking face,
victory hand gesture
• Picture Posts: A classic pictorial gesture used in a new suitable situation e.g.
• Roman Urdu: Writing Urdu using English script. It also involves code switching from
English to Urdu.
• Slangs: they are the reflection of one’s culture.

➢ Urdu Slangs: Golibaaz (someone unreliable or not trustworthy), Jugaadh lagana (a
solution that violate the rules )
➢ English slangs: I’m dead (that was amusing), Airhead (dumb person)
Some experts considers netspeak to be a kind of “interlanguage” created through code switching
between L1 and L2, also termed as the impact of the mother tongue.
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Selinker’s Interlanguage Theory
The argument could be better understood with the help of Selinker’s Interlanguage Theory. “The
theory of interlanguage depicts an emergence of a linguistic system developed by a second
language learner who has not achieved full competence and proficiency in the target language.
This is the stage whereby some major features of L1 are still being preserved and employed in the
use of L2, thus distorting a learner’s ability to naturally understand and employ the rules of the
target language due to a great level of confusion and language overgeneralization. In other words,
Interlanguage occurs when certain aspects of the target language do not match with a learner’s
existing language structure developed through his first language learning experience (Azianura
Hani Shaari, 2015)”.
Looking at the popularity and the range of audience internet carries, many experts have
expressed their fears regarding its threat to the standard variety.
Fairclough’s Idea Of “Informalization”
The subsistence of netspeak was early expressed by Norman Fairclough as a fear. He suggested
that the boundaries between language forms which were ideally reserved for intimate
relationships/conversations and those reserved for more formal situations are becoming vague.
The trend was dimly igniting throughout the second half of the 20th century but became intense in
the 21st century. Fairclough’s idea of “informalization” predicted that ‘‘the shifts of speech
towards writing may have had their heyday; contemporary cultural values place a high valuation
on informality, and the predominant shift is towards speech-like forms in writing (Fairclough,
1992)”. He was firm on the idea that the upcoming technological era would amalgamate formal
and informal features of languages, and this might include, “technical and non-technical
vocabularies, markers of authority and familiarity, more typically written, and more typically
spoken syntactic forms (Fairclough, 1992)”. Some of the Previous studies hold the “casual attitude
towards linguistic consistency (Baron, 2008)” responsible for the fossilization of errors i.e.
permanent inclusion of incorrect linguistics features in a person’s written and spoken discourse;
eventually resulting into the ‘informalization’ in both formal and informal writing conventions.
Impact Of Netspeak (Positive/Negative)
Another important element of this research is finding out the positive or negative impact of
Netspeak on user’s writing skills that is still a debate. According to most experts, the use of
netspeak is forbidding the youth from following formal language rules. And even if now they are
made to learn and follow the structural rules of a language, they might not be able to do so due to
the addiction of using Netspeak; however, throughout the world mixed opinions can be heard
regarding it. According to previous researches some “defines Netspeak as “the bastardization of
language”, or “the lingua franca of the Internet”, or “native language of netizens” (Jovanovic,
2013)”. According to a study, “How Does the Use of Modern Communication Technology
Inﬂuence Language and Literacy Development? A Review (Watt, 2010)”, the reason for ambiguity
found in this dimension is due to the creation of “digital generation gap” i.e. the difference in
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level of awareness and exposure to internet sites, and usage between parents and children. There
is a need to grab solid proofs to draw any particular conclusion. The paper proposed that
investigated proofs should be collected which if comes to be more inclined towards negative
evolutionary impact of technology on children, then the revelation and proclamation of the issue
is essential in order to support parents in defending their children’s development. Otherwise if the
result came to be on the positive side in terms of language and literacy development, then the
government should take steps to provide this educational resource of communication technology
to all.
Previous researches:
A research was done by Einar Stavfeldt’s i.e. “Friend or Foe: Netspeak in English Language
Teaching (Stavfeldt, 2011)”. It investigates the variety of language gained from texting, Computer
Mediated Communication (CMC) and the Internet (Netspeak), in the current teaching materials.
A similar research is conducted by Danica Jovanovix, i.e. “A Qualitative Study of the Use
of Netspeak in English Language Classroom (Jovanovic, 2013)”. It investigates the linguistic
changes and its primary motive in its implementation in the language classrooms. Based on the
findings of this study, it has been found that many teachers are aware of the existence of Netspeak
in language classrooms, and it also has impacted students writing skills as many tend to accidently
use them in their academic writing.
Helen J. Watt in her research “How does the use of Modern Communication Technology
Influence Language and Literacy Development? A Review (Watt, 2010)” analyzed that, the usage
of technology by children has shown a striking growth over the past decade as it has become a
popular mode of communication. Thus, this research was done to identify the positive and negative
consequences of technology in students’ language and literacy skills especially during
communication.
Another research was done by Shalini Thangaraj and Mahendran Maniam in 2015 called
“The Influence of Netspeak on Students’ Writing”. It concluded that Netspeak has significant
influence on the students’ writing. However their level of Netspeak usage is highly influenced by
context and also the purpose.
“Netspeak and a Breach of Formality: Informalization and Fossilization of Errors in

Writing among ESL and EFL Learners”, is a reach paper written by Azianura Hani Shaari and
Khaleel Bader Bataineh (Azianura Hani Shaari, 2015)”. The paper argues about the interference
of online language, offering confusion for the ESL and EFL learners.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
This very research is of quantitative nature. The target population for this research is divided into
two groups. Firstly, the users of age 15 to 25 years, i.e. students of intermediate, undergrad or post
grad; secondly, the internet users of the age 40 years and above. This mainly divides the population
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into generation X and Y. For the data the researcher wants to collect genetic responses without any
class hindrance as social media craze encircles both the dominant classes, elite and the middle
class. Thus, the institutes that cater mixed/diverse population have been selected i.e. Kips college,
GCU, Shalimar medical college and Kinnaird College for the first group; while, for the second
group the researcher has not kept any strings, it could be faculty of any educational institute or any
other professional, retired citizens or even housewives, well aware of standard English using social
media. Thus this group incorporates the faculty of GCU, Kinnaird, Shalimar Degree College, as
well as, parents of fellow KC-ites using social media.
This research is carried out using a questionnaire that focuses on the aspects that whether Netspeak
impacts user’s formal writing skills, if yes, then what kind of impact it generates, positive or
negative and evaluate this impact in terms of the sustainability factor. For the questionnaire a
sample size was 150 internet users i.e. 100 from the first group (Generation Y) and 50 from the
second group (Generation X). The research is conducted via random sampling.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Primitive Factors for the Development of Netspeak
As discussed in the literature review, the prime cause of this new variety of English lies in the lap
of one’s mother tongue, where the linguistic framework of L1 dominates and has a directive role
in the formation of linguistic framework for L2 within the brain (Selinker’s Interlanguage Theory).
It could be said that the features and pattern of use of L1 tends to replicate itself for L2 as well.
The increasingly strong social bond thriving throughout the global village has led to the creation
of varieties of every sort of language (be it English, Urdu, Hindi etc.) just to attain enough
competency for communication in that language for the non-native speakers, living within the
community; moreover, their continuous interaction with the native speakers have accelerated the
spread of this new variety amongst them as well, leading to cause impurity in the use of their
mother tongue. For example, Urdu, the national language adapted by people of different regions
shows difference in the linguistics makeup; moreover, for it to be used by people belonging to
different literacy levels, its simpler /impure version has become more popular in the region. This
is the reason why 78% and 68% of the respondents from Y and X generation respectively, are
practicing impure version of their mother tongue. Another causative factor is code switching, a
linguistic practice quite common in bi/multilingual communities, for example, switching between
Urdu and English or Urdu and any regional language (in the Pakistani context). The switching has
become so abrupt that it has now became a part of their linguistic repertoire , where according to
the sample collected 85% of Y and 63% X generation respondents code switch to a minor yet
considerable extent, in their linguistic routine. Replicating both the above factors in L2 (English)
gives rise to certain sort of impurity /informality; whereas, the boundary between its pure and
impure form is getting blurred due to the constant switching. The argument can be confirmed
through the collected data where almost 71% youth is struggling to maintain that boundary. Thus
it could be said that these two factors are the prime causes of deviation seen in the use of standard
variety of English, generating a new one.
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Figure: 4.1, Primitive Factors for the development of netspeak
Impact of Netspeak on User’s writing skills
With the development of the electronic world, its membership circumference is increasing with
every passing day contributing to the immense popularity of netspeak. Earlier netspeak could be
addressed as the need of the hour for breaking the communication boundary, aiding the non-
English speakers but now it has evolved to be a trend, as per 86% of Y and 88% of X generation
respondents. Such popularity comes with power that surely impacts the formal writing skills of the
users. As per the survey, 54 % of the millennials spend 4-5 hours and above on social media on
daily basis. Definitely it implies for a switch to the informal variety (netspeak) where formal
writing roles are abandoned. Such an extensive and constant rate of exposure to netspeak, surely
imprints on the subconscious mind of the users, making it difficult for them to switch back to the
formal variety. This contributes in blurring the boundary between the formal and informal variety
making the features of the informal variety travel to the formal environment. The survey conducted
shows that 31% of Y and 20% of X generation respondents unconsciously included features of
netspeak in their formal writing; whereas, its conscious incorporation lies within 35% of Y and
22% of X generation, in order to save time or under the push of habit. Under such circumstances,
71% of youngsters and 42 % of the senior population have admitted the difficulty faced in
maintaining the boundary between the two varieties.
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Figure 4.2, the impact of netspeak on formal writing of generation Y and X
The Nature of the Impact
The impact of the electronic world and the electronic variety on the formal writing skills is a
reality; however, in order to understand the nature of the impact first the researcher needs to ponder
on the reasons stated by the respondents for using the netspeak. The progressive world has cut
short the distances between beings by accelerating the speed of technology, leaving no space for
dawdling. This has made our lives more like a race where everyone wants to compete with time.
Catering to the need of the era, where the electronic world provides a medium for global
interaction, netspeak provides a chance to accelerate the conversational speed. This is the reason
that 74% and 64% respondents of Y and X generation respectively have accepted the fact that they
contract words in order to save time and to have a quicker and more productive communication.
Another stated reason is the ease and comfort it provides in the conversation (68% Y, 70% X
generation respondents); moreover, being more expressive and allowing better portrayal of
emotions (60% Y, 60% X generation respondents). In addition, some respondents (13% Y and 8%
X generation) have preferred netspeak as a need, in case of lack of knowledge of the standard
variety ; whereas, some are attracted towards it just to keep up with the modern trend (19% Y and
22% X generation). Overall the reasons stated above depicts the handiness of netspeak in catering
different needs of the users in smoothly utilizing the inventions of the electronic world; thus,
fulfilling the duty of an effective pidgin language. Despite of the immense technological hike,
some of the previous researches have highlighted the concerns of experts and parents regarding
the negative impact of this computer mediated environment on the linguistic makeup of children,
refraining them from following formal language rules; moreover, for them its use is restricted to
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entertainment purposes only and not for the educational ones. However the survey showed that
80-90% of the respondents from both the generations claimed that social media has contributed to
their linguistic knowledge one way or the other. A thorough outlook of different social media sites
has made the researcher come across different pages designed solely for language acquisition using
some fun, nontraditional methods that would cater every type of learner, e.g. englishpix, BBC
learning English, leaning.english.1 etc. As the modern era has dug through different needs of the
students and their preferred learning styles as per their psychological makeup, classrooms have
also evolved to be more students centered incorporating different teaching methodologies using
audiovisual aid, realia, interactive discussions, group activities etc. This is not limited merely to
language learning; in fact, these sites incorporate every sort of page for learning different life skills,
business techniques/ ideas, and even provide amazing way of gaining scientific knowledge. Thus,
it would not be wrong to say that the social media has put forward the most fulfilling and distinctive
institute for learning anything and everything. In addition, the electronic developers have not only
given a writing platform but have also provided a helping hand to the users in the form of some
features e.g. auto correct feature which is a constant tool assisting the users’ writings in different
ways. 50% of the millennials and 46% of X generation respondents have highlighted its positive
impact on their writings either in the form of fast replies (57% of Y and 50% of X generation) or
providing spelling awareness for the unknown ones (24% of Y and 24% of X generation
respondents).
Despite of all the qualities, an important point highlighted in this research is the
distinctiveness found in this new (budding) variety of English based on the region of use and
mother tongue. For example, the netspeak evolved within the English speaking countries contains
slangs and proverbs of their culture whereas the netspeak evolved within the non-native countries
like Pakistan contains the inclusion of Urdu words, Roman Urdu , slangs and proverbs belonging
to their culture. In this way though the primary contractions and reductions of English vocabulary
remains identical; however, other linguistic features may vary. This may result in restricting the
readings on posts or any other social writings, generating some sort of linguistic boundary. The
fact has been affirmed by 63% of Y generation and 72% of X generation respondents. This is the
reason that made their preference over the Standard English variety in scenarios like highlighting
any social issue on the globe in order to record readings on an extensive scale. Apart from this
within their corresponding circle, sharing similar culture practices and traditions e.g. countries of
south Asia or Europe etc. netspeak is still preferred in terms of expression and effective
communication.
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b
Figure: 4.3a, Reason for using netspeak by Generation Y and X
Figure: 4.3b, Impact of CMC on user’s linguistic makeup
The impact being age-neutral
The sustainability factor and the evolution of netspeak towards a new variety highly depend on its
acceptance by every living generation present in this era. In addition, does netspeak impose a
similar impact on the formal writing of X generation as well or not is still an important point to
ponder. Through the survey conducted, the researcher has observed that the X generation was
rather more conscious of the kind of language they use in terms of purity. This is the reason that
37% of the population completely refrained from code switching in a conversation. They rather
select the language of communication beforehand and tend to maintain it throughout; whereas 50%
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of them do code switching to a minor extent (in their spoken language) but are guilty of it. Their
preference is always towards the Standard English variety as for them it is a much serious and
dignified version for communication. Secondly this variety (comprising of American or British
English) is considered to be the variety of their time arousing a habit factor that contributes to a
greater affiliation and dependence. This is the reason that 58% of the population feels the need of
the standard variety in order to use/understand social media; whereas, for 64%, standard variety is
the preferred variety to write on social media sites. Moreover 30%- 60% of them follow proper
grammatical pattern as well, comparative to 42% of millennials who never follows it. On the other
hand, the awareness and comprehension level for netspeak is quite comforting, for about 66% of
the population. In addition to this, almost 60% of them have admitted an increase in the amount of
the use of netspeak, mainly in the form of contracting words to save time and by using emoticons
which is absolutely loved by this generation. According to the respondents, netspeak is surely an
easy escape for those who lack the knowledge of the standard variety and allows better expression
of emotions especially through the visual features it offers e.g. emojis, emoticons or picture posts.
About 88% of them have considered it to be a trend, while 22% are trying to adopt this trend in
order to diminish the digital generation gap. On a wider perspective, the X generation did not
provide a negative outlook of the electronic world and its features, where almost 86% have claimed
that social media has served to increase their knowledge more or less by using interesting (non-
traditional) methodologies. Almost half of the population (46%) has affirmed the use of “auto
correct” feature in a positive way for fast replies and for figuring out unaware spellings. Stating it
as the feature of “the progressive world”, 50% of the X generation population has negated the idea
of discontinuation of netspeak. Deeper analysis showed that this generation is considerably open-
minded towards the new variety; however, they have managed to keep both the varieties entirely
separate, forbidding netspeak to affect their formal writing skills. The collected data states that
58% of the respondents stated that they have never included features of netspeak in their formal
writing and for them it is quite easy to segregate both the varieties. This can be understood from
the fact that 95% of the X generation population has started using internet and other social sites
beyond the age of 30 or 35. They have spent considerable amount of lifetime using the standard
variety and even now their preference lies within it. Their knowledge of netspeak is confined to
comprehensible level where they try and guess the meaning out of these contractions and
reductions, but, in terms of usage a prominent part of the population still prefers the standard
variety.
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Figure: 4.4a , Generation X response towards standard variety
Figure: 4.4b, Generation X response towards Netspeak
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Figure: 4.4c, Generation X call on the discontinuation of Netspeak
Sustainability:
From the above discussion we can draw out the sustainability scale of netspeak, stating that
whether in the form of a trend, an easy tool for writing, a convenient reflector of emotions or as a
gadget for saving time, both the generations have accepted the existence of netspeak despite of
finding variance at their level of usage. Finding its craze in the millennial generation to getting
entitled as a new tool of the progressive world by the X generation, netspeak has grown its roots
quite in depth. Genetically, a language dies when it loses its popularity or when its users or the
platform of use loses power, whereas, in this case neither social media is giving up nor the social
media users. In fact 60% of the respondents from both the generations have claimed an increase in
its usage with time. This provides netspeak a higher rank at the scale of sustainability.
CONCLUSION
The research has showed that the electronic world surely has its impacts on people’s life, be it in
the form of its linguistic “variety”. It has never failed to excite and influence its users and with the
tremendously rising popularity in the modern era, its circle of effect is adding domains, from point
of views to mindsets and now to writing skills as well. Though it is not at the verge of completely
over powering the standard variety yet it has covered a midway. This can also be put in a way that
the digital world has made an altogether separate route for itself with its “variety” being the driving
force, surely strong enough that it seems like a spellbind for the people, blindly following its lead.
With the technological advancement and digitalization of almost everything, netspeak comes out
to be a much handy tool for operating the device (the social media) for different purposes. It would
not be surprising anymore to see netspeak being used for pedagogical purposes somewhere in the
future for learning language or skills. However in terms of age neutrality, the senior generation is
surely giving it a tough time, resisting its impact on their formal writing. But it is for sure that
netspeak is a variety born to live whether liked or disliked.
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References:
Azianura Hani Shaari, K. B. (2015). Netspeak and a Breach of Formality: Informalization and
Fossilization of Errors in Writing among ESL and EFL Learners. International Journal
for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education (IJCDSE),.
Baron. (2008). Always On: Langauge in an Online and Mobile World.
Crystal, D. (2001). Langauge and the Internet.
Fairclough. (1992). Discourse and Social change .
Jimma, J. D. (May,2017). Langauge of social media.
Jovanovic, D. (2013). A qualitative study of the use f netspeak in english langauge classroom.
Stavfeldt, E. (2011). Friend or Foe? Netspeak in English Language Teaching .
Watt, H. J. (2010). How does the use of modern coomunication technlogy influence langauge
and literacy development? A review.
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Competitive Linguistic Research Journal (CLRJ)

2019, 1 (1), 1-15

A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF NETSPEAK ON THE WRITING SKILLS OF

Rameen Tahir, Fiza Hassan

Kinnaird College for Women University Lahore

Keywords: Millenial, Netspeak, Generation X, Generation Y, Language 1, Language 2, CMC

• Contractions: Shortening of spellings e.g. I’ve = I have, didn’t = did not

• Slangs: they are the reflection of one’s culture.

Fairclough’s Idea Of “Informalization”

Impact Of Netspeak (Positive/Negative)

“Netspeak and a Breach of Formality: Informalization and Fossilization of Errors in

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Primitive Factors for the Development of Netspeak

Figure: 4.1, Primitive Factors for the development of netspeak

Impact of Netspeak on User’s writing skills

Figure 4.2, the impact of netspeak on formal writing of generation Y and X

The Nature of the Impact

Figure: 4.3a, Reason for using netspeak by Generation Y and X

Figure: 4.3b, Impact of CMC on user’s linguistic makeup

The impact being age-neutral

Figure: 4.4a , Generation X response towards standard variety

Figure: 4.4b, Generation X response towards Netspeak

Figure: 4.4c, Generation X call on the discontinuation of Netspeak

Baron. (2008). Always On: Langauge in an Online and Mobile World.

Crystal, D. (2001). Langauge and the Internet.

Fairclough. (1992). Discourse and Social change .

Jimma, J. D. (May,2017). Langauge of social media.

Stavfeldt, E. (2011). Friend or Foe? Netspeak in English Language Teaching .

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