The History Of The English Language

Chapt er 8:Moder n English

Changes in the Language

English changed a lot since 1800 and nowadays, in a way t hat people f r om t hat t ime wouldn’t be able t o under st and us f or basic r easons:

• Because of t he huge amount of wor ds added t o t he vocabular y:

* I n science: new ideas, machines, mat er ials, plant s, animals, st ar s, diesieses and medecines

• Because of t he j unct ion of t wo old wor ds t oget her (about 65% of t he canges)

E.g.: Finger pr int = f inger + pr int Air por t = air + por t

• Because of old wor ds t hat had t heir meanings changed.

E.g.: Casset e = f r om small box t o elet r onic t hat r eads VHS

• Because of wor ds t hat came f r om f or egin languages.

E.g. : Disco (f r ench) Pizza (it alian)

• Because beginnins or endings, or bot h, had been added in old wor ds:

E.g. : Desinf or mat ion Hear t less Unput downable

• Because some wor ds had been shor t ned:E.g. : PHOTO f r om phot ogr aph T.V. f r om t elevision

• Because some wor ds wer e cr eat ed by t he addit ion of sounds of t wo ot her wor ds:

E.g. : Mot el = f or m mot or and hot el

Oxford English Dictionary(OED)

The OED cr eat ed by J ames Mur r ay was t he f ir st dict onar y in english t hat cont ained all t he English wor ds, even t he ones t hat ar e no longer used, and t heir meanins, explanat ions, hist or y, examples, expr assions and usage.

• I t also cont ained some scient if ic wor ds and wor ds f r om Nor t h Amer ica, Aust r alia, New Zeland, Sout h Af r ica, The Car ibbeans, I ndia and Pakist an, but not all of t he scient if or r egional wor ds.

• This dict ionar y was impor t ant because it helped a lot in t he under st anding of t he English language in t he past and nowadays. As t he sociat y evolut ed and so didi English, t his dict ionar y was t r ansf er ed t o t he digit al wor ld, so people can use t he int er net t o sear ch wor ds. Also, because now inf or mat ion about inf or mal wor ds and slangs is now easier t o f ind because of t he int er net .

New wor ds wer e able t o t r avel f ast er ar ound t he English-speaking wor ld, because of t he communicat ion t hr ough t elephone, newspaper , r adio, t elevision, f ilms, music and t he int er net , and t his had also inf luenced t he pr onunciat ion.

Accent and Pronunciation

Anot her change in t he language, pr esent in t he moder n English is t he accent and pr onunciat ion. I n 1920, The Br it ish Br oadcast ing Company (BBC) chose na accent f or all t he English speaker s t o use on t he r adio. THis was t he accent of t he educat ed people: gover ment , t he Chur ch, t he univer sit ies and ar my.I t was known as “r eceived pr onunciat ion”, “RP” or “King’s English”.

Wit h t he use of RP in t he r adios and ways of communicat ion, mor e and mor e people t hought it was t he pr onunciat ion used by impor t ant people, so t hey st ar t ed t o use it .

I t was not accept ed t o use st r ong r egional accent on t elevision or r adio, or in t eaching and gover ment .

I n 1960, st r ong accent s wer e st ar t ed t o be accept ed ever ywher e because of t he Br it ain br eak down in r egions.

Nowadays, RP is not impor t ant and no longer used, people in England speak a kind of RP but , wit h a r egional accent .

Influence Of The Internet In The English

As we all know, t he I nt er net is a r evolut ionar y way of comunicat ion t hat connect s t he whole wor ld. Besides communicat ion, it also changes t he english, because of t he new t ecnologies, t hat descr ibe t he int er net it self and it s act ivit ies, like cyber -space, blog, websit e and e-mail.

Also, new meanings had been giving t o new wor ds, like sur f , link, vir t ual and chat .

English also changed by t he int er net because people st ar t ed t o invent new expr essions and ways of wr it ing t o make communicat ion easier and f ast er .

E.g. : * r u alr yt – ar e you alr ight ? * duz ne1 know how 2 make car r ot cake –

does anyone how t o make car r ot cake? * t hx 4 ur msg, c u @ wor k – t hanks f or

your massage see you at wor k.