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Karyn Lewis

Professor Stone

Evolving English Language

17 October 2007

Communication and Language:

The Impact of 20th Century Technology

Language functions as a communicative role, as well as a basis for the formation of

concepts. “The properties of communication—its technology, its aims, its functional forms, and

so on—are the principle creators not only of human language but also of human thought”

(Benczik 250). Though human communication does not take place exclusively through language,

the basic form of conversation can be divided into three levels: words themselves, intonation,

speed, tone, etc, and body language. Because language emerges and changes continuously

through communication, communication technologies play a key role in the history of language

change. The history and progress of human thought may have even come about from the basis of

these linguistic changes. As writing seems to be losing its earlier dominance over

communication, however, the question is whether this will lead to the erosion of human language

and, consequently, human thought.

In the early years of human existence before the actual origination of language (let alone

advanced technology efforts in communication), an inability to produce written, iconic signs

forced people to accept a symbolic system of sounds—spoken language—as the main and most

important means of communication. Speech, however, is subject to distortion and misarticulation

and called for some means of recorded thought. Thus came the written language, which
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“partially or completely eliminates the need to misarticulate” (Benczik 260). Writing is not a

perfect communication technology—not only can it not convey extralinguistic aspects of

communication, it is also incapable of recording suprasegmental resources in spoken language.

Print not only altered spelling and grammar, but also the accentuation and inflection of

languages, and made bad grammar possible. However, there is a growing elasticity of language

rules and the expansion of linguistic tolerance. “Writing fixes and materially objectifies

linguistic material, and printing in turn further emphasizes its fixity and objectivity” (Benczik

261). A text published through print, for example, remains constant, and we can refer to it at

future times. A text published on the Internet, however, can change on a daily basis. One the one

hand this capability constitutes an advantage for education, but on the other hand the complete

loss of continuity overturns the operations of past scholars.

At the heart of all communication technologies lies the desire to reproduce face-to-face

communication as closely as possible. In the attempt, all newly invented technologies offer both

gains and losses to language and communication itself. Until the middle of the twentieth century,

writing has been the only widely and effectively functioning communication technology, but the

widespread practice of writing significantly hampered extralinguistic means of communication

such as gesture. The sequential appearance of the telephone, radio, phonograph, and means of

recording, storing and transporting human speech in its full acoustic nature and completeness

challenged the position of writing, but the turning point in communication technology came with

the appearance and gradual expansion of television. Because of its multimedia capability,

television can now almost flawlessly recreate the conditions of face-to-face communication—it

is capable of conveying all three dimensions of communication: segmented linguistic resources,

suprasegmental linguistic resources, and extralinguistic communication resources. Accordingly,

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segmented linguistic resources and discrete signs are losing their relative dominance over the

field of communication. Pictures compete not only with writing, but also with language itself—

as primary thinking takes place through sensory perception. Supporting this, Kickasola states

“Cinema appeals to the extraordinary sensual reach of vision and sound combined, promoting a

sensual power which appears to function like primary epistemological stimulus, rather than

secondary coding (such as words)” (300). One might also say that as the phonograph and the

radio corrected shortcomings in writing, while pictures corrected the shortcomings in language

itself.

The twentieth century can more or less be summed up with “the dominance of the rise of

the printed book as the medium of communication has become challenged by the rise of the new

electronic media” (Benczik 260). Computerized new media technologies are the prime movers in

this shift, and stand as prime examples of how changes in media directly affect modes of

perception (Kickasola 303). The computing revolution was about information—digitizing

documents, photographs and records so they could be more easily manipulated. The wireless

communications revolution was about making digital information about anything available

anywhere at almost no cost. Film, television, and finally computer-generated and computer-

processed pictures are growing steadily more perfect and simple as technology evolves. As a

result, visual data and information can be communicated in their original form, without first

going through the distorting processes of linguistic communication. As Kickasola states, a

photograph is “an analogon without need of mediation” (300). The ability to avoid distortion

both improves communication and renders it more comfortable, though at the same time the

process of analysis, a necessary accompaniment of linguistic communication, falls away. Finally

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communication by pictures makes it possible to send messages that the sender has not

misarticulated, though the receiver may not understand it at all.

With all of our new ways of communicating, we’re constantly evolving the language. “As

a culture, we have not merely added new tools to our current scenario, but our tools have

recrocally shaped us” as well (Kickasola 303). Despite communication being virtually free—

there’s pretty much no additional cost for sending a longer email or chatting with your friends on

the phone—the language has gotten more concise. We write as little as is takes to get the

message across. Today, technology both brings us new terms and uses, and allows us to share

and communicate them faster than ever. However, the rise in communication technologies has

also contributed to a significant part of the adult population who can live without reading and

writing. People read significantly less than they used to. This may have no effect on education—

as one can become educated without text, but the lack of repeated, long-lasting contact with

written text insidiously erodes the ability to think because there is no constant cognitive, creative,

and empathetic training of the mind. Hypertext may be the form in which texts will survive, but

we should not forget where this development came from. Text, which used to be practically the

single transporter of communication, must now share its monopoly position with newly

advanced communication technologies.

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Works Cited

Benczik, Vilmos. “Communication as source and motivator of language evolution.” Language

Problems & Language Planning 27.3 (2003): 249-268.

Kickasola, Joseph. “Contemporary Media and the Evolving Notion of Immediacy.” Quarterly

Review of Film and Video 23 (2006): 299-310.