[News_Hound]

Watch this video where William Safire says that "proper English" should change to reflect everyday usage, to keep the language alive. Does that risk diluting or corrupting English?

[allaboutme16]

News_Hound, on Sep 28 2009, 02:38 PM, said:

Watch this video where William Safire says that "proper English" should change to reflect everyday usage, to keep the language alive. Does that risk diluting or corrupting English?

I think that depending on how much of this change occurs, it could be corruptive or beneficial to the English language. Have you compared how elderly people speak as compared to today's teens and younger children? If you have, you have discovered a great difference. Elderly people tend to speak as they did when they were growing up (understandably) where today's younger generation of America (such as teens) tend to talk like the people on the television shows they watch. Say a child is watching a show where the characters talk using improper English, most of the time the child will mimic that behavior/way of speaking. "Proper English" according to some is the way it was when they were learning the English language. Others view "Proper English" as the way most people speak. Some think of it as what words are in the Dictionary. "Proper" is like "Perfect", by this I mean it is non-existent, and as the meaning of the word "perfect" will change, so will the meaning of the word "proper". The world will constantly change, as will the language (of our nation).

[kareenk]

allaboutme16, on Oct 3 2009, 01:12 PM, said:

I think that depending on how much of this change occurs, it could be corruptive or beneficial to the English language. Have you compared how elderly people speak as compared to today's teens and younger children? If you have, you have discovered a great difference. Elderly people tend to speak as they did when they were growing up (understandably) where today's younger generation of America (such as teens) tend to talk like the people on the television shows they watch. Say a child is watching a show where the characters talk using improper English, most of the time the child will mimic that behavior/way of speaking. "Proper English" according to some is the way it was when they were learning the English language. Others view "Proper English" as the way most people speak. Some think of it as what words are in the Dictionary. "Proper" is like "Perfect", by this I mean it is non-existent, and as the meaning of the word "perfect" will change, so will the meaning of the word "proper". The world will constantly change, as will the language (of our nation).

I agree with Mr. Safire that it is due to a desire to communicate more clearly and intimately that the English and other languages evolve. I think it is interesting to know earlier definitions for a word to appreciate what literary devices are being used with the word to create a newer meaning. The differences in language use from place to place throughout the large territory where English is spoken as a primary language show that the efficacy of communication is at the root of the changes in a word's usage. Each individual culture creates its own way of getting its message across. This phenomenon is both beneficial to intimate precise communication and corruptive to the ability of all speakers of the language to benefit from that clarity.