Uses and Abuses of Netspeak

Abstract

In today’s digital world, Netspeak has become an exigent that educators and net-speakers cannot ignore. It is a way of speaking or writing on the Internet. It is recognized by acronyms, abbreviations, emoticons and textism as well. It is a language pattern used in Media and the global Internet users are called Net-speakers. The English language is the most preferred language on the Internet. We come across new words and terminologies by using different apps for different purposes in social media. Netspeak has many uses and abuses as well. It has contributed a lot to English vocabulary. Every now and then we get to know new words like selfie, techy, techno, yup, yo, bravo, fab, hip-hop, non-veg, and so on. Oxford dictionary adds around 500 new words in each quarter. This contribution comprises of the words used in Netspeak and other terms are formed lexicographically. Different slangs like lol (lots of laughter or laughing out land), brw (be right way), idk (I do not know), etc. are in vogue. These slangs are popular. However, everyone is not familiar with these expressions and ultimately leading to confusion and frustrations for some people. In addition to this, it has affected mainly language skills largely among children under 12 years of age. Their writing and speaking consists of Netspeak and they seem to consider it a part of their language. This piece of work has focused on the terms used in Netspeak and how these language patterns affect media positively as well as negatively.

Keywords

• acronyms
• abbreviations
• emoticons
• netspeak
• net-speakers