Re: nettime: Language? No Problem.

[Rafael Lozano-Hemmer <75337.1453@compuserve.com>]

Hello Geert and nettime

I have been very interested by the current nettime thread on net-languages. I
particularly enjoy the idea that in the near future if you are an English
speaker the odds are that you are *not* a white anglo-saxon. 

I agree with McKenzie Wark's characterization of *speed* as a quality
distinguishing net text from printed text. However, I think he is only referring
to *reading* speed and, as a non-native english speaker, I think equally
important is *writing* speed. For example, it is taking me three times as long
to write this silly reply in English and perhaps, by the time I finish, you guys
will already be discussing some other interesting subject. This is what I call
"language lag" and it is reminiscent of a conversation over a bad transatlantic
telephone connection or through a simultaneous interpreter. Of course language
lag gaps can be a source of creative energy, but most often the lag produces
what Geert calls "frustrating, violent, bodily experience." (And it is a bodily
experience especially because one wants to gesticulate to explain, -and body
language does not readily travel over TCP/IP... yet). This is why it is great
that you are opening forums, such as alternative language nettimes, where more
"spontaneous" native interaction can take place.

While the relationship between language, technology and power is well
established, here is one more example: In 1492, the Spanish scholar Antonio de
Nebrija wrote the first Grammar book for a modern european language. His
"Gramatica" standardized the rules of the Castillian language 30 years before
any other european romance language. In the preface to the book Nebrija
specifies that a standardized grammar is important because "Language is a
companion of Empire, that allows the conquerors to teach their language to the
conquered". Historical gossip tells us that Isabel of Castilla, being "stronger"
than her husband Fernando of Aragon, commissioned Nebrija to undertake the
Grammar to ensure that the language disseminated in the new colonies was
Castillian and not Aragones. With the help of new technology, the printing
press, she succeeded.

Of course, in the process of dissemination, the master tongue was hybridized and
re-created. But more than create new words, one of the characteristics of Latin
American Spanish is the degree to which "albur" (double meaning) is used. A
conversation between two mexicans may convey a straight forward, literal meaning
and a completely metaphorical sub-text, typically sexual.

Wark's description of the ways "other" englishes are pluralizing the master
tongue reminds me how similarly the language of technology, with all its anglo
neologisms, is changing Spanish. Equally interesting is how spanish "albur"
might be starting to be operative within the language of technology. This is
important in order to demystify the field and favour access. The name "World
Wide Web" is great in english because it conveys a visual equivalent of what it
is in a relatively humorous way. But there is nothing humorous about trying to
pronounce World Wide Web in Spanish: in the absence of a native equivalent, the
term is actually alienating and mysterious. This has to change.

At the first level what is produced is a "cyberspanglish" where most english
words are appropiated with the addition of Spanish suffixes e.g. download
becomes daunlodear, chat becomes chatear, etc. (check
"http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~seagull/spanglish.html" for a complete list).
Beyond appropiation, and definitely much more fun, is the invention of cultural
equivalents to net jargon. At the Fundacion Arte y Tecnologia web site we are in
the process of publishing a "glossary" that incorporates different usages, many
of them invented over alcoholic evenings. While we do not expect any of the
words to survive, the web site will allow people to vote and add their own
suggestions and thus the issues of language-access-power will be brought to
discussion, we hope.

One example: the net-proposal "Let's Spam!" is a wonderful visual reference to
the process of sending thousands of messages to stuff an electronic mailbox or
to slow traffic by taking up bandwidth. The humour is lost to those who have
never seen the canned pig-product. So our alternative is "Vamos a Amorcillar!"
(or "Vamos a Amorongar!" in Latin America) which refers to Morcilla and Moronga,
a juicy blood sausage wrapped in pig intestine. (Check
http://www.telefonica.es/fat/ in a few weeks if you want to vote or add a term
to the glossary).

As for the term "World Wide Web"? Well, there is the literal "Tela-Todo-Tierra
(TTT)", the straight forward "Telarana Mundial", the phonetic "Hue Hua Hue" and
the albur-phonetic "Hueva Guey" which, to Mexicans, would have the double
meaning "this shit is boring, man". 

Greetings,

Rafael

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
/    Rafael Lozano-Hemmer         /
-    Techs-Mex Bandido and DJ     -
/    75337.1453@compuserve.com    /
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-


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