How much longer will language (English in particular) exist in its present form?

Question

Case in point. As one peruses interactive websites such as this it is evident that change has been occurring for quite some time. We see numbers substitued 4 words. Grammar, syntax, punctuation, verb conjugation and correct spelling (how does this happen with 'Check Spelling'?) have all fallen by the wayside.

To make matters worse (or better) we are reverting to heiroglyphics (icons) on our monitor screens, as well as daily life out and about. A picture of anything in a red circle with a diagonal line across it means "Don't do it." I understand the logic and bridging a language barrier via universal symbols but the nuances of the written word are fast fading.

By way of example, aren't we in danger of having one word, "tree", to describe all the different trees we have? As adjectives die off in this paradigm, isn't that the way we are headed?

Finally, will we not lose the ability to learn from history, as bit by bit, it becomes a dead language?

I am not concerend about an oral tradition. I am referring to the written word.

Answer 1

Language is always changing, even written language. There is no moment in time when language is static. Therefore, I disagree with your assumption that it is possible for language to have a "present form" except for an essentially instantaneous one.

It is true that written language takes longer to catch up to the changes that are happening in spoken language, but written language does change. When I read things that were written as recently as the 70s, I often notice big differences in the language that is used. So I think your desire to stop language from changing is futile at best.

It seems that you have recognized some of the language forms that are leaving, but you have failed to recognize some of the vibrant forms that are emerging in our communication systems. After all, new times and new situations call for new types of communication. Imagine if English had stopped changing in the 1800s, for example. We wouldn't have words like "automobile", "refrigerator", "telephone", or "computer", for example. Even in your question you have used relatively new words like "websites" and "monitor". Language change is exactly the thing that allows us to adapt our language to the ever-changing world around us. It seems like you are afraid that language change will kill the language, but I argue that language change is exactly the thing that keeps the language ever vibrant.

By the way, many people believe that it's just today that people "break" grammar rules, and that people in the past didn't break them. This is incorrect. Most of the grammar rules that people worry about nowadays were created in the 1700s, but people had been using for hundreds of years before that. In large part, the grammarians who created the rules tried to make English more like Latin because they feared language change, a lot like you do. Latin was a perfect model for their purposes because, by that time, Latin was already dead and therefore no longer changed. However, I think it's rather arbitrary to try to make English like Latin because English is not a Latinate language, it's a Germanic language. The result is that English speakers of their time in large part just continued what they were doing, resulting in the grammar that we use today. So, it's not that today people are breaking the rules, but that they are simply using grammatical forms that have been around for hundreds of years, including before the rules existed. Examples of grammatical features that are like this are double negatives and split infinitives. Both of these stigmatized grammar features existed in English long before the rules that said they were bad.

In conclusion, I think that a broader perspective on the history of English and how English works might allay your fears about language change. May I suggest that you study a little sociolinguistics and historical linguistics? These fields of study capture change over time and demonstrate just how savvy everyday people are in using language to their advantage in a continually current way.

Answer 2

Language is a tool. The English language is growning, not shrinking. As long as there is a need for the tool, it will not die out. If we need it use the word tree, then either by context, inflection, or word change the means to identify the concept will continue.

Not only that, language changes most when new cultures or identities not previously know influence that language. Go back 1200 years and you would not understand a world of Old English. But 100 years after the Norman Invasion (1066), when the French gave their influence, and you'd be able to understand almost everything. Go to the 1700, when the English had dominated the world, and English was very similar today. The major differences in American vs English English is due to isolated communities in rural American back in the 1800s.

Now everyone knows English. While the language is changing due to more and more influences, the core language is steady. I think if we were to talk to someone from 1000 years in the future, we'd understand each other perfectly.

Answer 3

The English language has absorbed countless changes over the years as technology, cultural changes, and the influence of other languages have "mutated" it. Look at all the words that have been introduced in just the last 50 years: microchip, terrorism, blog, etc etc etc. The language has survived and will continue to do so.

Answer 4

English in its present form will last until sometime tomorrow.

The strength of this language is its adaptability. It will add vocabulary, change its grammar forms and adapt to the changing world on almost a minute-by-minute basis.

English in its adapted forms will go on and possibly will someday become the World's common language, but we may not be able to recognize it.

Answer 5

Don't worry about it. You might be become insane if you want an explanation to that.