THE NATION:Do you have any thoughts about the ways that technologies like e-mail and texting are changing how people speak and write? (from Back Talk )
TONI MORRISON: Language changes--and should--because it is as alive as its speakers and writers. It is stifling or bad only when unclear, mediocre, false or wholly devoid of creative imagination. That may apply to some texting and e-mail, but not all."
and in reference to an entertaining segment on NPR's Talk of the Nation:
"Texting has added a new dimension to language use, indeed, but its long-term impact on the already existing varieties of language is likely to be negligible. It is not a bad thing."
