Letter to the Editor

Date: 26/3/2014

To the editor, Laura Clark

Daily Mail Senior Editor

London, UK

Subject: A response to the change in Language "Twtr? It's majorly bad!" 

Ms. Clark,

Over the past 24 hours, there has been a flood of letters to the editor in response to the article titled "Twtr? It's majorly bad!” Through the use of your newspaper, I would like to express my viewpoint of the developmental changes of language. 

 Our perspective on language has always been evolving, as it is a variable that is strongly affected by time and place. As time and knowledge progress, our styles in language will adapt to these to these developments. Language is evolutionary, as Standard English today and Standard English a thousand years ago are poles apart. These technology-driven advancements are not the first time this language faces a significant evolution. Radical change in the English language has been evident dating back to 63 AD. Events such as the Norman Invasion allow us to see how language over the span of history has always evolved and adapted to what time has to offer it. These developments are inevitable, and what technology has provided the English language can be classed as a linguistic miracle. 

Through linguists thorough analysis of technology they have come to find that only 10% of a text is written in slang, meanwhile, the rest of the 90% is written in standard form. This statistic challenges the article's statement that students have “limited vocabularies because they spend so much free time on sites such as Twitter and Facebook.” The Internet is a resource that allows students to find an abundance of excellent linguistic content. Many novels, books, and films are shared through the Internet; therefore, stating that the use of it is a danger to students' language is inaccurate. 

 In addition to that to abbreviate, miss letters in words, and shorten sentences people must initially realize that those words and letters are present in the first place. For example, claiming that when student’s text the words "thank you" as "thnk u" means they do not know how to spell the phrase in the first place is unattainable. These students must have an idea as to what words they are shortening and what letters are in them to miss them out on the first place. 

As a teenager, I would class myself as a representative of our generation; the world is changing rapidly, it all always has. The technology and Internet era have been a sensation like no other and has had the ability to shape our worlds upcoming future. To illustrate, I am a bilingual speaker and have learned more English through my computer than in schoolrooms. I have been provided with applications that cater to helping me decipher grammar and style of the English language; therefore expanding my knowledge and ability.

 The article at hand is one that expresses many, ideas that reflect how the Internet's beginning to affect the English language both socially and professionally. Evidently, the pros outweigh the cons of technologies impact on language. Unfortunately, it only emphasized on the close-minded approach to such a linguistic advancement. I would prefer articles such as these offer both sides of the argument. This Daily Mail is an outlet that many tend to seek awareness from therefore I urge you to provide unbiased approaches in the future. 

Yours sincerely,

Shamsa Al Ameemi

Raha International School,

Khalifa City A,

AD,

UAE

Little Mix on Billboard Magazine

Little Mix (comprising of Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Ann Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie  Edwards) is currently the biggest girl group in the world, ever since conquering X Factor UK in 2011. They were the first group to ever win the X Factor, let alone being a girl group. During the show, their critical ratings,  have surpassed artists such as One Direction, Union J and Olly Murs. 

Ever since then they have been blasting hit after hit and appearing on the Billboard charts.  Their breakout album "DNA"(2012)  bowed at number 4 on the Billboard 200 charts. By which is the highest debut in history to be made by a British girl group, even surpassing Spice Girls' "Spice" which debuted at number six back in 1997. 

Interviewer: How does it feel knowing that you have surpassed the Spice Girls on the American Charts?

LP: It's unimaginable-
PE: We grew up listening to the Spice Girls, that's the thing.
JN: Yeah, growing up we always saw them as our role models. I wouldn't think we're anywhere near their level-
LP: They managed to unite girls from all end of the planet, it was great!
JN: They're so influential to young girls everywhere!
JT: We like to see them as our inspirations, in that perspective.

Interviewer: It has been four years since winning the X Factor, you're third studio album has gone platinum, how do you do it?

PE: Honestly, we owe it to our mixers (their fans), they're always up for new music. After building such a great connection with our audience, they're now always are so excited for our new stuff.

Interviewer: Awwww, Mixers sounds so cute! I was wondering, what demographic does you music typically appeal to most?

JN: *giggles* anyone looking for a jam really
PE: I would assume we appeal mostly to the teenage demographic, especially the girls in high school
LP: Yeah, our tunes scream girl power. We were there once, and we know how it feels to be at that age and facing teenage troubles. Most of our music carries themes of empowerment. Like if you listen to songs like Wings, Grown and Little Me, we're sorta talking about our experiences and what we'd say to our little selfs.

Interviewer: Totally, I was just about to ask about that. I wanted to ask about what similarities you guys see in between the song Grown from your new album and Little Me from the last, and We Are Who We Are from your first album; they all have very different sounds, but to the audience, we get the same vibes off of the lyrics.

JT: Yeah, technically We Are Who We Are is a very pop-y song, and Grown is such a Motown-inspired song, whereas Little Me is a ballad. In Little Me and We Are Who We Are, we wanted to convey that if we went back and spoke to ourselves when we were the same ages that the majority of our fans are, we would tell ourselves to speak up. Gain a bit more self-confidence, ya know? With Grown, we sang about how now that we've grown up and matured we've managed to gain that confidence, and it's managed to be much more appealing to others.
PE: The common ground between the two songs are the underlying themes of confidence.

Interviewer: When it comes to writing lyrics for your music, how do you manipulate words to your benefit? I'm the worst writer in the world; I suck using words to express what I feel.

JN: Honestly, usually it comes naturally. We're all interested in language, and how to manipulate it to portray what's implied. When we write a particular song thoughts that I personally always keep in mind is "who's gonna listen to this? ", "how would they want to hear it?" and "what kind of language and structure should I use to translate these thoughts and emotions?".
PE: It depends on the intentions of a song, like when into the studio with the intention of writing a pop song, we wanna make it catchy and focus on rhyme schemes and alliteration. Like in Black Magic we used an alternate rhyme scheme. Whereas when we come to write an emotional, sad song, we're leaning more towards a ballade and the use of imagery and such.
LP: When I write a song, personally I like to focus on what would sit well with who I'm targeting. Our albums genuinely have a song for everyone. Like we have Salute and Little me for the empowerment, and Black Magic and Wings for the pop lovers, and then there are songs like Loverboy and Hair who are for the hipsters that are into throwback tracks, ya know with all the 80s influence. You really want to focus on the context of the song, the people who are gonna hear it and how you should structure it to benefit the song; especially when we want to make it relatable to the audience.

Interviewer: Woah! That so much more technical than you'd think. But even from the older fans like myself, I can relate to your words, and it makes me feel so powered up and secure. Honestly, it's great to jam out to you guys when I'm feeling quite low. So I guess all that initiative and technicality works!

JN: Babe, your too sweet!
PE: That's the best thing I've heard in years; honestly that makes me so happy!
LP: Genuinely that means loads, like empowering people, not just teenage girls either, but women, and even boys, just people, in general, are why we do what we do!

Interviewer: Feminism, girl power and everything in between have been some of the most talked about topics in the media right now, how do you feel your music has allowed you to contribute to it?

LP: Ah, everyone loves a Lil' bit of girl power! The good thing about Little Mix is that we embrace who we are wholeheartedly. We want to empower, not only our fans but ourselves too! DNA our first album, Salute our second, and now Get Weird are all about embracing ourselves. We don't think we would ever end up changing that because it's what are fans relate and connect to the most.
PE: And to be honest, no matter how much we want to include and unify women, you can tell that we never want to un-include boys and men. That's not the case; we have songs about loving ourselves and empowering ourselves that go both for girl and boys, and I just wanted to emphasize on that.
JN: Yeah, like as much as we write about girls, we also do write a cheeky amount of songs about love. All our songs are for the public; we don't have a certain age, sex, or racial that we only want to appeal to, it the exact opposite. Our music is out there for anyone who intends to listen to it. We never want to diss people or make people look bad in general to make a point. We fight for female empowerment, but we don't want to exclude the boys while doing so.
PE: Now that that's out there, I also wanna say we are very pro-feminism. Just as much as our music is for everyone, I wouldn't want to overshadow the whole girl power thing. We feel like women are a stronger force when they do unite; they are so much stronger, so why not?

Interviewer: Preach it! I just wanted to ask about how you girls feel about portraying past experiences in your music?

JT: Well in general when we do write, we write without hiding anything. It all comes from the heart and first-hand experiences.
LP: Whether we're writing about love and heartbreak, or confidence and girl power, we will always put our emotions into these tracks.
PE: It allows us to enjoy what we're writing, while also letting the mixers connect with what we're singing about in our songs.
JN: Yeah, we want to write about things that are relatable, so we include our real experiences, ya' know?

Interviewer: Girls, it's been great having you back on Billboard Magazine! You've given us great insight and all the more reason to love and support your music. Thank you so much, and we wish you the best with the next few months of touring, lots of love!

PE: Thanks guys
JN: It's been wonderful speaking with you!
JT: It's been great being back anyways!
LP: Love you guys!

2nd April 2016

Sources:
Little Mix Get All Righteous and Talk Getting Empowered for New Album Salute. Perf. Little Mix. Sugarscape, 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 Oct. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi_QXH5aD-4>.

"Little Mix." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

"Little Mix Breaks Spice Girls' Chart Record." Billboard. N.p., 5 June 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2016. 

Alex Turner Memoir (Language and Identity)

Growing up in High Green, Sheffield my parents were teachers; the two were specialized in languages, to say the least. My mum taught the German language whilst my dad tried to translate the unknown wonders of the physics language to secondary students. Bored ones at that! My father also dabbled in music and taught it at school for a while. There are more people that none who sat to me that physics and music aren't a language. Nowadays I would assume that it was due to the fact that I might have and still maintained a differing perspective on language itself. 

A language is a form of communications that humans have conducted to make their lives easier. The sole purpose of a language is to translate one person's thoughts and pass it on to the next. Although I was quite lackadaisical in school, I still managed to keep up with Mr. Barkers English classes enough to pick up a few skills. I still remember when we were initially introduced to John Cooper Clarke's poetry. It has spurred a certain part of me to take a figurative and more so artistic approach of communication.

"Come on, I know you've got it in you"

"Maybe next time, sir. What I've written isn't worth reading out tot he class"

"We only get given a few opportunities in life, Alex you need to more risks"

The conversation we had the day he had urged me to read the poetry I've written to the class has been etched into the walls of my mind. At the time his statement seemed extreme, but with hindsight, I would deem it the best advice I had ever been given.

After college, just like the rest of us, my parents urged me to go to university. After all, it's what school has been building us towards all these years, but over the last few years of school, I had developed a liking for poetry.  I have also picked up a few skills with a guitar. My friends, soon to be band mates, introduced me to the good music. I started listening to all the classics, the newbies and everything in between. I found myself lost in all these songs, lyrics and music. Mr. Barker’s words rang in my ears and I came to take the risk of a gap year. My parents are supportive and ultimately allowed me to take a year of to explore my passions. I filled in a few applications for Manchester, but my gap year has slowly but surely turned into some sort of gap life. To put it short I never went to university. I did instead though find myself in a band, the Arctic Monkeys. 

At first, our music didn’t have much meaning because “ A lot of people have an idea of the music they wanna make and they go make it, but we started the band to have something to do and we figured all that stuff out.” I never shared my lyrics with my band mates for "I had this sense of dread that the others would laugh me out of the room. Mickey taking is a useful quality control.” But as time went on I was finally able to an outlet all my emotions and experiences. I managed to get better at writing poetry. I managed to sculpt my identity and with it learned how to convey it to an audience willing to listen. I was very much so influenced by the stylistic choices of the Strokes, the Hives, the White Stripes and every other talented rock band from the ninety’s and naughty’s. As a band, we had managed to find the perfect ground between our own identity and the influence of the greats.

I read somewhere that a journalist that had interviewed me said that I was:

“Hard to reconcile the gentle, boyish, self-contained singer ("always the quiet one", according to his band-mates) with the person who writes so vivaciously about modern teenage life; but slowly his guard will drop a little.”

I would have to agree with them if I’m completely honest. People know me to be the shyer member of the band. I don’t usually say much but I write with a lot of emotions, I don’t spare any. I find it so much easier to put my thoughts into lyrics.

If you think about it for long enough, you would realise that I would not be where I am without language and every aspect of its literal and figurative approaches of communication. I owe it to the language. Without it, I would not be bale to make the art that I do and without it, I also would not be able to outlet my inner most thoughts. My thoughts are mirrored through the language that I use, and through the years I have come to the conclusion that language in some ways more than others, helps disclose and communicate my beliefs and experiences. and although I'm too shy to do so in real life, I manage to take advantage of what I can with my language through the artistic approach of songwriting. 

Alex Turner Memoir (Language and Identity)

Growing up in High Green, Sheffield my parents were teachers; the two were specialized in languages, to say the least. My mum taught the German language whilst my dad tried to translate the unknown wonders of the physics language to secondary students. Bored ones at that! My father also dabbled in music and taught it at school for a while. There are more people that none who sat to me that physics and music aren't a language. Nowadays I would assume that it was due to the fact that I might have and still maintained a differing perspective on language itself. 

A language is a form of communications that humans have conducted to make their lives easier. The sole purpose of a language is to translate one person's thoughts and pass it on to the next. Although I was quite lackadaisical in school, I still managed to keep up with Mr. Barkers English classes enough to pick up a few skills. I still remember when we were initially introduced to John Cooper Clarke's poetry. It has spurred a certain part of me to take a figurative and more so artistic approach of communication.

"Come on, I know you've got it in you"

"Maybe next time, sir. What I've written isn't worth reading out tot he class"

"We only get given a few opportunities in life, Alex you need to more risks"

The conversation we had the day he had urged me to read the poetry I've written to the class has been etched into the walls of my mind. At the time his statement seemed extreme, but with hindsight, I would deem it the best advice I had ever been given.

After college, just like the rest of us, my parents urged me to go to university. After all, it's what school has been building us towards all these years, but over the last few years of school, I had developed a liking for poetry.  I have also picked up a few skills with a guitar. My friends, soon to be band mates, introduced me to the good music. I started listening to all the classics, the newbies and everything in between. I found myself lost in all these songs, lyrics and music. Mr. Barker’s words rang in my ears and I came to take the risk of a gap year. My parents are supportive and ultimately allowed me to take a year of to explore my passions. I filled in a few applications for Manchester, but my gap year has slowly but surely turned into some sort of gap life. To put it short I never went to university. I did instead though find myself in a band, the Arctic Monkeys. 

At first, our music didn’t have much meaning because “ A lot of people have an idea of the music they wanna make and they go make it, but we started the band to have something to do and we figured all that stuff out.” I never shared my lyrics with my band mates for "I had this sense of dread that the others would laugh me out of the room. Mickey taking is a useful quality control.” But as time went on I was finally able to an outlet all my emotions and experiences. I managed to get better at writing poetry. I managed to sculpt my identity and with it learned how to convey it to an audience willing to listen. I was very much so influenced by the stylistic choices of the Strokes, the Hives, the White Stripes and every other talented rock band from the ninety’s and naughty’s. As a band, we had managed to find the perfect ground between our own identity and the influence of the greats.

I read somewhere that a journalist that had interviewed me said that I was:

“Hard to reconcile the gentle, boyish, self-contained singer ("always the quiet one", according to his band-mates) with the person who writes so vivaciously about modern teenage life; but slowly his guard will drop a little.”

I would have to agree with them if I’m completely honest. People know me to be the shyer member of the band. I don’t usually say much but I write with a lot of emotions, I don’t spare any. I find it so much easier to put my thoughts into lyrics.

If you think about it for long enough, you would realise that I would not be where I am without language and every aspect of its literal and figurative approaches of communication. I owe it to the language. Without it, I would not be bale to make the art that I do and without it, I also would not be able to outlet my inner most thoughts. My thoughts are mirrored through the language that I use, and through the years I have come to the conclusion that language in some ways more than others, helps disclose and communicate my beliefs and experiences. and although I'm too shy to do so in real life, I manage to take advantage of what I can with my language through the artistic approach of songwriting.