AAE 101 Assignment (2) E-learning task: Language Change and Variation

Text 1

1. Where eur shopping district begins
   
2. F-Cup Cookies & Puera Panic SOS are highly demanded!
   
3. Effect guaranteed :D
   
4. Cheapest among most blogshop too :D
   
5. Getting direct supply from Japan, therefore NO SCAMMING of fake cookies from China.
   
6. It’ll NOT scam definitely, don forget, I still have this blogshop to run (:
   
7. I don wan my reputation to go bcos of cheating customer’s $ (:
   
8. So please, send in eur order forms now! :D
   
9. *If eu find my stuffs is more expensive dhn other blogshops, don forget, I’m capping at 10 only! :D
   
10. So eu guys can receive eur stuffs arnd 2 wks aft ordering! :D
    
11. My F-Cup Series takes only one week to cap:)
    
12. Hehe, if nt my enquires board will be spam long time ago alrd D:
    
13. Reason why I opened my enquires box is b’cos just incase some of eu have doubts in me:)
    
14. Why save chat $1 - $2 but waiting for more than one month or two for eur items? (:
    
15. So be brilliant! :D
    

Text 2

1. Shoppers, kindly take 1min t read dhis be4 submitting eur order form(s):D Thanks!
   
2. Evrything in SGD only!(:
   
3. No MIA / backing out aft orders are confirmed! Only 75% of eur $ will be refunded(: & Eu will be blacklisted;)
   
4. Handphone no. will only be provided for Meetups only (:
   
5. Pls be punctal for meetups, else $$$$$; 6 – 10 mins 50 cents; 11 – 15 mins $1; subsequently…..
   
6. Goods sold are not exchangeable nor refundable (:
   
7. I’ll not be responsible if the supplier took dhe $ n MIA
   
8. I’m done w my part aft dhe good (s) leave my hands (:
   
9. At least drop a mail if you don’t want dhe item (s) anymore (:
   Basic Courtesy :D
   
10. I entertain first payment first serve
    
11. Reservation up to 3days only, payments by then please (:, else it’ll be open agn!:D
    
12. Send Order form= Confirming eur orders:), no order form= no order:D
    
13. Pls check eur emails evry 2days for updates :)
    
14. We’ll not be responsible if eur items are lost during postage (:
    
15. Don expect us to be friendly whn eu showed no respect at all :)
    
16. Payments are to be in by 72hrs aft eu’ve confirmed eur orders
    
17. Will be blacklisted if payment are nt in w/o being informed for extension of deadline
    
18. shopping-freak reserves dhe rights to amend dhese T&Cs w/o prior notice
    
19. Aft eu submitted orders, I assume eu’ve read & agreed w our tncs (:
    
20. Thank you! :D
    
    
    
    

Group Commentary

i. English used exclusively in blog & Singapore Colloquial English (Singlish)

ii. Blog: Shopping-Freak (Tuesday, September 22, 2009)
http://spprrreeees.blogspot.com/search/label/fcup%20cookies%201

Blogger is likely a female student (upper secondary to polytechnic level). She uses this site to sell F-cup cookies containing breast-enhancing ingredients, imported from Japan. Her target audiences are mainly females, aged 17-30.

iii. In our authentic text, the blogger has used the linguistic communication which is known as “Netspeak” that has the lexicon which belongs exclusively to the internet (David Crystal). She has mainly used features of spoken language which are hybrid in nature.

The features identified are word creation, distinctive spellings and use of visual symbols. For word creation, compounding words like ‘deadline’ (Text 2, line 17) comprise two words like ‘dead’ and ‘line’. For conversion, the word ‘mail’ (Text 2, line 9) has changed from one word class to another (verb to noun and vice versa). For clipping, in ‘aft’ (Text 2, line 10), the word is being shortened to mean ‘after’. For acronyms, ‘missing in action’ is reduced to ‘MIA’. For distinctive spelling, we have phonetic spellings where ‘n’ (Text 2, line 7) reflects the pronunciation of the word. For spellings that incorporate numerals, ‘be4’ (Text 2, line 1) produces similar sound or meaning as ‘before’. For spellings which omit vowels, we have ‘wks’ (Text 1, line 10) meaning ‘weeks’. For non-conventional spellings, we have ‘evrything’(Text 2, line 2) meaning ‘everything’. These features of Netspeak are user-friendly to users of Netspeak.

Blogger has used visual cues such as the emoticons ‘:)’ to express feelings; capitalization of words such as ‘Basic Courtesy’ to indicate stress; symbol ($), exclamation mark (!) and synthesized sound (He he) to indicate her feelings. It is noticed that ‘T&Cs’ consists of a combination of capitalization, acronym and symbols. While for ‘tncs’, it consists of a combination of acronyms and phonetic spelling features.

The rules of media text are fluid and do not require blogger to be proficient in Standard English. In text 1, there is a be-deletion in line 3 where the linking verb ‘is’ is omitted. In line 3-4, there are two features of Singlish where there is a subjectless clause and be-deletion. She has made mistakes in her writing like using incorrect form of ‘incase’ and ‘meetups’ in texts 1 and 2, omitting punctuation mark like ‘full-stop’ at the end of sentences and non subject-verb agreement in ‘stuffs is’. While these mistakes do not conform to the correct use of Standard English, they are not criterial features of Singlish.

iv. By using Netspeak and spoken text, she has created a closer relationship with the readers to boost her sales as social distance between them is reduced. Furthermore, the use of Standard English and minimal Singlish allow her to reach to all readers so that her products are marketable to everyone.

Hence, blogger saves time in her writing and is able to create text that is straightforward, enabling readers to read quickly from the website as the text has been shortened.

Netspeak has made the blogger and readers influence each other’s styles of communication. Blogger has used this feature to meet the expectations of the young generation who are proficient in the new way of writing. It has affected the reader as well as it forces the user to accommodate to the blogger by using the same features resulting in faster communication. Hence, the language use has affected every one’s style of writing. As a result, there is a marker of collective identity for such users. However, it is not readily readable for those who are non-users of it.

v. By understanding different features of Netspeak, teachers will be able to identify pupils’ mistakes in their writing when they use features like clipping, phonetic spelling etc. Therefore, teachers can explain to pupils that the objectives of using features of Netspeak are mainly for people to communicate quickly and easily in a multi-user environment where information is transmitted rapidly. Teachers need to teach pupils when and where they are allowed to use the new linguistic form (mainly when using IT-msn, chat).

In line 9 of text 2, blogger has written ‘I entertain first payment first serve’ which is a direct translation of text spoken in Mandarin.

Teachers can also teach pupils the difference between a spoken text and written text. For example, in the spoken form, ‘I entertain first payment first serve’ should be changed to ‘I will first serve whoever makes payment first’ in the written form.

In conclusion, the use of media text language facilitates social networking process by increasing opportunities for interaction on internet. The emergence of this new linguistic form is meaningful in the history of language evolution due to its hybrid nature. Though such language use may be fluid over time, it is purposeful and meaningful in human communication as long as there is human understanding in the meaning-making process.


(769 words excluding the references within bracket, question numbers, headings and data tables)

Done by: Darleana Binte Daut
Karen Chu Yeok Lai
Lim Yin Xin
Mohd Faizal B Osman