English: The NeverEnding Story

Languages tell stories.  This is so fascinating because, as Scott Lehigh states, language is a "living, organic form of expression."  Roberts' survey of the history of English demonstrates that a study of the language actually provides a record of the events that once surrounded its creation.  The construction of the English language reflects the rise and fall of peoples and empires.  It is not just the meaning of the words that translates these events but the evolution of the actual physical make-up of words and grammar rules.  Just another example of form mirroring content.  Therefore, as the world has changed (society, technology, etc.) language has also morphed.  Mainly, this is done in order to fit the communicative needs of society, but it also leaves behind an ever-evolving record of human history.

Roberts introduced the idea that the "grammatical description that applied to Latin was removed and superimposed on English."  Bryson fleshes this out further in his article, explaining that English grammar's "rules and terminology are based on Latin," which happens to be a completely separate and distinct language.  This is news to me!  While I have often encountered strange and seemingly random rules of grammar, I merely wrote these off as natural results of a language whose evolution has been such a mish mash of languages.  Indeed, Bryson's article was full of very witty and enlightening examples of the "resplendent silliness" that can be found in the English language.

Bryson further discussed academies that sprang up to control and define the English language as scholars believed that the language was essentially overgrowing its limits.  However, as Bryson and Lehigh touched upon, language has been changing since the dawn of its creation.  To suppose that we have landed upon the most pure and perfect version of what we currently know as English is just presumptuous.  Lehigh explores modern changes in language, noting that older generations have admitted difficulties understanding the "youthspeak" that has developed over the past couple of decades alone.  As history has demonstrated, changes in language are inevitable.  Is it really necessary to be so uptight about language as to establish "Grammar Nazis" to document and enforce the "right" way to use language?

Thus, we should not be too concerned if language continues to evolve as we speak.  However, it is not that simple.  Everything seems to be developing and changing with more rapidity than ever before.  Population and technology are two examples that have had exponential inclines in the past fifty decades.  Language has followed the same pattern.  New words are created to match new inventions and actions.  Similarly, the uses of words are evolving as well.  Nouns are becoming verbs and verbs are becoming nouns.  Language is becoming as fast-paced as everything else in our crazy world.  So, is it possible that language will be changing so rapidly that effective communication becomes obsolete?  It's dubious, but there is no denying that there needs to be some foundation for a language that also leaves room for it to evolve.  The difficulty falls in determining where that line falls.