I'm sure I haven't done a full job, but nevertheless, here's some soap-box style English writing:
The Rise of the English Language
The English language was first standardised by the great writers: Chaucer, Shakespeare etc, and with the arrival of the printing press and Samuel Johnson's dictionary in 1755 it conformed to set spellings and pronunciations. Since then, it has grown, mutated; new words have emerged and others have tumbled into obscurity. English from the 17th Century has changed into the everyday tongue we hear and observe around the world. Indeed, the globalisation of the English language, and the subsequent influences and inflections (and occasionally entire words) have dramatically altered our concept of what our language truly is.
Let us start with the Empire. In the heady days of imperialists and colonies, Britain was not a superpower. It was the superpower, presiding over an Empire that was bathed in the proverbial eternal sunshine. Explorers colonised countries and continents and reaped the rewards. Britain's industrial edge and seemingly inexhaustible supply of suicidal (sometimes mistaken for intrepid) explorers allowed the Empire to move into the Far East, Australia, and India. This first set the way for international communications. The acquisition of servants was a pretty poor asset if they did not understood what you said.
English spread throughout the New World, sweeping through countries and tightening the grip on the Empire as more and more people took it up as the second language of choice. That is how English first became an international language, but what happened then? And why is it still the first tongue for business, travel and diplomacy? In a word: America.
The USA, with its vast (inhabitable) land mass and ludicrous resources, rose to a world power relatively quickly, the World Wars in particular boosting its status (and decreasing those of its possible superpower rivals). Come the digital age of Capitalism and cappuccino, world business started to become a viable option. True, there were global businesses before that â€" the East India Company, for example, but America took it to a new level. Fax, television, radio, email, courier services, planes, envoys… ‘The Business of America is Business'. And so it was. English once again was employed as a mutual tongue for trade and commerce - a Japanese salesman pitching to a French buyer will undoubtedly converse in English. The language was a solid platform, and those eager to get into the dizzying world of high business in countries such as India and Singapore learn the language as an undeniable prerequisite. This further enforces a sense of the necessity of English.
Diplomacy affects us all, too, and there is not a better example of the neutrality and mutual use of English than the splintered map of India. The huge variety of languages available meant that on gaining independence, far from the English language being removed from common use, the multi-lingual country kept it as a neutral language (as opposed to Pakistani etc), to quell fears that the new President would tip power in favour of a certain tongue, and therefore a certain section.
So with English established as the international language of choice, how has it developed? Much of the use of slang stems from America once again, with the multi-faceted culture so indigenous to the USA. Surfer dudes, punk chicks, goth freaks, cosmopolitans, haûte culture, emo kids, 60's hippies, ‘Nam vets, hick farmers, and so on all established a broad base of word association and new meanings. I believe the latest addition to class someone as is a ‘metrosexual' â€" a man who thrives in the city, whilst keeping fashionable and presentable, utilising the same self-care and personal diligence that may have been previously solely associated with women. Strange but true.
Single contributions are not uncommon either. Quotes from movies, music, comedians, and some commentary (social or sport) are as famous and used as any other turn of speech you'd care to name. Ask anyone what their favourite quotes are and you're bound for a response. It's ingrained into communal consciousness, as a sort of vital tool for communication, and once more English grows and thickens.
Various social movements have affected the language too, maybe more than we might think. The gay rights movement coined the phrase ‘coming out the closet', and created the necessity of re-sculpting the meaning of the word ‘straight'. Feminism created slightly less savoury terms: ‘ball breaker', anyone? Another example: the age of the computer was heralded with numerous, and seemingly entirely Scottish-accented helplines telling people how they can check their email. ‘Helpline' has just received a big nasty red line on my spellchecker â€" but it's a word! No doubt about it. Can you tell your RAM from you ROM? Could you explain what a polygon model is? How about texture rendering, no? What's a GUI HUD, kernel-compiled with bump-mapped 3TX?
Techtalk, geekspeak, call it what you will â€" it now runs the world, operating behind the scenes, fuelling the double-edged sword of the internet and industry and making almost â€"virtually, if you will- anything possible. Technological rule, bending and shaping new words and with a dire need for acronyms.
And that's at the heart of it. We are all linguistic revolutionaries. We know the old tongue. We know what's acceptable. We know what's uniform and what's normal.
Then we try, we really try to completely and utterly destroy it, thrusting aside the boring nouns and adjectives in favour of new ones, wrecking archaic and revered colloquialisms and pulling down the great glass architecture of the English language.
And isn't it such a brilliant job that we do?
Quote from: Flippy_D on Wed 07/07/2004 22:08:14
Techtalk, geekspeak, call it what you will â€" it now runs the world, operating behind the scenes, fuelling the double-edged sword of the internet and industry and making almost â€"virtually, if you will- anything possible. Technological rule, bending and shaping new words and with a dire need for acronyms.
And that's at the heart of it. We are all linguistic revolutionaries. We know the old tongue. We know what's acceptable. We know what's uniform and what's normal.
Then we try, we really try to completely and utterly destroy it, thrusting aside the boring nouns and adjectives in favour of new ones, wrecking archaic and revered colloquialisms and pulling down the great glass architecture of the English language.
And isn't it such a brilliant job that we do?
inventing new words for new things doesn't destroy the language, it helps it evolve, and keeps it from stagnating. the flexibility of a language is one of its most important characteristics.
i agree with many of your points, but i felt you weren't right in that aspect.
btw, my main language isn't english. here in romania we usually keep our language up-to-date by borrowing english terms as soon as the need arises. just think what would happen otherwise..
I was saying that destroying it and rebuilding it and adding to it is a good thing, because -as you said- it evolves.
Dear sir, I doth reply in such a manner to ease mine inquiring mind. I do beseech thee, art thoue so graceous to perchance provide remedy to mine question? I say, dost thou approve of the suggested truth, which I must admit appeases my concious, that this tounge hath lost much grace in its prose? Aye, it doth appear much changed, but hath it truely grown? A rose mayest grow and blossom at its purest peek of health, but methinks instead, the tounge of which thou speak has decomposed like a rose in death. All bright hue faded away to leave the mere matter of its essance behind. Truely, it cannot be admired as an improvment, no? Praythee, speak thy mind? [=P]
Quote from: Rave on Thu 08/07/2004 00:06:49
Dear sir, I doth reply in such a manner to ease mine inquiring mind. I do beseech thee, art thoue so graceous to perchance provide remedy to mine question? I say, dost thou approve of the suggested truth, which I must admit appeases my concious, that this tounge hath lost much grace in its prose? Aye, it doth appear much changed, but hath it truely grown? A rose mayest grow and blossom at its purest peek of health, but methinks instead, the tounge of which thou speak has decomposed like a rose in death. All bright hue faded away to leave the mere matter of its essance behind. Truely, it cannot be admired as an improvment, no? Praythee, speak thy mind?Ã, [=P]
LLOLORZL! J00 R 4 N00B0RZ!!!1111
That mad phat dog. Word up, yo'. I be feelin' you, man.
I must say that I do concur with our dear friend Mr. Rave. The tongues with which the modern man speaketh hath withered away. Such as the fallen leaves of Autumns past slowly dissolve into the ground.
Alas, poor Flippy. Thine efforts art futile. Thine language a mask of your true identity. Thou speakest not with the aforementioned beautiful English prose. Thou art a HACK! A PHONY! A POOR LITTLE BOY WHO WANTS TO BE PROPER!!
Go drink some tea you ninny! And remember to hold that pinky up!
Nobody talks with the Shakespearean language anymore because it takes 10 hours to get to the point! lol. It IS a beautiful language.. But it really isn't necessary anymore.. Sure..English has been bastardized to hell, but it works.. Slang is in every language.. Not just English.
If you want a language without any slang, speak Latin.
Although I respect your idea.. I doubt even YOU want to deal with speaking like Queen Elizabeth. I'm sure you'll earn your English degree and pass with flying colors. And then ultimately, you'll be a bum on the side of the street reciting old Shakesperian sonnets..
hehe, anyways.. I'm a bit grouchy, but I say this all in fun.. I enjoy speaking proper, elequent English as much as the next guy.. But actually speaking like that makes one sound like a prissy old prick.. But that's why people write poems, and even novels.. It preservs the English we all know and love..
So, stick to writing.. Flippy.. And try not to sound like a prissy old prick when you talk to the ladies.... It won't do you any good.
Lol, yeah. I would get sick of it. But methinks thou protests too much, lgm. Just kidding. I agree with you that it does take forever to say anything at all, and most of the time when people speak the shakespearian way, they arn't saying very much of anything at all. Like that old granny lady would say, "Where the beef?!?!" ??? I can't remember from which play it is from, but I remember a line going somthing like, "Enough. Less prose and more matter!" I think it was in Hamlet when he was talking to the Ophilia's father. Anyway, I just wanted to be silly, not serious at all. Although, I do resent gansta slang and hax0r nEtSpEaK. I think it is just retarded. I tried to learn latin once, actually. I lost patience with it as I always do. Maybe I should try ancient greek. :P Aaaanyway, I will close with these words of wisdom...."Get the to a nunnery!!"
Very interesting read. However, there are a few points on which I'd like to elaborate my viewpoint. English isn't really all that pure and singular as we make it out to be. It is a mixture of a whole bunch of other languages, forced on by repeated invasions. There was always slang, it just developed and became integrated into the language, until new slang words came along. English is not a set idea. It is a constantly mutating and evolving language. More so now then ever before because of the huge leaps in technology that make worldwide communications much easier. The fact that it is spoken throughout the world today may even be a fluke. If Germany had won the war, who knows? We might have been speaking in german right now
Sounds logical. Anyway, yeah. I knew that English takes many words from Spanish, Latin, French, and a whole bunch of different languages. Also, the structure of how we form our sentances is very different. Of course we have to do everything different from the rest of the world though...(like, what is up with not using the metric system? Anyway...) That is what makes it so hard to learn as a second language. Or so I hear... I'm rather dumb so I only know English. :P
I know this isn't the critic's lounge but:
Fragment - "Technological rule, bending and shaping new words and with a dire need for acronyms."
Obvious - "tell your RAM from you ROM"
That's only valtracks of zontroversy... Nothing to worry about :P
The vikings from Scandinavia had a big influence on the English language back in the day. Bringing with them such discoveries as the word/prefix "the", still remaining in the Scandinavian languages as the word "det". I could bore you all to death with examples of words that are similar between the languages, but I'll limit myself to saying that the vikings went over there and did s***loads of f***ing.Ã, ;D
And even a monkey can write like that Shakespearean (http://user.tninet.se/~ecf599g/aardasnails/java/Monkey/webpages/index.html) nonsense.Ã, :P
The only real languange is GREEK :P :P :P
Good points all. I did mean to comment more on other influences - I was especially keen to use the word 'bazaar'. Shame, but it's handed in now.
Ooh, wait, for LGM:
(http://www.digitalend.com/pics/fuckoffanddie.jpg)
^_^
Yoke, alas, the norse influences on English are diminutive, especially considering how big an importance the Dane-law played in terms of culture and way of living for such a long period.
Except for a very small amount of words, such as the, sister and knife, only place-names bear scandinavian features.
It has been said that the English language is the most difficult to master, especially if you were not born speaking the language or if you are an American.
Flippy.. You seriosuly need therapy.
Quote from: Spyros on Thu 08/07/2004 17:22:43
The only real languange is GREEKÃ, :P :P :P
Yup! The mother of all European languages!
YOke, that monkey page is the devil. :P its Evil, I tell you!