Hi all,
This has cropped up recently in some other form for me in the last few
days so I may offer an observation....
Some other splendid bugger stated recently that languages do change over
time....and those that do not, simply stagnate (when I read this I
thought of Pug/Milamber talking about the stagnation of Tsurani - art,
music, culture etc - apologies cannot remember in which book it was but
I'll thwap myself to sleep tonight over this..erm, I mean...*cough* Ok I
digress....)
SO! :) This led me onto the change in English language (for us
Brits I think I would still say "spelled" Ray, but ridicule the Brits
that said it was "spelt") and the change this has undergone rapidly
since the explosion in mobile phones and texting...Teachers in
English schools unable to mark papers (or more PC - cannot mark down
papers that are written in txt speak)....So the english language
(especially for young-uns) has already undergone a rapid change...But I
see this change not as advancement of the species,
rather than more of a stagnation - because laziness is not learning how
to spell correctly and take shortcuts, is definately not moving forward....
So where was I, and what was I aiming at - I have no idea....*takes
another swig of port* Languages...they do "progress" and change over
time - to reflect the ethos and general experience of that era - are we
heading for Dark Days in the UK? I think we're already
there :P
Regards,
Drago
On 29/11/2011 4:28 PM, Niko Schönau wrote:
Languages are pretty interesting. Especially when it comes to dialects
or accents. From a linguists point of view these are former states of
the language which are preserved. What we encounter today is a rather
rapid change of language, especially since the internet is widely
available. The language used in the internet is something between
written and spoken which means is it less formal for example. From my
point of view, we encounter this rapid changing since there are no
real barriers between communities and countries anymore
(figuratively). So closed systems (more or less) like languages become
open once again because the people who are in these systems are
getting a whole lot of new influences which they haven't had before.
Indeed pretty interesting.
Best, Niko.
*Von:*[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] *Im Auftrag von
*Paul Maynard
*Betreff:* RE: Language drift
While it isn't something that would usually jump out at me as an
interesting subject, I must admit I was quite fascinated by that whole
conversation. Especially things like Liverpool carrying a very strong
regional accent and developing it's speech due to having a very busy
dock and stuff like that. It makes a lot of sense when it's pointed
out to you, it just wasn't something I'd never thought about before.
Regards,
Paul
> From: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
> To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
>
> Sometime back years ago a thread touched on the evolution of
languages and I made the point they tended to change rapidly until the
advent of the printing press, which pretty much began fixing it in
place once more people agreed on how things should be spelled (spelt
for you Brits) and pronounced. But right this very minute, we're
witnessing a tiny language shift before our very eyes, the product of
political correctness. Apparently, it is now acceptable in many
circles to use the pronoun "they" in place of "him or her." As in
"When someone comes into that building, they are often confused by the
signs in the lobby." When I was a kid that would have been a red
circle and the note in the margin, "Incorrect Antecedent."
>
> Language is pretty fascinating stuff, isn't it?
>
> Best,R.E.F.
