Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

[thalassa]

So...I'm pretty sure we all know that language evolves over time in meaning, use, words, even sounds. If not, googling can tell you all about it. Due to the persistent use of technology and the pervasiveness of media, we are in the middle of a pretty big shift of language right now.

What are your predictions?


For example, I totally think we will one day have an past tense verb contraction of "use'to" (maybe not spelled that way), instead of "used to".

Also, prossably will prossably become an actual word.

[anunitu]

Re: Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

There is Usta(have heard people pronounce that)

[MaskedOne]

Re: Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

Reading "prossably" defies physics to hurt my ears so I really hope that prediction falls flat.

[anunitu]

Re: Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

Well,reading OLD english and also hearing it can make you ill. So,ya never know.

Go thee here

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

There is Usta(have heard people pronounce that)

This made me laugh so hard my stomach hurts. When we moved to NJ, I was in 6th grade. The first day, a girl turned around and loudly whispered to me "What school did ya usta go ta?" I remember her name, her face, her undeniably Joisey accent, and how I reenacted it to my parents later.

Some of these words and phrases will stick around, but even the online ones go through phases of use. We "usta" say "groovy" and "far out", and now you rarely hear those except in parody. It's hard to say what will last.

[anunitu]

Re: Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

Also whatcha doooon out there?

[iris]

Re: Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

Some things stick, some (thankfully) disappear. But you can be sure language changes. One of my professors made us read a loooong rant from some expert on language, complaining about how youth was corrupting the language. Our professor then almost screamed at us 'never be like this guy!'. Language changes. I personally think that, in time, english will start adopting words/terms/grammar from other languages, maybe chinese or arabic, seeing that there are mone non-native spealers of English in the world than there are native... it seems inevitable that something should rub off just a bit... maybe?

[anunitu]

Re: Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

Actually already happened...lot of Yiddish terms crept into English..some Spanish also...little French...think about it.

[iris]

Re: Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

Actually already happened...lot of Yiddish terms crept into English..some Spanish also...little French...think about it.

Well, I'm just that good at predicting stuff that's already happened but I do find it very interesting.

[Thorbjorn]

Re: Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

Realize that those are all collapsing of phrases. It's happened since Anglo-Saxon (Old English). That's why we have minimal nominal inflections. "They" and "their" are becoming accepted gender neutral pronouns because English lost its cases.

The subjunctive is all but gone: "What do you want that I do?", and "I want that you go to the store" replaced by an infinitive ("I want you to go"). I see a lot more collapsing of verbal and noun phrases. I already hear "ahm gonna" for "I'm going to".

I see English becoming a pro-drop language, like most Indo-European languages. It's even dropping verbs... "going to the movies?" in speaking to one or several people is perfectly intelligible. In a word, languages tend towards simplicity. I see English going that route even further than it has.

Btw, "ain't" is actually a valid verb: a contraction of "am not"... "amn't". "Aks" is also the historically correct form of ask. The verb was "aksen". It was "aks" that was changed to "ask" in certain English dialects.

[anunitu]

Re: Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

Least we forget Ebonics,I wonder where that went to..

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

Least we forget Ebonics,I wonder where that went to..

Yo!

Dat be ENGLISH now!

- - - Updated - - -

I want "funner" added to the lexicon of standard English. It strikes me as absurd that I'm not allowed to say it...

[Thorbjorn]

Re: Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

Ebonics is an abomination, but AAVE, African-American Vernacular English is valid. It actually does have "rules of grammar" (a term I hate because of its prescriptive rather than descriptive nature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa...acular_English Should it be used when giving a lecture or presentation if the audience is not of that dialect? Absolutely not, any more than Ozarks English should be used in those settings. You speak the dialect of your audience. Notice how newscasters all over the US use a neutral accent. You really can't tell where they are from.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

Ebonics is an abomination, but AAVE, African-American Vernacular English is valid. It actually does have "rules of grammar" (a term I hate because of its prescriptive rather than descriptive nature.

Uhmmm... not to burst your bladder, but "Ebonics" is the common term for the specialized linguistic term "African-American Vernacular English." In other words, dey be de same thing...

[DanieMarie]

Re: Predictions for (English) Language Evolution

There seems to be a infantilization of English going on at the moment. I feel like everyone on Facebook is using baby talk. I don't think it's going away. A few years ago, it was "cray cray" for crazy. Now it's turning "adult" into a verb and dropping the "of" in "because of." I predict that in a few years, people will be talking like children.