Internet slang
[7] Internet slang provides a channel which facilitates and constrains the ability to communicate in ways that are fundamentally different from those found in other semiotic situations.
Even so, few users consciously heed these prescriptive recommendations on CMC (Computer-mediated communication), but rather adapt their styles based on what they encounter online.
Prescriptivists tend to have the widespread belief that the Internet has a negative influence on the future of language, and that it could lead to a degradation of standard.
[29] This is illustrated by the widely reported example of a school essay submitted by a Scottish teenager, which contained many abbreviations and acronyms likened to SMS language.
There was great condemnation of this style by the mass media as well as educationists, who expressed that this showed diminishing literacy or linguistic abilities.
[31] It has also been suggested that as opposed to intentionally flouting language conventions, Internet slang is a result of a lack of motivation to monitor speech online.
[32] Hale and Scanlon describe language in emails as being derived from "writing the way people talk", and that there is no need to insist on 'Standard' English.
[33] It is important to the speakers of the language due to the foundation it provides for identifying within a group, and also for defining a person's individual linguistic and communicative competence.
[13] An extreme example of an anti-anglicisms perspective can be observed from the chatroom rules of a Christian site,[36] which bans all anglicisms ("Das Verwenden von Anglizismen ist strengstens untersagt!"
Clickbait headlines have particularly sparked attention, originating from the rise of BuzzFeed in the journalistic sphere which ultimately lead to an online landscape populated with social media references and a shift in language use.
Abbreviations and interjections, especially, have been popularized in this medium, perhaps due to the limited character space for writing messages on mobile phones.
In the case of interjections, such as numerically based and abbreviated Internet slang, are not pronounced as they are written physically or replaced by any actual action.
Rather, they become lexicalized and spoken like non-slang words in a "stage direction" like fashion, where the actual action is not carried out but substituted with a verbal signal.
The subsequently existing and growing popularity of such references among those online as well as offline has thus advanced Internet slang literacy and globalized it.
[46] Awareness and proficiency in manipulating Internet slang in both online and offline communication indicates digital literacy and teaching materials have even been developed to further this knowledge.
[55] Aside from the more frequent abbreviations, acronyms, and emoticons, Internet slang also uses archaic words or the lesser-known meanings of mainstream terms.
[56] In places where logographic languages are used, such as China, a visual Internet slang exists, giving characters dual meanings, one direct and one implied.
For example, in China, because of the tough Internet regulations imposed, users tend to use certain slang to talk about issues deemed as sensitive to the government.
These include using symbols to separate the characters of a word to avoid detection from manual or automated text pattern scanning and consequential censorship.
[60] Abbreviations are popular across different cultures, including countries like Japan, China, France, Portugal, etc., and are used according to the particular language the Internet users speak.
Significantly, this same style of slang creation is also found in non-alphabetical languages[2] as, for example, a form of "e gao" or alternative political discourse.
[62] Through two empirical studies, it was proven that Internet slang could help promote or capture the crowd's attention through advertisement, but did not increase the sales of the product.
Furthermore, an overuse of Internet slang also negatively effects the brand due to quality of the advertisement, but using an appropriate amount would be sufficient in providing more attention to the ad.
