THE IMPACT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES ON THE LANGUAGE OF FRENCH YOUTH

The language of young people in its diversity is of great interest
to linguists at the present moment. Only dead languages do not
evolve and this is why SMS communication has become in a few
years a real phenomenon of the modern reality in which it is
difficult to escape these mini-messages that are sent during the
day. It is not a secret that the language of young people is like a
mirror, through which we can see all the changes that occur in
society at a certain stage of its historical development. For some
time our society has been influenced by two trends: the
globalization and the integration of society, which predetermines
the attraction of economic, political and cultural external links;
the strengthening the ideas of national (ethnic) identity. This
happens when the consciousness of society changes, adapts,
rebuilds itself, young people develop with a new vision of life
and a vision of the world quite different from that of their parents,
who impact directly on the verbal behavior of the youth. Today
the Internet is a system of possibilities. Communication is among
the most popular services. We can inoculate with many people,
without worrying about their place of residence, age, their degree
of knowledge (familiarity), etc. Such a mode of communication is
very current, especially among the modern young people who
feel the constant need for communication because of their age.
Formerly this communicative need is complemented by reading,
music, art but, unfortunately, nowadays all this has moved aside.
With the appearance of the mobile phone, communication via
SMS has become even more convenient. The mobile phone
accompanies its owner everywhere and allows us to touch our
target directly and personally through a powerful and fast
message. Millions of SMS are sent every day in France. When we
send an SMS the number of characters is limited to 160. Thus, we
try to write a maximum of information in a minimum of space for
the sake of economy. It is with their friends that young people
spend most of their leisure time. Social networks and chats allow
them to chat all together in real time. Chatting is one of the most
popular activities on social networks: 86 % of young people chat
(survey of 2018). It does not cost them anything, unlike the
phone. Another attraction of the chat rooms is that you make new
acquaintances quickly. Chatter is an adaptation of English, but
the word chat was created by the French Academy that cannot
stand any more the fact that the young people turn the words
invented by English speakers instead of using ones of their own
(Both variants are correct: chatter/tchatter). Instant messaging
allows instant online communication, and does not keep sending
messages. Some common examples: Google Talk, MSN, Skype,
Yahoo, messenger … There are also specialized chats in all kinds
of areas that provide meetings. In this report we will examine the
specificities of the virtual language that the French youth actively
uses. Then, we will study whether the new technologies have an
impact on the way adolescents write. Finally, we will tackle the
question of the influence of the argo borrowed by young people
on the writing of SMS and on the intercultural interaction because
all human society works with prohibitions, taboos, among others,
the social, political, religious, moral order which is conveyed by
the legitimized forms of language.
Key words: language of young people, SMS, specificities of the
virtual language, new technologies, borrowed argo.