Kevin Vaquiro Triana

Written communication 6
2013

Why Is English not Dying?

As in almost every single language there are writers, critics or people in

general saying that the English language is in its way to the grave. Let us take
Orwell as an example. He says that modern English, especially written English, is
full of bad habits which spread by imitation,1 and he goes beyond stating that the
deterioration, if such a thing exists, is totally reversible. In opposition to this idea,
it is believed that there is no deterioration on English language or any other
language. There is only evolution, and evolution may be reversible. But, who says
it needs to be reversible? Language is like an organism which adapts to social,
cultural, historical, and environmental changes, and it does not get worst or better,
only follows its natural path.
Arn and Charlene Tibbets suggest in their book Whats Happening to
American English? that the language has been deteriorating based on a diachronic
vision: in the history of modern English there is no period in which such victory
over thought-in-speech has been so widespread. 2 They say this referring to what
they call a pseudospeech created by modern speakers who do not care a lot
about grammar and syntax and use indifferently idioms, metaphors, logic and
1 Orwell, George. Politics and the English Language Originally
published in the April 1946 issue of the journal Horizon (volume 13, issue 76,
pages 252-265)
2 Tibbets, A. and Tibbets, C. Whats happening to American English?
1978

common sense.3 But that statement can be easily refuted taking into account most
recent studies such as the one made by the University of Maribor 4, which proves
how the evolution of many words in English is slower today than it was centuries
ago. We nd that the most common words and phrases in any given year had a
much shorter popularity lifespan in the sixteenth century than they had in the
twentieth century, says Matjaz Perc, professor at the Faculty of Natural Sciences
and Mathematics in the University of Maribor. All of this may be evidence to point
that if the evolution of words, and therefore, of language itself, has been slowing
down, that means that, in the past, language was less stable than today, especially
with a language that is used world-wide such as English.
That slowing down in the evolution of language may sound contradictory
provided that it was mentioned before that the language is in constant change, but
this needed to be pointed out as evidence that shows that language adapts to the
changes of humanity, and one of the most important of those modern changes is
globalization. But, what does globalization has to do with language? If we check
into history, it has everything to do. As the first inhabitants of America were settling
down in different lands, they were adopting different accents, different customs,
different words, and they had to overcome different conflicts such as wars and
illnesses. Also, improvisation was really common when they tried to adopt a life
style. Therefore, it is not so difficult to imagine how frequently they had to change
some concepts, it was more usual than today. Making use the easy access to
information that we have nowadays, anyone can effortlessly be involved in different
cultures and adopt their respective languages. Currently, a big percentage of
3 Ibid.
4 MatjazPerc. Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of
Maribor.
http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2012/07/23/rsif.2012.0491.full.pdf,
published online 25 July 2012 doi:10.1098/rsif.2012.0491. Downloaded from
rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org on March 28, 2013

people has access to the internet and is being overexposed to the international
stereotypes on television, cinema and arts in general.
On the other hand, a famous blogger writes: Either many separate dialects
of English will evolve or it will become a type of "Globish" that is understood by
many people but has its own unique grammar and syntax structure as distinct from
the English of today. Thus, while we can understand most of Shakespeare's
language of 300 hundred years ago, it is unlikely we will be able to understand
English in the year 2300.5 If we look back to the origins of English, we would find it
really difficult to understand the complete idea of a single conversation. That
happens not only in linguistic frames, but also in every aspect of human life such
as the concepts of arts and beauty. For instance, in the 50s there was a totally
different vision of female beauty that we received from mass media, women looked
much more natural than today. They were not aware of the plastic surgery, Botox or
lipo, and that was acceptable, followed the normal parameters of beauty. However,
people who had lived the 20s and 30s thought that was too much. There is a
tendency on human nature to believe that every past time was better than the
current one. If a time-traveler had the opportunity to talk to Mr. Hemingway, he
would be convinced that literature was so much better twenty years before him,
and if anyone asks modern writers they will say that there is nothing like the
Hemingways generation.
To conclude, trying to reverse the evolution of a English would be, as the
same George Orwell wrote, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs
to aeroplanes.6 Consequently, we should not judge other speakers for the errors
they commit, because no one has named us the language police or the
guardians of style. Every person on this planet uses the language to be
understood, and if they can do it, that is an achievement we need to applause as
the major goal of communication. Finally, a sociolinguistic vision of this situation
5 Evolution of English, The. Blog. http://englishevolution.wetpaint.com/
6 Orwell, 252.

would lead us to the conclusion that there is no good or bad in communicating

ideas. There is only bad in discriminating others for the use they give to the
language.