Book Review Mondays

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Always On
by Naomi S. Baron

Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, PhD.

Baron, a professor of linguistics at American University in Washington, DC, suggests that online and mobile technologies --- instant messaging, cell phones, multitasking, Facebook, blogs, and wikis --- have a profound effect on how we read and write, speak and listen. As a result of focusing on contemporary language technologies, Baron pursues the answers to two questions: What are we, as speakers and writers, doing to ourselves by virtue of new communication technologies, and do our linguistic practices impact the way we think and relate to other people? Baron looks specifically at language in an online world. Of particular interest to me, because of my background in speech communication, was her Chapter 4, "Are Instant Messages Speech?" Her answer is no, even though there are speechlike elements, and the informal medium of IM assumes some of the dimensions of more formal, written language. Although written for everyone, this is a sophisticated book full of history, studies, quotations, examples, and evidence for her observations and conclusions. If you want a serious book that examines contemporary language technologies in a serious manner, this book has some excellent insights and observations.

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