Explore how and why the English Language has changed.
The English Language has changed over a long period of time due to a number of different factors which have had different effects on how the Language has progressed. Language is seen to have progressed through different stages, from Old English (beginning in the 3rd century and including the invasions of the Anglo-Saxons, which led to the creation of Englisc) through to Middle English (which may have begun in the 11th century with the rule of the Vikings, which introduced variations on the previous Anglo-Saxon pronunciation and speech. The French invasions in 1066 also affected the language as the ruling classes spoke the ‘prestige’ form of French and those who had been defeated
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One such rule is that sentences should not end in a preposition, for example ‘the chair was sat on’, which is a result of Latin languages could not accommodate for this. This was their basis for the construction of English. Other rules include the usage of double negatives and split infinitives, in which an adverb is put in between the preposition ‘to’ and the base verb. For example ‘to boldly go’.
Descriptivism is the opposite view to that of the Grammarians. Descriptivism states that Language should be allowed to progress over time and that new words should be introduced as they appear, and old words should be allowed to disappear through lack of use. Descriptivism would allow the use of more modern American spellings such as ‘sulfur’ to replace their original English counterparts, simply because they are more widely used.
The change in syntax over time has shifted greatly, and language has been altered because of it. For example syntax used to be the Subject, Object, Verb order, as opposed to the Subject, Verb, Object order that we use nowadays. The complexity of sentences has also, changed, with Middle and Early Modern English writers using longer complex sentences with varied clauses and clause lengths, and Modern English writers using short, less complex sentences with less clauses and simpler, easier to read clause lengths and variations. The language has also become more simplified in terms of inflections. These were removed because the system for adding
This essay is about how English has changed over the years. The essay explores how speaking English has changed, like some people have different ways they speak English and some people have the accent. It has changed in the way we write. Now days in the English language there is over 1 million words. Back then there wasn’t much words. English has changed in text messaging. Like now we make the words shorter like lol that means laugh out loud. They have done that because it’s a quicker way. The first text message was in 1992. English also changed in schools and universities. It has changed by now we have technology to help us find information or search up for meaning on online dictionary. This essay examines how English has changed over the years. There are around 800 to 2000 word that are used to speak the English language.
A new dialect was adopted the “French” dialect and meanwhile one’s was neglected the “Anglo-Saxon”. For a third reason of its importance, a system feudal was introduced to England. William developed in
As a choice, Williams & Bizup opined that the author can choose correctness as an act of “obedience” (p. 10) and that to write correctly, one needs “only a good memory” (p. 10). In writing, correctly Williams and Bizup identified three rules that affect grammatical correctness. However, Williams & Bizup opined, that one had the choice to selectively observe the rules. The first type of rules, discussed, by Williams & Bizup included “real rules” (p. 11). The second type of rules, mentioned, by Williams & Bizup included “social rules” (p. 12), where social rules distinguished standard and nonstandard language. Finally, the last set of rules mentioned,
“ The Language Wars: A History of Proper English”, it discusses about the propriety and properness of language that a large majority of the people in this country speak, which is English. Throughout, the article it discusses the changes of the English language, such as the changes of meanings of words. Provides the audience an interesting perspective to how language changes the context of several words by giving the words a new meaning(s). Comprehensive coverage of history, covers the history of the first form of the English language that came from the Georgian Age. Therefore, it discusses many events throughout, where there have been a lot of misuse, disease, and abuse of English grammar over all the centuries that English has been a language
George Orwell states that, “our civilization is decadent and our language…must inevitably share in the general collapse” (Orwell 2000, 1), when he argues for prescriptivism (though toned down from what was taught and accepted in his day). While Garner posits that, “describers, meanwhile, remind us that linguistic change is a fact of life – and conclude that it’s therefore not worth opposing” (Garner, Making Peace in the Language Wars 2008, 272). When David Foster Wallace discusses descriptivism, he makes a historical reference to, “Philip Gove’s now classic introduction to Webster’s Third [which] outlines this type of Descriptivism’s five basic edicts: ‘1 – Language changes constantly; 2 – change is normal; 3 – spoken language is the language; 4 – correctness rests upon usage; 5 – All usage is relative.’” (Wallace 2005, 83). Wallace himself argues against most of these edicts, proving himself to uphold his snootitude. Bryan A. Garner creates a list similar to that of Gove’s, while addressing the argument that “learning grammar may seem like an exercise in pedantry,” which is a point argued by many descriptivists:
English is a member of the European family of languages. This broad family includes most of the European languages spoken today such as Latin and the modern French; the Germanic languages (English, German, Swedish); the Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Czech); the Baltic languages of Latvian and Lithuanian; the Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish Gaelic ); Greek. The source of the words England and English is the West Germanic invaders who came from Jutland and southern Denmark.
Language is not consistent, it is changing by its nature, either because of innovation, technology, war or someone’s mistakes. English has developed over more than 1500 years since Anglo-Saxon invasion in AD 450 as they brought a set of Anglo-Frisian (Anglo-German) dialect, which became known as Old English. This time was the beginning of the development of English language.
Language change happens every day. New words are constantly being added and new dialects are forming. People have always argued about the causes of language change and tried to control the changes that occurred but ultimately they accomplished nothing. Languages changes and spread as a result of the people who use it daily. African American English and California English are both examples of the different ways language can change. People try to resist the changes in their language because they do not want to see it change. Language change is a natural process that can be affected by others but never stopped. This course has done an excellent job explaining how language change starts and spreads.
As Old English and Middle English period, the Modern English Period is linked to several historical events, changes and inventions. Defining changes from one period to another vary a lot; therefore it is important to mention some of them which are part of Modern English. The Early Modern English Period is dated from 1500 to 1800. As we have seen Modern English has developed a vocabulary of great extent and richness that is drawn from many other languages of the world. It has few inflections but its syntactic rules are presumably as intricate as those of any language. Its verbal system represents great complexities on making delicate distinctions. It is a concrete and also abstract language, whereas its spelling is fairly irregular even though
The ever-evolving era of the Modern English language is characterized not only by newer variations in grammar and consonant structure, the standardization of what appeared to be a vastly more succinct system of lettering, the lasting affects of the Great Vowel Shift, and key contributors such as William Shakespeare and William Caxton, but also by the adoption and integration of other cultures into the spoken and written English language. Language exists as one of the they key disseminations of culture, if not the most dominant. With two subsections of the era: Early Modern and Late Modern, internal and external cultural influences can be clearly documented as transitions occur from Middle English to Modern English and then again within Modern English itself. As it continues to evolve, Modern English reflects the culture and groups of people who engage in and make variations to the language as a whole and gives way to possible shifts of language in the future.
Haynes (1989: 3) refers to style as the manner of expression which is different in various contexts. It is defined depending on one's field of study.Style as deviation from the norm, Language is a behavior governed by rules and norms. When something is done in a quite different way from how it is usually done, then that is said to be a deviation from the norm. This is achieved by reconstruction from the structural resource of language to extend the frontiers of current usages.This concept is most common at both the lexical and the syntactic level and used mostly for effective
Before England became the England that we know today, the island knew several other languages that we now call Old English. The earliest inhabitants of the island lived there anywhere from 50,000 to 250,000 years ago. The first recorded language in early England was spoken by the Celts until 43 AD when Emperor Claudius conquered the island, but never made it as far north as Wales and Scotland. Latin inscriptions have been found all over the island, but interestingly, the Celtic language remained relatively the same. Four hundred years later the Germanic tribes, the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons, on the mainland began invading England and the areas that we now know as Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. Eventually, the Angles and Saxons took over the British Isles, which is where we get the term Anglo-Saxon. These people settled peacefully by the Celts and established their own communities.
Descriptivists are not interested in enforcing rules, but in discovering the rules and the patterns behind them, and comparing languages and dialects. They do not consider some dialects as "substandard." Each is worthy of study.
400-600 A.D. occurred during the Old English time period where most of Britain had become settled by the Germanic people, the Angles spoke dialects of Englisc which comes from the words England and English. The language is related to Latin due to the early contact with the Romans. Angelo-Saxons move in to Britain to become farmers taking over rich English farmland. The
English is a very unique language due to the ease with which new words can be made by cobbling together old Latin and Greek roots to make strange, but sensical words. However, these new words and phrases are often rejected by society at large. If the majority of the speakers of a language reject a word, then is it still part of that language? Or is it a different dialect or an entirely new language. This is a problem that English has faced since around its creation in the sixth century CE. Determining what is real English has become increasingly difficult due to its wide spread around the world and the consequence of many new dialects. However, there is a set structure for English that is usually taught called academic English or Standard American English. SAE can be defined in many different ways; it is the form of English that