English is getting weirder, and so R wee

Abstract

An exploration of how technology is making English – and the human race – evolve. In The Dead Emcee Scrolls, poet and rap artist Saul Williams describes how his writing was transformed by a dance club experience in which the club's beats reset his biorhythms. He writes, Hail Mary. Mother of God. / Got the whole host of angels in my iPod (Williams, 2006:16). Then, later, Neck back jump kiss BREAK. / Uprock freeze pop lock BREAK. / Don't stop don't stop snap BREAK (30). These lines illustrate a growing use of urban hip-hop vernacular that has been distributed with alarming efficiency by the global music trend, through downloadable music and ipods. Music and its beats have created a rhythm to which this iGeneration dialogues, both internally and externally. Technology has given way to a continuum for emotional highs that can be sustained at any place and time. The technological revolution influences the way we socialize, collaborate and exchange acoustic information. Our changing and globalized subjectivities, as well as increasingly powerful acoustic technology, have exerted changes on the English language, making visible a significant revolution in the shaping of language within an increasingly mobile and technological world.