The differences between written language and speech were once clear in a variety of aspects. Before, speech was immediate, dialogical and informal, while written language was generally formal and there was some distance in the time between messages. But how should we understand written language online?

"Things are changing today," as Ad Backus explained. He is a professor at the University of Tilburg and attended an international conference on transitional texts organized by the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) at the University of Navarra. "Now, when we write messages and even emails they are quite informal. Written texts on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram are more oral than written. When sending messages, grammar and spelling are typically ignored,"he added and further pointed out that emoticons are used to emulate body language. Thus, although technically this language is written and read, it is as informal as a conversation on many occasions.

Another big difference between the past and today is written response lag time. With letters it was necessary to wait, but, with instant digital messaging, actual conversations can be held. Backus explained that, "when you talk to a friend, the format is: I say something, you answer me, I answer you, and so on, accumulating about 20 or 30 messages, for example."

This usually provokes "moral panic" for people who believe that written language is deteriorating. Backus does not agree with this. "As a teacher, I see my students writing essays and assignments formally," he explains, "and I do not see big qualitative differences between now and 20 years ago."

Emails as letters or as Whatsapp messages

"Emails are the standard transitional text; they are halfway there." For some people, they signify the substitution of letters, while others use e-mail as if it were an informal text message. "It usually depends on the audience receiving the e-mail," he explains.

One of the challenges he sees is for the sender and receiver of the email to understand each other and have the same attitude without feeling judged. "You might send an informal email and the person who receives it sees it as normal and responds the same, or has a different idea of ​​how it should be." The solution he proposes is to continue living and paying attention to how this matter evolves.

"Regulating communicative attitudes is very difficult because people do not want to be told how to write a message." He believes that, as time passes, rules will gradually emerge that will be imposed and considered the appropriate way of doing things.

Ad Backus participated in a conference organized by ORFORCREA “Locked between formulas: Creativity through oral and transitional poetic texts” and developed by Sarali Gintsburg within ICS’s Public Discourse project. It receives funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program with a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant.