Throughout history, the English language has evolved in many ways through different countries. Anglo Saxon spoken from Tribes in Britain became the common language, what we call Old English. Although modern English may sound different from Old English, there are several words that are recognizable and similar. However, there are also a great amount of changes that were made throughout the past and till this day. In today’s generations, media such as, Internet, music, movies and television has significantly influenced the English language.
Most people would argue that English is continuing to evolve for the better; others would say that English is devolving. As I see it, the English language is declining based on the observation in the film, Black Knight. Is the English language dying? That is a question to really think about. Some experts such as Gene Weingarten, has studied and obtained an English degree and argues that the English language is essentially devolving. “It’s getting simpler, our vocabularies are shrinking and our ability to form complex sentences is dwindling.
I agree with this statement because our society is depending more and more on social networks, for instance, Twitter, Facebook and general technology. Texting is one of the most widely used forms of communication today, and its popularity only continues to rise. Most people use them in our day-to-day lives, using acronyms, abbreviations and short cuts. People are starting become lazy. The deterioration of Old English is transpiring over time due to lexical and pronunciation changes. By lexical and pronunciation changes, I mean that adoption of new words occur are different sounds are changed.
Although, the meaning of the word would still stay the same, they were just appropriated by different groups of speakers. In the movie, Black Knight, we can see a clear distinction between the modern world and the medieval times. In particular, Jamal, a man from the modern world, states that he is not trying to pick a fight, “I ain’t got beef with you dawg. ” In the modern days, “dawg” is meant as in a friend, the Henchman, a man from the medieval times interpreted that as an insult and believed that Jamal was saying that he was an actual dog.
Obviously in the movie, there is a slight language barrier between Jamal and the people in the medieval times, and often times, there is confusion set between them. In contrast, some believe that the English language is heading into the right direction. English is constantly changing and the revolution is inevitable. The Oxford English Dictionary is regularly updated with new words and vocabulary. English is universally considered to be the richest spoken language.
That multiplicity of words allows us to separate fine distinctions, and to provide clear, evocative descriptions of the world around us. After all, William Shakespeare invented new words – or converted verbs into nouns (and vice versa), some of which still exist in our present-day vocabulary. One of the beauties of the English language is its adaptability. It’s a language that has always been in a state of evolution, it adopts words from other languages, accepts deviations of meaning to existing words, and has busily spread and adapted in every corner of the world.
In conclusion, it leaves us thinking, what does this mean for the future of formality writing of English? Is this the end of literature? Or is good grammar lost permanently? We can never truly know what the future holds for us, only time can tell. As our society is continuing to be tarnished with technology and social media, the English language is slowly degenerating. Old English was once recognized as a firm language, but as our world deliberately changes, a part of English is lost. Proper English is becoming unrecognizable in present and future generations.