Essay On Modern English

Modern English (1800 - now)

The expansion of the British Empire drove the language into other nations. The growth of specific industries like science, war, manufacturing, and medicine brought specific words into the language. The invention of the automobile created an entirely new need for words. These specific words are now ingrained into our language and include terms like blitz, bulldozer, air-raid, cholesterol, allergy, hormones, stethoscope, quark, psychoanalysis, astronaut, carburetor, differential, spark plugs, and traffic light. The advent of the entertainment industry brought us words like film, microphone, tweeter, and loudspeaker. The same goes for the invention of computers and the Internet with new words like weblog, Internet,

Compound words came from combining fundamental words into specific ones like house sitter, jetlag, and fire extinguisher. We began using roots from Greek and Latin to create new words and we added prefixes and suffixes to alter those new words. Many of those Greek and Latin words are now used in science and medicine. English speakers also took brand names and used them as coined words, like a Frigidaire became synonymous with a refrigerator and a Zipper was a zipper. As the language constantly changed, it became more flexible allowing for more change that was readily accepted by speakers. Slang, idioms, and local vernacular has made the standard form of English practically a separate language itself. Speakers are often able to make conscious switches between their vernacular and the standard form of the

The language was heavily influenced by Latin and Greek languages as well as the Germanic language. As the world gets smaller and people on opposites sides of the planet are able to communicate, other languages’ influences grow. One such language is Arabic. Even though many English speakers do not realize it, Arabic has heavily influenced English, but in roundabout ways. Since the Spanish were influenced by the Moors (Arabics) thousands of Spanish words have Arabic roots. So, many Spanish words that made their way into English also have Arabic roots. It is relatively easy to spot them, since many begin with al-, like algebra, algorithm, alchemy, and almanac.

Arabic words also traveled into the English language through Sanskrit. One way to see where words came from is to look into the etymology, which is the study of word origins. One word that made its way from Sanskrit, then into Arabic, and into Italian was the word sugar. As sugar was first developed in India, it was only natural that it made its way into the Arabic countries and because of this, the word candy comes from Arabic as the word developed from the idea of cane sugar. Words from the game of chess are also descended from Arabic, even though the game made its way into England through the