Thursday, October 7, 2010

to tweet

Over at Language Log Geoffry Pullum has an interesting little post about how 'tweet' is developing as a verb:
The verb tweet is gradually developing its own syntax according to what it means and what its users regard as its combinatory possibilities. That is a really interesting, though unintended, large-scale natural experiment in how syntactic change works. And it is running right now, every minute of every day.
Re-read that middle sentence and think about it, carefully.

This is language change, happening before your very eyes. And you can follow it through Google, if you so wish.

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