发布时间 : 星期六 文章How the internet is changing language中英文更新完毕开始阅读beef6c651eb91a37f1115cb3
There are now thought to be some 4.5 billion web pages worldwide. And with half the population of China now on line, many of them are written in Chinese.
Still, some linguists predict that within 10 years English will dominate the internet - but in forms very different to what we accept and recognise as English today.
That's because people who speak English as a second language already outnumber native speakers. And increasingly they use it to communicate with other non-native speakers, particularly on the internet where less attention is paid to grammar and spelling and users don't have to worry about their accent.
\ve speakers to use English in significant and meaningful ways, \says Naomi Baron, professor of linguistics at American University in Washington DC.
Users of Facebook already socialise in a number of different \nglishes\nglish, or Hinglish, Spanglish (Spanish English) and Konglish (Korean English). While these variations have long existed within individual cultures, they're now expanding and comingling online.
\hat the language should be, \social standing even if it doesn't have much in the way of linguistic uniqueness.\
Some words are adaptations of traditional English: In Singlish, or Singaporean English, \\
Others combine English words to make something new. In Konglish, \handholding, touching, caressing.
Technology companies are tapping into the new English variations with products aimed at enabling users to add words that are not already in the English dictionary.
And most large companies have English websites, while smaller businesses are learning that they need a common language - English - to reach global customers.
\nglish as their first language, there is a special commercial and social role for English driven by modern forms of entertainment, \language technology company in California.
\nglish movies in regions where there is not much technology other than cell phones and DVDs makes English an aspirational language. People think it's the language of the digital age.\
In previous centuries, the convergence of cultures and trade led to the emergence of pidgin - a streamlined system of communication that has simple grammatical structure, says Michael Ullman, director of research at Georgetown University's Brain and Language Lab.
When the next generation of pidgin speakers begins to add vocabulary and grammar, it becomes a distinct Creole language. \English on the web, \
Take Hinglish.
Hinglish is a blend of Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and English and is so widespread that it's even being taught to British diplomats.
Mobile phone companies are also updating their apps to reflect its growing use.
In Hinglish, a co-brother is a brother-in-law; eve-teasing means sexual harassment; an emergency crew responding to a crisis might be described as 'airdashing', and somewhat confusing to football fans, a 'stadium' refers to a bald man with a fringe of hair. There's even a new concept of time - \something forward\
The increasing prevalence of the internet in everyday life means that language online is not a zero sum game. Instead, it allows multiple languages to flourish.
\nglish has taken its place as the world's lingua franca, but it's not pushing out other languages.\
Instead, other languages are pushing their way into English, and in the process creating something new.
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网络如何改变语言
发布时间：2012-12-15 文章出自：译言
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在网上，英语变成了一种通用语，被世界各地的用户使用。在此过程中，语言本身也发生着改变。
1814年，通过和英国的殊死战争，美国从废墟中建立，但远未实现全国性的统一。诺亚·韦伯斯特（Noah Webster ）认为形成一种通用语能够团结人民，并且形成新的认同感，进而使国家真正独立于大英帝国。
韦伯斯特编写的词典至今已经编辑了11版，采纳当今美国化了的常见拼写形式，比如：theatre（剧院）的结尾用“er”代替“re”，省略colour（颜色）中的“u”，以及，省略traveller（旅行者）中双写“l”中的一个。韦氏词典还收录了美国特有的一些新词汇，比如：skunk（黄鼠狼），opossum（负鼠），hickory（山核桃），squash（鲜果汁）和 chowder（一种用鲜鱼与咸肉,洋葱等煨成的食品）等。
韦伯斯特花了18年时间完成《美国英语词典》的编写，他学习了26种其它语言来研究词典内七万词条的语源。
同样的，互联网以更快的速度推动着语言进化。
如今的互联网被认为拥有着45亿网页。因为有半数中国人在上网，多数网页都用中文显示。
仍然，有部分语言学家预测，10年内英语将会主导互联网——尽管在形式上和当下被我们接受和认知的英语大相径庭。
预测的依据是英语作为第二语言的人数已经超过了母语为英语的人数。他们越来越多地使用英语和其它原本也不说英语的人进行交流，尤其是在网上，语法和拼写都不需要太在意，甚至说话带口音也可以不必担心。
“互联网解放了母语不是英语的人们，使他们得以更广泛、更丰富地运用英语，” 华盛顿美国大学的语言学教授纳奥米·巴伦（Naomi Baron）如是说。