Passage2Twentyyearsago,theBritishinventorTimBerners-Leecreatedtheworld’sfirstwebpage.ItisworthpausingtoconsidertheextraordinaryimpactthathisinventionhashadontheEnglishlanguage. Therearenowthoughttobesome4.5billionwebpagesworldwide.Somelinguistspredictthatwithin10yearsEnglishwillruletheInternet—butinformsverydifferenttowhatweacceptandrecognizeasEnglishtoday. Everydaywordslikegoogle,unfriendandappsimplydidn’texistin1990. Evenmorewordshavehadunexpectedshiftsinmeaninginthosetwodecades.IfyouhadmentionedtweetingtoanEnglish-speakerafewyearsago,hewouldhaveassumedyouweretalkingaboutbirdnoises,nottheuseofthemicrobloggingsiteTwitter. Longago,ifsomeonelivedonline,itdidn’tmeantheyspenteverywakingminuteontheInternet,butthattheytravelledaroundwiththerailnetwork.Andwirelessstillmeans,toanyoneofacertainage,aradio—notthesystemforgettingInternetpageswithoutwires.“TheInternetisanamazingmediumforlanguages,”saidDavidCrystal,honoraryprofessoroflinguisticsattheUniversityofBangor.“LanguageitselfchangesslowlybuttheInternethasspeededuptheprocessofthosechangessoyounoticethemmorequickly.” Englishisanextremelyinclusivelanguage,andifwordscontinuetobeusedforatleastfiveyearstheygenerallyendupintheOxfordEnglishDictionary.Butlessacceptedarethepeculiardialectsthathavesprungupamongsomeusers.Forexample,‘LOLcat’isaphonetic,grammatically-incorrectcaptionthataccompaniesapictureofacat,like“I’minurbedsleeping”. Inanarticlecalled“CatsCanHaveGrammar”thebloggerAnilDashreferredtoLOLcatas“kittypidgin”.ButdoessomethinglikeLOLcathavethestayingpowertobecomeanacceptedformofEnglish? NotaccordingtoProfessorCrystal.“Theyareallcleverlittledevelopmentsusedbyaverysmallnumberofpeople—thousandsratherthanmillions.Willtheybearoundin50years’time?Iwouldbeverysurprised.”56.Whichstatementistrueaccordingtothepassage?