Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Ace morning! Woke up at nine, rang Mike. Then dossed in bed as long as I could, before going to my LING207 seminar - which was actually interesting (for those of you who are interested, we talked about bilingualism, code-switching and diglossia)! Came back here to find the phone without battery had vibrated down onto the floor, the alarm must have gone off despite its unchargedness. My poor neighbour Chris, he was complaining that I was slamming doors (for the record, I don't slam doors. I close them gracefully) the other morning and today my alarm went off three times. Although, it did go off at about 11, and I don't think he was working last night so should be all good. I shouldn't get a scolding for it;)

Some people in my corridor are trying to negotiate a rent reduction with the college, because of the mouse/shower problems we've had. I really can't be arsed with that stuff, but if they manage to get some money out of it then I'll be a happy bunny.

Was working on the WaveSurfer things last night - analysis of sounds. Wow, it's not exactly easy. I mean, it is. But it's not. Quite fun though... and yes, I'm sad.

Actually made myself a cup of strawberry/mango tea earlier... but then I forgot to drink it. Now its nearly cold - just the way I like it. I'm just perfect! And no, the combination strawberry/mango isn't that nice. Have to admit I stole the teabag off Emma (sorry!!), just couldn't resist...



On a forum the other day, people were complaining about text speak and lack of punctuation. Ok, I'm not the biggest fan of it. It's hard to read, so most of the time I just don't bother with it... But the way they were going on about it it sounded like it was the worst crime since the crucifiction of mr. Jesus. So here's my reply...

"right...

lack of punctuation is a symptom of text speak. like it or not, a language will evolve. what with the internet, mobile phones, and people always being in a hurry, the trend of the english language is to move towards text speak. at least in these situations. and before it stabilises, before people learn to differentiate between the situations where this is acceptable and when its not, there will be confusion and this kind of language will 'leak' into other situations, such as exams and other written texts.

gonna quote linguist david crystal - "A further dimension to the linguistic variety promoted by the new technologies relates to the content they carry. As with traditional written expression, the medium will influence the general character of the language to be used – whether it is information, education, entertainment, […], or any other domain. Within these broad categories, subject-related domains (science, religion, law, etc.) will doubtless evolve computer-mediated varieties along similar lines to those which emerged in traditional speech and writing. "

a study on this subject was carried out this year, and the results show that teenagers' literacy is better now than it has been for the last 15 years...


anyway. *pushes glasses further up on nose* im a linguistic student, can you tell?"

I'm just a geek. But a happy geek!

xx

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