Phase of Rapid Change in the English Language

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Phase of Rapid Change in the English Language The English language is always changing, however, at the moment it is going through a phase of rapid change, more so than ever before. This more recent change, I believe, is due to mass media and advances in science and technology global communications (Including SMS messaging, the internet, e-mail and other advances in). Due to being almost flooded with American television adverts and programmes, the English language is taking on board Americanisms, both the pronunciation of words and their spelling. Words such as "colour" in England have been changed in America to "color" and now, with American advertisements, television programmes/films and American written software packages flooding into England, people are slowly adopting the American ways of spelling and speaking. Also abbreviations are catching on and creeping into our language. People are always looking for an easy alternative, and so, instead of typing out how you feel, people are starting to use 'emoticons'. An example of an emoticon is this ":)". Generally, this emoticon means that the person using it is happy, or smiling. There are many other alternatives ":(, =P , =D , =I , :o)". By looking at them from a side view you can see that they appear to be faces. These emoticons are used everyday by many different people and so are creeping into the language. Are we slowly weaning ourselves off words and using alternatives, such as emoticons, to communicate? Will we, in the future, communicate using a modern form of hieroglyphics? Language change is always happening and new words are always being introduced to the l... ... middle of paper ... ... New words were needed for new concepts and an influx of French and Latin words were the result of this. Other words were brought in from the languages of Africa and Asia due to world exploration. At this time, the Great Vowel Shift was completed and the language began to stabilise. Around the 1700's, the dictionary was introduced. Writers tried to fix spellings and define word meanings. This led to vocabulary and grammar being defined, rules laid down for correct language usage and a model for English dictionary writers. Following this, the development of Rail, colonial expansion, the spread of literacy and education along with printing extended the access to standard and written forms of English. The English Language is always developing, changing and growing, it truly is a living language.

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