Languages change. An inevitable change; however, somehow they manage to stay around and are spoken for hundreds maybe even thousands of years. Languages are a fundamental element of human daily life. With language, humans are able to talk to their families and friends, conduct business deals, gain an education, the list goes on and on. What if in twenty years, the language humans speak today were not understood? What about fifty? Or even one hundred? Would humans be able to adapt to the changes in language as they had in the past? This essay will view John H. McWhorter 's article, "What the World Will Speak in 2115;" (2015) and discuss how languages have changed in the past, what might happen in the future with languages, and if English will …show more content…
If one were to read books from Shakespeare, which were written between the years 1589 through 1613 (Shakespeare 's Works: A Timeline, n.d.), one would notice that the English language used to be quite different, numerous people today would have a difficult time reading these books. If a person from Shakespeare 's time were to read the written English language of today, they would also be confused as to why the language looks and is spoken so differently. These changes to the English language have been caused through a process called simplification. The Vikings were the ones who changed the English language according to McWhorter. When they invaded England, they married the English women. Through their marriage the Viking men learned a little English; except it was a "broken" English, they had removed the gender assignment to words to simplify it. Naturally, at one point the Vikings would procreate with their English wives. The children would hear their father 's "broken" English and would learn to speak this form. Through this they would learn the errors that their fathers made and then make the same ones. Eventually this eradicated the gender assignment to words, different word cases, and complex grammar that was originally there (McWhorter, 2015). These changes have led to the English language becoming what we know
...ine because of technological advances. As Orwell states in his essay “Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly” (446). These bad habit are speaking in text speak instead of proper English. In past centuries we have fought great battles, now we unite against new enemy, the enemy of improper English.
English developed thorough the time since it founded first by Germanic tribes. The English developed through three periods, which knows as, Old English or Anlgo – Saxon, Middle English and Modern English. The Modern English was the basic development at the language in Europe. Few reasons cause the language to be wildly developed, such as the shift in vowels pronunciation, the connection between the British and the outside world and printing invention. According to Linda C. Mitchell, grammar books during Seventeenth century, was including lexicons, and almost no dictionaries. This essay will be about the Systemization of English.
The English language has changed tremendously throughout the course of history. It began when the Germanic tribes began immigrating to Britain in the third century. The Anglo-Saxon language evolved into Middle English when France invaded Britain in 1066. The English we know today has flourished from the beginning of our technological advances. The modern English language spoken today began with defining advances of technology including the printing press, vehicles of transportation, and devices used to communicate.
Throughout history, many languages change over time but out of them all I feel English has changed the most. I feel as we go on the way we pronounce words, use slang, rewrite words that have the same meaning but sound differently has changed drastically. I think the main influence on the evolution of the English language would be migration. We the people have moved so much going across countries and other states with English as our default or with broken English or not knowing the language at all. Most out of the United States do have broken English or simply don't know english at all but can identify which language is being heard. No two speak identically either, as they learn English their born language begins to fight with it for example
Language has been said to effect culture and a person’s way of thinking; in addition to culture effecting language. Throughout the last 100 years there have been apparent and subtle changes in the English language. The changes an English speaking person may see throughout their life time are different catchphrases, the way language is written, the type of formality used, and how deeply English is affected by cultures; as well as how it effects other cultures around the world.
English spoken today has been deformed by the sense of quickness used to convey messages on devices such as phones or computers. But it's a necessity when trying to talk about something newer or modern. Betty Birner states in her article Is English Changing? "This isn't a bad thing; if English hadn't changed since, say, 1950, we wouldn't have words to refer to modems, fax machines, or cable TV. As long as the needs of language users continue to change, so will the language." It's not always a bad thing for language to change, however it is changing in two ways; One is the good type of change, the other is a far less intuitive way of speaking and communicating.
Reading of Chapter four in the textbook titled " Foreign Influences on Old English,” the followings are the terms that came across as interesting and necessary for the understanding of the extent of foreign influence on the old English language:
The duration of Early Modern English took place during the English Renaissance, and hence the amazing evolutions that occurred within it (Myers 166). After the Renaissance came the Age of Reason, and it is during this time that the language becomes recognizable to today (Smith 9). The most common example of Early Modern English is the fact that Shakespeare wrote in it, and it poses the most similarities to Modern day; the language moved from a synthetic one to a more analytical one, and relied less on inflectional endings and more with word order to convey information (Durkin 1). Early Modern English is the premise for the ever-evolving language that millions speak
Language also changes easy whenever speakers come into contact with each other. No two individuals speak identically: people from different geographical places clearly speak differently, but even within the same small community there are variations according to a speaker’s age, gender, social and educational background. Through our interactions with these different
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I am addressing the issue of ‘How often your language is changing?’ Through this survey one can know how often one observes their own language change. Here my main aim is to question you about your language change. Also,
In conclusion, we see that not only were the major changes to the English Language during the renaissance mainly lexical but also were mainly due to social and economic factors.
Moreover a major point in globalization is language which helps connect people together because most people use it in the world. In addition, over a billion people in the world now speak English. According to a report titled, “English Next" by language researcher David Graddol, "...two billion people [will] be speaking or learning English within a decade" Graddol (1997).
It is believed that the English language is derived from the Anglo-Frisian dialects from West Germanic tribes who were situated in North West Germany and the Netherlands when they invaded the Celtic ruled Britain. When the group Germanic tribes drove out the native Celts in Britain, they started to interact with one another. Since they speak similar languages, the language fused together overtime to create what we know now as the English language. English belongs to the West Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. The English language is known as a borrowing language, which means that the words are borrowed from many other languages such as Latin, Greek and French without translating
The settlement of the British Isles by north Europeans followed by Norman French paints the backdrop to this essay which will focus on the period between the early 15th and 17th centuries, when a 'standard' English evolved. It will show that modern-day English is very different to that first introduced to the British Isles, but by identifying changes through time, its continuity can be demonstrated. Finally, it will suggest that present day English is in a position analogous to that which existed before the Norman invasion, when there were many varieties and dialects, and that this may lead to its decline as a global language, due to decreasing intelligibility.