Twitter and lexical innovation

In recent years I have been interested in how media and learning are related. Language has a lot to do with this; not just particular world languages, but all lexical forms through which we express our ideas.

Today I came across an interesting BBC article about language studies on Twitter:

"The question of how language changes and evolves has occupied linguistic anthropologists for several decades. What determines whether an innovation will propagate throughout a culture, remain just a local variant, or be stillborn? Such questions decide the grain and texture of all our languages – why we might tweet “I’m bored af” rather than “I’m bored, forsooth.”

Nice! Full article and links here.

Comments

Tanzania is not Tasmania

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What's that unearthly sound? Turn off the alarm. Snoozing is dope. Shit, I have to get to work. What time is it? Let's have some water. Let's stand outside for a minute. Send out today's assignments. How is my family? Has mum had her meds and breakfast? Where's my chai? Do I need a car today? Are there any fires burning? Who is that calling, I just got here! OK, let's start the day.

mink

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