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Julien Soulié: "Spelling and conjugation are the '' good manners '' of the language"

2021-06-10T15:57:35.737Z


INTERVIEW - A survey carried out by Médiamétrie reveals the writing habits of the French in the digital sphere. The Voltaire Project expert analyzes this new language.


What do the words say about us?

Why are emojis used?

Is it true that we are making more spelling mistakes on the Internet?

Our uses have evolved with technological innovations.

This is shown by a Médiamétrie survey, presented as part of its “Les Mots Libres” event, which takes place from June 1 to 27.

Carried out among a representative sample of French people aged 15 and over, with the participation of the digital chair of Paris Dauphine University, this long questionnaire reveals the weight and influence of new technologies on writing.

Julien Soulié, expert at the Voltaire Project, leads a debate on The French and words ... in the digital age, Thursday, June 10.

He analyzes

these new language habits

for

Le Figaro

.

"READ ALSO - Andrea Marcolongo:" Ancient languages ​​risk disappearing through intellectual laziness "

LE FIGARO.

- According to the survey, 98% of the population sends digital messages.

This would suggest that writing is now virtual.

Is there a digital language?

Julien SOULIE. -

It is a language with an especially “communicational” aim, it is purely utilitarian: we make language a simple tool. Concretely, this means that it is used to share information, answer a question, etc. The lexicon is therefore quite limited, simple, professional and aims for efficiency. The syntax is also very sober. Often, during training to improve his writing on the Internet, he is instructed to write short sentences not exceeding 20 words, under penalty of not being read by the recipient. This can be seen as an impoverishment, but sometimes the constraint of brevity can be interesting because it requires a spirit of synthesis.

Besides this professional language, there is also the intimate language, via texts, instant messengers and emails. It is a more familiar language but just as simple. Everything that relates to emotions is no longer taken care of by words but by emojis that 93% of French people use, according to the survey. This therefore allows people to modulate their messages, including in professional letters: the cold, disembodied message is then made more human. These small images certainly humanize the language, but is it not to the detriment of the complexity of the emotions? All the feelings that we tried to convey through the vocabulary are summed up in simple drawings. Why are we giving in to it? For simplicity surely, but this practical side often leads to laziness. It's a bit like the calculator or the conjugator:rather than trying to make his little gray cells work, we give in to ease.

According to the survey, digital language is characteristic of 15/24 year olds (at 41%).

Could this therefore be a young language?

There is a generational gap created by this language, that's for sure.

However, those over 50 say they are comfortable with these new ways of expressing themselves and communicating even if they do not wish to use it: they prefer to respect traditional codes of spelling and grammar.

This does not mean, however, that this language should be rejected on the pretext that it uses abbreviations, acronyms, etc.

Indeed, it presents very creative aspects, with which, moreover, authors like Queneau and the Oulipo members have been able to play happily.

"We form shorter sentences and use perhaps simpler words"

Julien Soulié, expert at the Voltaire Project

How does this digital language affect writing?

We make sentences shorter and use maybe simpler words.

Speed ​​and immediacy are also the key words.

We don't write anymore like when we sent love letters or even postcards a few years ago.

Today's relationship to syntax and vocabulary is different.

Oral has been transposed to writing.

Linguist Julien Barret, who works on the language of young people in the suburbs, shows very well how they take the codes of rappers and influencers on Snapchat and reinject it into the language;

this gives a freer language and creates new puns, "oklm", for example, so called allographs.

What about spelling rules in the virtual world?

If you are in a professional environment, where you know that social pressure on spelling is strong, you pay attention and try to respect it. This is what the survey says: 70% of people questioned completely agree with the statement "I pay attention to my sentences, to what I write". In another situation of enunciation, the young language is more liberated, even lax, according to some. He breaks the rules, for good or bad. Perhaps the oldest people are more sensitive to it because this virtual world evolves very quickly and escapes them. They cling to something that is known to them: it remains an important point of reference. Is this a way of keeping something heritage, stable? It is not impossible.

I think that there will always be a minimum of spelling rules, even if the rules evolve and that some are abused, even moribund ... What worries me is more the porosity between the situations of enunciation : when we talk to someone in the professional field, we put the forms. Spelling and conjugation are the "good manners" of the language. When we write to friends, to relatives, with whom we share certain codes, we can free ourselves from some of its rules. We juggle between the two codes, but it requires a certain mastery of the language. The problem therefore arises when we no longer know how to juggle between these two worlds, when everyday language contaminates traditional language and we end up with statements that the standard considers unacceptable,in a professional email, to the administration ...

"Some people claim that we write less and less, it is false: we have never written so much, it is a fact"

Julien Soulié, expert at the Voltaire Project

According to the survey, the care given to the tongue differs depending on whether you are a man or a woman.

How to explain it?

It is a bit like the cliché of the literary woman and the scientific man or in the "concrete" and the action, even if that tends to change.

This is based on a societal cliché that goes beyond linguistics: on the one hand there are women who pay more attention to form and on the other, men who simply want to communicate.

By saying this, they are unwittingly perpetuating certain prejudices.

According to the survey, 34% of Internet users write more than before, in particular because of the confinement, from paper to blog.

Some people claim that we write less and less, this is false: we have never written so much, it's a fact. You have to know what you write: professional writings are more numerous, largely in the majority. But even in personal relationships, we often write more texts than we make phone calls. Even if words and sentences are simplified, we feel a certain pleasure to write, whatever our age and our social background. It is a note of hope for the sustainability and creativity of the language.

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Source: lefigaro

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