Rapid changes in language form and function occurring in digital environments present teachers
and students of second languages alike with conundrums as to language and discourse standards. Factors affecting the changes
that are emerging in digital English include the spatial and temporal possibilities and constraints of the medium, digital
facilitation of case-creativity and iconic incorporation, and new social network configurations. This paper analyzes evolving
changes in orthographic, syntactic, discourse and sociocultural conventions occurring in English and Chinese in digital
environments, based on a small scale study conducted at York University in 2002–2003, noting trends across these languages
as well as more limited, culturally and linguistically specific evolutions. The converging conventional changes occurring in
these two major world languages suggest that similar transitions are happening generally in languages used for online
communication, which has serious implications for second language instruction.