similar spelling,different pronunciations,as in put and but.so many silint letters.english seems to me a very confusing language. now, why not make it more logical? i think with little changes this language can be made very easy and logical. and it will not affect the overall use of this language. only if the linguistics start thinking out of the box,this can be done very easily.what do you say? why this is not being done?how this can be done or not done?
2006-10-21 07:40:20 · 6 answers · asked by sufiesidhi 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Even if linguist changed the spellings of the English language to a more phonetic pronunciation of the word, half the English population would misspell it. Language in it's writing form HAS to have a standard. What is standard to you in your pronunciation, to someone in other parts of your country, much less other English speaking countries differs.
By your very spelling, and grammar, my opinion gives credence to this fact...
2006-10-21 07:55:37 · answer #1 · answered by Ricardo C 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think every language has its "illogical" parts. For example, as in English, many words in Spanish mean more than one thing under different contexts. Sometimes, the meaning isn't even immediately discernible. Other times, its all in the pronunciation - which syllable you put the accent on.
I think its practically impossible to have an organised push away from the current uses of English. Too many countries speak it, and too many people are loyal to the language as it is (I'm one of them!)
To me, these quirks make the language the living thing that it is. It has developed organically, and part of the fascination with language - why great people such as Shakespeare could use it so wonderfully - was exactly because of its complexities. Given it is such an integral part of our lives, changing the language to make it sterilised and simple would be very uninteresting, and also impossible, if only because of how many people use the language in different ways.
2006-10-21 14:44:41 · answer #2 · answered by Sam Y 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'm a native speaker and ahhhh....I can't spell for crap! Yes there are many aspects of the language which were, I think, designed by a sadist! Grammar rules that seem full of loopholes, spelling rules which are inconsistent..the list is looooooong!
Anyway, don't give up! The more you use the language, the easier it will get!
Native speakers, like myself, were born into the language, and in most cases, have no reason to delve into the torturous world of grammar, so they aren't so aware of the confusion English can cause to people learning it as a foreign language.
2006-10-22 18:06:09 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree that English is a strange and difficult language and I grew up in Dallas, Texas with "English" speaking parents.
Actually, what they really spoke was two different dialects of American! Dad's was northern Midwestern American and Mom's was southern Kentucky. Everyone else around me in school, of course, spoke Texan!
Are you even more confused now?
English is a hash of several languages from Northern Europe and the 'classical' languages of Greek and Latin. And if you really want to find places with crazed silent letters in the spellings check out France and England. Just look at the map for place names to get an idea.
A 'logical' and supposedly easy to learn language has been created. It is called Esperanto and I believe it is based on Spanish or one of the other romantic languages. There was at one time a push to make it the official 'International' language but it never happened.
By the way, I have a terrible time with punctuation and spelling in English and it's supposed to be my 'native' language! Thank goodness for spell check!
2006-10-21 14:57:36 · answer #4 · answered by Sulkahlee 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Language develops and changes out of necessity. Linguistics is a science of studying language, not trying to change it. If you study a foreign language deeply, you begin to understand that every language has its own form of logic. It is typically not mathematical. However, you can see certain principals forming that are both universal as well as language-specific. Instead of wondering why the language has changed, I would suggest that you study the language more deeply and learn to enjoy the differences.
It seems to me that thinking outside of the box and behaving logically are mutually exclusive.
2006-10-21 14:53:58 · answer #5 · answered by sverthfreyr 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is very logical to me. Maybe you should move to some place that does not speak english if you cannot understand our language.
2006-10-21 14:53:05 · answer #6 · answered by ms.melancholy 4 · 0⤊ 4⤋