A look at  how the  spoken internet English shows just how much the Internet has changed not only written English, but also spoken English.  The way the spoken internet English can be seen not only in the language of  in native speakers of English but it extends to the English spoken by non-native English speaking  digital citizens all over the world.

what is spoken internet English

The way that the internet is shaping spoken English is through texting.  Texting is now conducted in over  5,000 languages around the world

“Text messaging is the most linguistically diverse form of written communication that has ever existed,” says linguist Robert Munroe. “It’s also become the first form of written communication of many of the world’s languages. Most have only ever been spoken. But the technology and economics of text messages and the proliferation of cells phones means it’s the most economic option of communication.”

There has always been a difference between spoken and written language.  However social media has blurred that distinction. Most conversations that would have been spoken are now conducted by emailing, texting, chatting online.  This new form of communication also influences the way we speak the English language. Many common forms of twitter or texting shorthand such as YOLO (you only live once) have become spoken expressions.

Amanda Pawelski, an English as a Second Language specialist, picked up some interesting trends when she asked participants which internet words they used in everyday speech.  She found that females were more adventurous with injecting  internet  terms:

“Both genders use terms like ‘bff‘ (‘Best Friends Forever’), the aforementioned ‘omg‘ (‘Oh my God’) and ‘lol‘ (‘Laughing out loud’), but women do so in greater numbers. Meanwhile, a small fraction of women use ‘wtf‘ (‘What the f***?’), ‘brb‘ (‘Be right back’) and ‘ttyl‘ (‘talk to you later’), where men reportedly never use these.”

A look at  how  spoken internet English  says something about trends and that future generations being more relaxed about the difference  between the written and the spoken word. Spoken internet English can be seen not only in the language of  in native speakers of English but it extends to the English spoken by non-native English speaking  digital citizens all over the world.  These are the early stages of the internet revolution and new forms of communication, but it is quite possible that the English language will look  very different in a few decades.