User:Sheefa.sameha/sandbox

Origins of slang
The exact origins of Internet slang terms originate largely on the Internet, but the selection process remains seemingly irregular or abstract. The process of coinage is therefore also difficult to describe. Slang seems to be commonly sourced, however, from online games, video games and general pop culture. Examples include in the English-speaking world, the word ‘bazinga’ from the NBC show The Big Bang Theory and, in Japanese, the term ‘moe’ has come into common use among slang users to mean something extremely cute and appealing. Aside from the more frequently found abbreviations, acronyms and emoticons, Internet slang is also based on archaic words or the lesser-known dialectal counterparts of a term in mainstream language. Regular words can also be altered into something with a similar pronounciation but altogether different meaning, or attributed new meanings altogether. Phonetic transcriptions of foreign words, such as the transformation of ‘impossible’ into ‘impossibiru’ in Japanese and then back to English, is also observed. In places where logographic languages are used such as China, a visual variety of Internet slang is also observable, where a character has a duality in meaning- direct and implied

Language and Internet slang
Internet slang has not been proven to directly impact language, but relationships can be observed. Attention has, for example, been drawn to the effect of its use in ethnography, and more importantly to how conversational relationships online change structurally because slang is used.  [Garcia, Angela Cora, Standlee, Alecea I., Beckhoff, Jennifer and Yan Cui. Ethnographic Approaches to the Internet and Computer-Mediated Communication. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. Vol. 38 No. 1 pp 52-84] An alternative opinion is that Internet slang has become an inferentially based societal language or sociolect learned through imitation.

Support for Internet slang
The Internet allows better linguistic expression and individual expression and creativity on established interactional conventions. Using and spreading Internet slang also adds on to the cultural currency of a language.

Criticism against Internet slang
Prescriptivists widely believe that the Internet has a negative influence on the future of language, and that it would eventually lead to a degradation of standards. Some would even attribute any declination of standard formal English to the increase in usage of electronic communication.