Adam Aleksic — Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language - with Aidan Walker

From "brainrot" memes and incel slang to the trend of adding "-core" to different influencer aesthetics, the internet has ushered in an unprecedented linguistic upheaval. We're entering an entirely new era of etymology, heralded by the invisible forces driving social media algorithms. Thankfully, Algospeak is here to explain. As a professional linguist, Adam Aleksic understands the gravity of language and the way we use it: he knows the ways it has morphed and changed, how it reflects society, and how, in its everyday usage, we carry centuries of human history on our tongues. As a social media influencer, Aleksic is also intimately familiar with the internet's reach and how social media impacts the way we engage with one another. New slang emerges and goes viral overnight. Accents are shaped or erased on YouTube. Grammatical rules, loopholes, and patterns surface and transform language as we know it. Our interactions, social norms, and habits--both online and in person--shift into something completely different.As Aleksic uses original surveys, data, and internet archival research to usher us through this new linguistic landscape, he also illuminates how communication is changing in both familiar and unexpected ways. From our use of emojis to sentence structure to the ways younger generations talk about sex and death (see unalive in English and desvivirse in Spanish), we are in a brand-new world, one shaped by algorithms and technology. Algospeak is an energetic, astonishing journey into language, the internet, and what this intersection means for all of us.PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780593804070?ic_referral=eM41ndgbrkFKSEn3bwBEP98XB33-6GEJOVMlzCKB1wkwM0EigURV-HSZAdD_2uYsagSkgck06HnvrtZLRqc88cNFacIXKDgHPnmYXGEc4Fp02oPuaOdG9xn_zd5hlYe3U0FJCVIAdam Aleksic is a linguist and content creator posting educational videos as the "Etymology Nerd" to an audience of more than two million. As a linguistics student at Harvard College, he founded and served as president of the Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society. He's discussed online language on NPR and repeatedly contributed to The Washington Post, and his work has been mentioned in The New York Times, The Economist, and The Guardian. He's lectured on language and social media at Stanford, Yale, Georgetown, and other top universities, including a TEDx talk at the University of Pennsylvania. Aleksic is based in New York City, where he spends a lot of time scrolling TikTok for "research."Aleksic is in conversation with Aidan Walker. Aidan Walker (@aidanetcetera) is a content creator and internet culture journalist whose work has been published with the BBC, Know Your Meme, and other outlets.