Any linguist or philologist will explain o’er (initially a typo) time that language is fluid. It is ever changing, in that each observation will never be exactly the same- only generalized. Even then, let’s say that the individual observed is a monolingual youth… We may expect a range of possible sound outcomes, syntax, tone style based on the frame of a prescripted language in that period. That person’s language (choicely) is influenced from stimuli in their (hän, 3rd person singular) environment. These stimuli come from a variety of sources, primarily their education, upbringing, peers, and most importantly relevant here, their entertainment!
Inspired from the “Language of the State of the Union” digital history project, where specific “hit” words are shown in frequency by each president since George. Similarly, this could be done for language used in gaming with their sources over a timeline. Ideally, I would like to propose this as a model for time-lining language used in ‘gaming environments.’ Before common microphone use in online gaming was widespread, language in gaming was innovative based on situation and circumstance…like most language. However it is certainly unique in the age of mass media and people coming together from all over the world and from different cultures. Where did “W00t”, “BOOM HEADSHOT”, “Must construct additional pylons” or other colloquialisms originate in gaming, and are they observed still? Is it possible that the nature of online language is static, and these are the limited stimuli? Written language, orthography, is not often associated as a study of ‘linguistics,’ yet this relation to what is read and what is being spoken is disputed since the scribe went to the courier, to the emissary, running from town to town. In time, I will elaborate more on these possibilities. Credit to the internet is due here for the preservation of these points in history, mostly on Youtube. Lastly, how else would people across the world readily have a hint toward pejorative and obscene Russian slang and phraseology?
Gosh, I haven’t thought about Starcraft in years. I’m really excited to see how this project evolves.
LikeLike