1. 37
2. Forensic Toxicologist
3. I love reading books from all eras, but my favorite fiction novels tend to be from the 19th century.
4. I think the language an author uses to write fiction tends to be a product of the time, culture and the authors native language. It will also depend on what kind of story the author is trying to tell.
5. I do not think technology increases rate of change, but rather it increases access to different types of language.
6. I believe it is a common misconception that slang, abbreviations etc. are unique to contemporary fiction. Authors have been using slang in their novels throughout all of time. Slang changes depending on time and culture, but humans using slang to express themselves has never changed. Therefore, I don’t think using modern internet language has any kind of negative effect on literature.

1. 17

2. Student

3. Yes. Probably the majority of books I read are from the 1700s, but there’s a lot of modern books and even older books that I like as well.

4. Yes

5. I’m not sure. It seems logical that the Internet would spread slang faster than before, but even looking at older literature, you have changes in the language being used in literature that take place just as quickly as they do now; audiences in 1770s France found plays written in the 1720s just as old-fashioned and full of weird, stilted dialogue as a modern reader might find something written in the mid-1900s. I do think the Internet is having a big impact on literature, but moreso because it allows anyone to write books for people to read rather than because it’s directly changing the language that writers are using.

6. I can’t speak to emojis in books since I’ve never seen that, but afaik books have always used slang and abbreviations and illustrations

This is a cool idea, I hope your thesis goes well! I sometimes wish I majored in English but I only have two classes left in my undergrad program so oh well, I will live vicariously through you and this assignment!

1. 21

2. Full-time college student, senior year undergrad currently.

3. Yes. Late modern era if I had to choose a main era (1750-present), but if I’m allowed to be more specific and choose smaller eras/turning points within the late modern era, I’d definitely say the contemporary period (1945-present). I see myself usually reading books written 1990s or later but occasionally I’ll dabble in some earlier 20th century books.

4. Yes, very much so, though the definition of “earlier” is broad. The language is very very different up until I’d say mid-1650s or so (and hard to decipher unless you’re knowledgeable in how to do so) and then it starts to slowly become more decipherable in the modern tongue after that.

5. Although this is something you can’t really measure and thus can’t ever say for certain, I’d say that in my opinion, 100%.Language evolves slowly but in the modern period we’ve ramped it up quite a bit (I’m talking about English specifically at least). We can now read, hear, or see anything within seconds, hence why new language “trends” or different slangs become viral on TikTok, everyone knows about it in like three days, and then authors start using it in their books to seem “relatable.” I believe if modern slang is used to fit who the character is as a person in dialogue or something then it’s fine because it’s the language we use (so in 60 years someone will be like “Oh, they talked like that? That’s weird”), but if the author is trying to do it to be “in with the times” or funny then it’s usually going to miss, now and later. That was just a side note, but yes, social media and the internet are changing the way books are written and the way language is used, both that is used in books and in actual speaking.

6. I don’t necessarily believe this to be a positive or a negative change, but rather, just a change (though if I had to select one, I’d say positive). Language has to evolve, and we cannot change the way we speak and communicate in real life without changing the way we write; think about how fucking confused everyone would be if we spoke like we do currently but still wrote like people spoke in the early (1500-1750ish) modern era. I see great positives in how many authors modernize their writing today, especially because I feel like it enforces a love of reading that has been shoved out of so many people. Most children love to read but few turn into adults that still do because the school system constantly shoves old book after old book at students and makes them decipher the meanings until they can’t see straight, and this kills the love of reading. Authors trying to write in ways that will make people more inclined to read due to familiar and relatable plot lines, slang, informal speaking, etc. is a great way to keep the language evolving, make it relevant to who we are as a current society, and get those people who have been beaten down by the Odyssey and Shakespeare back into reading. However, a worry some have is that some older books that are very important to our history could be lost due to being pushed to the back burner and forgotten about because although lots of people enjoy a good classic, most people are reaching for a newer book a good 80-100% of the time. I do not necessarily see this happening as long as we still put in conscious effort to keep old books relevant, which we are doing, so I don’t really see this as a negative but rather just something to watch out for. All in all, I’d say I’m perhaps leaning toward these things being positive changes if I had to choose. One of the most important things about reading is that people are enjoying themselves and the book, and since all the stuff you mentioned in question six regarding contemporary books is what makes a lot of people enjoy them, then I have absolutely no issue. :)

62 - retired - all books except horror and chicklit - yes, Shakespeare wrote differently from Stoppard, but it’s not an issue, you can like both, one or the other or something else again - I don’t know if faster, how do you measure?, but it’s not an issue: language has always changed and some people have always moaned about thatt though it’s as unstoppable as the tide - actually this usage happens surprisingly rarely in contemporary books and as long as it’s appropriate to the book content why would it be an issue?

1. 17
2. Still trying to figure out what study to do
3. I read basically only new books
4. Probably… but I haven’t read enough older works to judge
5. I think so, the world moves way faster than before and changes so much faster
6. I don’t really mind it that much, i don’t hate it, but it’s also not something that would make the book better. So i’m very neutral about it

Can you clarify what you mean by “from which era? (new or old)” this means different things to different people so the answers that you get won’t be uniform.

Also if you set this up as a Google form, people will likely be more inclined to answer because their info won’t be public 🤗

1. 33

2. Disabled

3. Yes, both.

4. I don’t think this is an opinion thing. Yes, factually. Language evolves, and in writing, it’s seen most in fictional narratives.

5. Yes, but I believe it’s because technology gives us access to many more voices from many more places.

6. I don’t see them as changes. Slang has long been used in fictional narratives. Many classic authors specifically reference cultural memes specifically because it makes their writing more accessible. Images in text certainly aren’t new. Are you familiar with illuminated manuscripts? Abbreviations aren’t new, either. One of the difficulties of interpreting very old works is not being familiar with the common abbreviations of the day. What we see today are just continuations of literary traditions, adapted to contemporary culture.

Sure! Good luck on your project.

I’m 25.

I work in a factory.

I enjoy reading books (that’s why I’m seeing this post on r/books). I read more old books than new ones, for a few reasons: 1) I’m cheap and I can read old public-domain books for free on Project Gutenberg without pirating; 2) it feels like less risk of a bad time if I’m reading a “classic” book that’s widely praised; 3) I love reading other people’s reviews or reactions to a book after I’ve finished it, and widely-read old books have more reviews; 4) I have a lot of writing pet peeves that new books hit worse than old books; and 5) I grew up reading old books so the old-timey writing feels more normal to me in a book.

The language in new books is definitely different, but it’s different in different ways depending on the genre and where the author started writing (the ones who started with fanfiction use more italics for example).

And the change in language IS definitely accelerating because of the Internet. New slang words are outdated in less than a year. But then a lot of slang in the past might have been just as short-lived and we wouldn’t know about it because there wasn’t so much recording of everything then.

“Inserting images in the pages” is great and not new-fangled, I love illustrations. But the Internet words and emojis - they can have a place in a book that’s talking about the Internet, but I don’t want to see them otherwise. I don’t know if it’s an objectively negative change or if I just feel negative about it. I think old books tended more to “clean up” their language and avoid confusing local slang and words that were likely to be dated in a few years - but then again, there are good old books that get really deep into a local dialect, like The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and I really like when a book dives into something specific like that. Internet slang is annoying to me personally because I’m on the Internet too much and when I read a book I want a break.

Could you make it to a Google form ? It’d be easy to answer ig

Where are you “majoring in English”? (if ESL, please ignore this)

Why not set this up in Google Forms? It would be more anonymous for us, and it would be easier for you to compile the results?