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Essay on Phase of Rapid Change in the English Language

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Phase of Rapid Change in the English Language The English language is always changing, however, at the moment it is going through a phase of rapid change, more so than ever before. This more recent change, I believe, is due to mass media and advances in science and technology global communications (Including SMS messaging, the internet, e-mail and other advances in). Due to being almost flooded with American television adverts and programmes, the English language is taking on board Americanisms, both the pronunciation of words and their spelling. Words such as "colour" in England have been changed in America to "color" and now, with American advertisements, television programmes/films and …show more content…

Words such as "Diss" and "minger", are used by a lot of people aged 12 - 18, it is quite possible that in time, one of these may be added to the English dictionary. It is important to bring new words into our lexicon as new technologies are invented, new diseases develop, new cures created, etc… Other words added in the last century include "computer", "television" and "radio". If new words were not created to compensate for the developments and discoveries, we would be left saying things like "machine for performing calculations", "device for receiving streaming visual and audio", "instrument for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves". I believe it is safe to assume we would rather have one word that means what ten words could describe. As well as the introduction of words, emoticons, and the spelling and pronunciation of words changing, their meanings can also change. A "creek" in British English, means 'a tidal inlet of the ocean, or a large river' but American English uses it in the sense of any small stream. Other words have different meanings, depending on the context in which they are used (e.g. "a fine day", "fine silk", "she is fine"). Looking further back at the English language, we can see that it is a mongrel language, comprised and influenced by many other languages. There are some obvious traces of the

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