Will modern communication methods slow the evolution of language?

Question

There was a question asked a while back about how fast a language evolves. The best answer chosen was that a language will become incomprehensible in 500 years. Another good answer (in my opinion) was 5% of change with every generation.

My question for discussion is this:

Will television, the Internet, global economy, etc... slow the change of language? Will people 500 years from now (assuming America isn't conquered and the language is replaced) speak an English we would understand? Although there will be tons of dialects like there is today, will standard English be roughly the same as it is today?

Let's have some well thought out educated guesses!

Answer 1

The advent of mass literacy, and literature, has allready slowed it down. The fact that the wording of the American constitution is hardly distinguistable from modern English, is proof of that. (I'm not American, but I think it is a good case in point, among many).

Even English of 500 years ago, such as the works of Shakespeare, though sounding a bit odd, is completely understandable to us. The most confusing part of Shakespeare is word puns, not language.

The language 500 years before Shakespeare would have been completely alien to him, because there were no widely available mass printing that resisted language change. Practically, English became frozen a few centuries ago, with the advantages in the printing technology. With the internet, the extent of this freeze just increased.

Some words fall in and out of fashion, but all in all, because the global community is so big, it will be very difficult for a local variant in grammar to become globally used to such an extent as to become standard. Of course new terms will be coined for hitherto undescribed phenomina, but that does not change the substance of language. When we talk about the history of the Roman empire, a speaker from 200 years back can easily join in the conversation, if he happens to know something about the subject. He might get confused if we cite our sources, and mention the internet.

A bigger community resists change. Local languages restricted to a few villages have, in the span of a century or two, changed to such an extent from their original recorded version a, that a child of today may not understand his great great great grandfather at all. That is one extreme, but it illustrates the point. In my case, I will understand the old guy, but it is a well document fact that we speak different, but mutually intelligable languages. It used to be Dutch, but the small community in isolation from the mother country turned it into a completely different language we now know as Afrikaans. This would not have been allowed to happen if my ancestors maintained daily contact with the Netherlands.

For better or for worse, English in something closely resembling it's current form, is here to stay for a very long time.

Answer 2

In my World (International Communication) modern media like the Web, Satellite TV, Skype chatting, encourages cross pollination and the adoption of trendy expressions in many languages. Recently I’ve noticed an increase of Italian expressions in German, especially Austrian TV (Ambiente for example). In Spanish TV I’ve seen a number of typical North of England expressions (not least Fish & Chips, which in a Spanish context is hilarious). In Polish and Hungarian TV they’ve kept up the use of “double text” (an off the scene speaker/commentator) as opposed to dubbing. To me, who tries to keep my different lingos “pure and unadulterated", this is not really an enrichment, because the original, native, words are being thrown overboard. On the other hand the new words, like the Ambiente I quoted, are more “precise” and this encourages the cross pollination I mentioned.
The US, I imagine, has a similar experience with Spanish and on a lesser scale with the “Brokkolino” Italian and other ex immigrants. Positives ? I believe many. Negatives ? Not all that many if we consider “English” as a dynamic language that has been developing since Alfred the Great, or as you could read in “1066 & all that…Hengist or his wife or horse, Horsa” (his brother actually) even earlier. Will English be different in 500 years ? I sincerely hope so, it would mean that we have not lost our dynamic swing. Would we understand it ? I believe so, I took very little to understand the Hamburger Plattdeutsch (local dialect/language, very similar to archaic tenth century German) when I landed in this enchanting Sea Port. Globalisation ? There’s no stopping it. Just think I’m commenting a US inspired question from my Roman home in Italy. Should we fear it. Not in the least.
Will it "slow" languages ? I don't think so, judging by the speed trendy expressions tend to be adopted around the Globe.
Futurology ? Hey have you even "thought" that we might all communicate by telepathy in 500 years - no language just concepts ? Food for thought

Answer 3

Modern technology will actually speed the evolution of language. The scientific and engineering accomplishments spawn new words that spread via the internet and television over the world literally at light speed. New spellings and words are invented all the time. Just look at the new constructions used by people who use text messaging and how some of those constructs have made their way into every day language. Furthermore, because of rapid communications, non-technical vocabulary spreads rapidly. For example, American slang is now, because of movies and TV, common around the world, and slang becomes a part of accepted more formal language usage.

Answer 4

well, i don't know. i don't know about cheers, but i'm not quite old enough to have been here in the 1800s, when Morse code and wireless was widely used. while it still is used to some extent today, it's not a major form. i also notice that cell phones and text msgs are not included in the question, but are becoming more and more important. clearly, normal speaking is the basis for just about everything. however, different situations are often better addressed by different forms. for those of us with memories that seem to, "lack a tad" email is good. we can go back and look again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. i think radio was probably the best general form, other than having a conversation. TV seems to distract from the content with pictures. also, these days, cable TV is rarely useful, what with political lies, and situation shows that are so far from reality, but are talked about, and thought about, as if they were real. when you cannot be just having a conversation, telephone is good. being able to talk to someone half a planet away is quite amazing. i think i'll vote for: 1) just having a conversation, 2) cell phone and text msgs 3) radio. 4) email. 5) tv 6) poor old Morse. sorry Sam.