Unravelling the seamy underbelly

The true “democratic spirit,” Wallace argues, questions the historicity of prescription, in turn challenging authority. Who has genuine authority to establish rules, and can language exist in a depoliticized space? “Correctness” emerges as a social construct to be probed and prodded by the people.

Radical cybercitizens often construe an idealized internet as the promised land of democracy, an arena in which anyone can commentate. The new media platform provided by the internet is manipulable, networkable, and interactive. User-driven technologies emerge, allowing for broadcasting at the individual level. Twitter handles reach virality, and in self-publishing, bloggers bypass the traditional editorial hierarchy that enforces Standard English conventions in print and radio. Thus, one’s individual pattern of grammar and vocabulary has the potential to reach (and influence) more people than ever before.

Whether new media democratize language by returning it to the masses, or establish a new class of linguistic “taste-makers,” is contestable. According to Charles Boberg, a linguistics professor at McGill, the linguistic trends on the internet parallel many other social and cultural phenomena. A few influential people act as guides to what is ‘in,’ and the trend rapidly spreads across the rest of the population.

Applied internet linguistics and the democratic spirit

Theorists have argued that the internet challenges the linguistic binary, wherein speech and writing form the two absolutes; the internet provides a unique mode of linguistic communication. In contrast to spoken conversations, online communication delays feedback and allows a premeditated response. This potentially leaves less room for spontaneity in the exchange. The internet also enhances our interactions by allowing the use of hyperlinks and graphics (such as image macros and animated GIFs) in communication.

A growing body of knowledge in applied internet linguistics explores the role of internet slang, or netspeak, in driving linguistic evolution. In an interview with the CBC, Gretchen McCulloch, a linguist with a Master’s of Arts from McGill, explains: “Our notion of grammatically correct is kind of a weird beast. Some of the ideas of what people think of as correct are strange holdovers from the Latin tradition of grammar, [such as] this idea that you should never split a preposition.” Yet, the interpersonal dynamics of communication leave room for linguistic evolution. Ubiquity plays a role in legitimizing certain coinages, eventually allowing them to enter the realm of the correct. McCulloch continues, “But various more subtle things have made their way into the canon of English literature without people really noticing or people really remarking on them.”

Because internet

One such example lies in contemporary usage of “because.” In November 2013, Megan Garber of The Atlantic reported on a syntactic trend gaining internet linguists’ attention. In her article “English Has a New Preposition, Because Internet,” she reports on the new construction that linguists have dubbed the “prepositional because.” Though “because-noun” has garnered the most media attention, the same syntax can be used with other parts of speech.

By the rules of Standard English, “because” is a subordinating conjunction. As such, “because” can only be followed by a finite clause (“because the cake was delicious”) or a prepositional phrase (“because of the internet”).

Prepositional because, on the other hand, may precede an adjective or a noun. Interestingly, the conjunction’s conventional purpose is preserved in the two prepositional forms of “because.” “Because-noun” is exemplified in the title of Garber’s article: “English Has a New Preposition, Because Internet.” The properly formed sentence would instead claim that there is a new preposition “because of the internet.” Here, the noun is clearly a contemporary analog to the prepositional phrase. Similarly, “because-adjective” mirrors the construction involving finite clauses. “I ate the whole cake because delicious” acts as a jocular rendition of “because it is delicious.”

How it evolved

Prepositional because has its own evolutionary history. Neal Whitman of the Literal Minded blog explains that the construction emerged in the early 2000s with “because” being followed by a jokey interjection: “because – hey – why not?” “It’s like a verbal shrug,” he writes, “as if to ask, ‘What more do I need to say?’”

The underlying sarcastic tone appealed to satirists and bloggers alike. “Because – hey” began to appear on websites with a particular demographic following, including Jezebel, a women’s interests subsidiary of Gawker Media. Readers quickly adopted “because – hey” as a meme, thanks to its simplicity and lightheartedness. Eventually, people dropped the “hey.” In her blog All Things Linguistic, McCulloch suggests that the construction’s “stylized verbal incoherence [mirrors] emotional incoherence.” Similar constructions are also found with but, also, so, thus, and the like.

The lasting effects of this construction’s ubiquity, however, are still to be seen. Linguistic databases show that children are now using it without the implicit sarcasm that made prepositional because go viral as a meme.

Contentions

Boberg is skeptical of the media buzz surrounding prepositional because. “I think this is one of dozens of language usage trends that start up on the internet, quickly spread, and then eventually die out as they become passé. It’s true that the internet, because of the instant global communication it facilitates, may have sped up this process considerably, compared to the old print world, but the process is essentially the same,” he says.

When asked whether he believed prepositional because and related constructions would have a lasting impact on the English language, Boberg expressed doubt. “I think it’s just one of many shorthand forms that developed from texting and email typing, which have been widely reported on all over the world by linguists and others who study the internet,” he told The Daily. “I doubt it’s going to have any effect outside that medium (e.g. in speech or more formal, traditional writing), and I doubt it’s going to survive more than five years, unless as a restricted conventionalized form in texting. But it’s dangerous to try to predict the future.”

McCulloch expressed a similar concern in her interview with CBC. “You can’t necessarily predict which things are going to stick around and become part of the formal written canon and which things are going to remain as slang,” added McCulloch. “But there is definitely a porous boundary between the two.”

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Many village schools lack sufficient sanitation facilities due to inaccessible water sources. For this reason, it is not uncommon for girls to withdraw from schooling at the onset of menstruation. Additionally, the traditional female position within most family units in rural India requires that she partake in collecting water for the household, compromising academic endeavours. A United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative case study estimates that drop out rates in the rural parts of India are as high as 60 per cent.

Decode Global’s mobile app “Get Water!” aims to raise awareness of water scarcity and how it affects the lives of girls in developing areas. “The main audience for the game is North Americans, people who don’t necessarily experience not being able to go to school because there isn’t access to clean water,” explained Mannella, “but [the audience] can be sensitized to the issue…and [they can] help raise awareness about it, just by playing the game.”

Like-minded non-governmental organizations are actively trying to solve the same problem, but setting Decode Global apart is the medium Mannella selected to spread their message. The company’s mission statement cites the role of mobile games in “sustainable social change.”

Mannella recognized the growth potential in the mobile apps sector early on. With smartphones at everyone’s fingertips, the implications of an app-based campaign may reach an audience unprecedented in size. The prevalence of mobile phones extends beyond North America, with the number of mobile phone subscribers in rural India surpassing 320 million last year. 3.6 million of these users have access to the internet on their smartphones. Despite the high presence of mobile technology, rural areas often lack running water and electricity.

A six-month experience managing technology and database systems at a microcredit organization in South America as an undergraduate inspired this McGill alumna’s objective to use technology for social action. NetCorps, the program in which Mannella participated, was discontinued in 2008, but she sought to fill its place with her budding project. With the aim of creating “an internationally focused company that combines technology and social impact while giving young people the opportunity to work on their projects, see the world, and develop their skills in nontraditional ways,” Decode Global was born in early 2012. It was the unique gaming industry Mannella unearthed upon her return to Montreal that brought the company’s focus to games.

Games are enticing and fun, and using mobile games as a platform for social change suggests that they can also be educational and inspiring. Roy Baron, one of Decode Global’s 2012 Fellows involved in developing Get Water!, commented on the medium’s significance. “Games are inherently interactive and involve the audience with the issue… [allowing] players to not only view someone’s situation, but to actually live it.” A challenge for the developers lay in addressing the ways in which water scarcity compromises girls’ education while maintaining a hopeful tone in the game’s storyline. The team addressed this challenge by designing a simple game that could easily be played during one’s commute or while waiting in line. The game presents a fun and relaxing outlet while engaging its player with pressing social issues. “Get Water! doesn’t seek to depress or throw the issue in people’s faces,” Baron told The Daily. “Instead, it offers a compelling and entertaining experience that’s intended for people to play in short snippets.”

Get Water! is a side-scrolling, endless runner game that provides a first-person perspective on daily life through the eyes of a young woman named Maya. Maya is not only an avatar in this game, but a role model for girls in similar circumstances. “Maya is a head-strong, book-loving, optimistic girl,” reads Get Water!’s Indiegogo page, which was created to attract crowdfunding for the project;  she embodies what we colloquially call ‘girl power.’ The ultimate goal at the end of the game’s obstacle circuit is that Maya attend school.

Though the game’s simplification of the challenges these women face may increase its appeal to its North American audience, it could also undercut Decode Global’s mission of raising awareness. The storyline presented in the game detracts from the nuances of water scarcity and the resultant lack of opportunity for women in rural India.

Decode Global’s campaigns on the ground, carried out through local partnerships, strive similarly to empower women through education.

In close partnership with New Delhi social enterprise Boond, which targets a range of social issues through grassroots initiatives, Decode Global has established a presence within the communities it aims to help. Boond’s workers advocate for the benefits of feminine hygiene in communities that are remote from supply-chain logistics. Decode Global is currently developing a mobile game for Boond’s women’s healthcare workers to integrate in their outreach to village schoolgirls. “We [at Decode] bring in the technology expertise, and Boond brings in the expertise of working in…very rural areas in India,” Mannella told The Daily.

In Maya’s gamified case, access to hygiene and water sanitation means being able to attain a proper education. Decode Global believes that their technology can do even more to empower these women. Beyond health outreach campaigns, Decode Global’s apps can support the development of small businesses. In low-resource communities, women are heavy users of the mobile technology to which they have access. Yet their technological needs get little attention. “We look at ways to build more applications and games that are beneficial to them, which can help them be more successful entrepreneurs,” said Mannella, “independent of anything else, that’s a big priority for us.”

Decode Global, in collaboration with Concordia University’s research centre in Technoculture, Art and Games and Dawson College, will launch a summer program that specifically focuses on games for social impact. Through such programs, the group aims to nurture the burgeoning games-for-change community in Montreal and to incubate future projects and innovations in the field. Whether games and partnerships such as this will truly encourage change through awareness-building and on-the-ground work – instead of merely fostering ‘slacktivism’ in its players – remains to be seen.

The Get Water! mobile app will be made available for iOS on World Water Day, March 22, 2013. The release of an Android-compatible app will follow in early April.

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