Thread by @sqiouyilu

I really hope twitter india makes their own twitter ecosystem. I’ve reached the point where I no longer feel like the world is burning, but instead feel like I’m witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime moment of language evolution and divergence

this is VERY parallel to english’s glocalization, and not coincidental imo that it is india genesising this, indian english is one of the most established world englishes and the one that originated expanding circles theoretical framework of english, cf. work by Braj B. Kachru

what we are witnessing is a colonialist taking over a linguistic ecosystem and thinking he can do colonialist things to it

while not everyone on here tweets in english, the power users in this ecosystem who built it (Black Twitter and journalists) are comprised mostly of people who either speak nonstandard Englishes or set standards for English (and thus know they’re arbitrary)

the response shall be, “fuck you, I do what I want. you don’t fucking control my language. this is mine, and I know it so deeply I will make my own that no longer needs yours”

and that is so beautiful.

elon musk acquiring twitter is a watershed moment in digital linguistics, for it has already triggered digital linguistic diasporas, which will localize their understandings of digital language (as we’ve seen with tumblr speak being different than others) (cc @GretchenAMcC!!)

we are #RazingBabel baby!!!!!!! tbh the full title of my next novella should be “RAZING BABEL: A Documentary”