Sociolinguistic Artifacts

This lithub article discusses the "Maxim of Extravaganza", arguing that speakers (implicitly, young speakers, digital natives, internet users, and speakers without formal/literary/standardized education) are "draining language of its power" by applying superlatives to an "inappropriate breadth" of situations. Particularly interesting is the comment section, where (generally older) commenters name explicitly some of the assumptions and prejudices left explicit in the article. The article itself also makes two interesting claims: that overuse of superlatives is a sign of the deterioration of critical thought, and that it disagrees with academics and researchers' claims that there is not more communication going on now than in the past, it's just more visible. I wonder what her credentials are... . This seems to me like a textbook "Kids these days..." claims, although we might also think critically/productively about the effects of capitalism, social media, and the prolific influences of advertising & algorithm on our communication. [Published on 09-27-2022]