changes in English language

On the Changes of English Language Ever since human beings came into being, profound changes have taken pl ace in the history of human civilization. Among these changes, linguistic changes are conspicuous. Various l anguages are spoken around the worl d, and each of them has varied a l ot from it s origin. In the foll owing, I’d like to talk about some changes in English, and some reasons that l ead up to these changes. Since each l anguage has a cl ose rel ation to history, so we’d better have a l ook at the history of English at first. We all know that there are three steps in the devel opment of English: Ol d English, Middl e English, and Modern English. The Ol d English was simply a combination of the l anguage of the Angl es and the Saxons. What’s more, the use of English was very limited, because it was only spoke in the isl e and the number of users was no more than 10 million. When the Norman Conquest successfully united Britain in 1066 A.D, Norman French took the pl ace of English. Ol d English devel oped into Middle English, heavily influenced by the Norman French. Modern English devel oped from there and continued to adopt foreign words, especially from Latin and Greek. From it s history we can see that English differs a l ot from it s origin, because it has been influenced by so many l anguages. In ol d English, Angl e was written as Engl e, and their l anguage was Englisc. The “sc” was pronounced as “sh”. For exampl e, “sheep” was written as “sceap”. But the changes of vocabul ary are obvious, since English adopted a l ot of words from French, Greek and Latin. In the current of 21st century, the English used nowadays has many differences from the Modern English. Though the pronunciations change slightly, there are always new words introduced into English, such as “chingl ish”, “Kung Fu”,“gelivabl e”, etc. Meanwhil e, some ol d words have gradually disappeared, like “thy”, “thou”, “thee”,and other ol d-fashioned words. Ad ditionally, when we read the works written by famous writers living in the 16th century, we can find how greatly the grammar has changed from the English of that time. Take the usage of verbs into consideration. In one of Shakespeare’s sonnet s, there are sentences that “l ose possession of that fair thou ow’st” and “when in eternal lines to time thou grow’st”. In today’s English, as grammar is simplified, “thou ow’st” is written as “you own”, and “thou grow’st” is written as “you grow”. In tradition grammar, a noun is only t aken as a noun and can never be used as a verb. But in modern grammar, one can head for the d oor, or butter the bread. And we can attribute a noun with a noun, suc h as “riot police”, “crime fighters”, which was objected in traditional grammar. What causes these changes? In my opinion, there are several reasons as foll owing. Firstly, the dominating culture has great impact on the l anguage. A nation may have different branches of culture, but only the most influential culture can impact the l anguage. In ol d times, most English speakers were the Angl es and the Saxons so the Middl e English was just as the way they said. And now, since the great power of America, with it s culture’s effect, the American English is now accepted and preferred by more peopl e now. Secondly, the devel opment of worl d economy has great effect s on the vocabul ary. With economic devel opment, a series of new words entered English, like space-man, moonwalk, and space shuttl e. Many new words are created because new inventions come out day by day and we must name them: fax, computer, web, Internet, etc. Thirdly, the politic has contributed to the vocabul ary as well. We all know the word Gate which originated from Watergate Scandal in 1972 about Richard Nixon, the American president at that time. In the Great Cultural Revolutionary in China from 1966 to1976, we Chinese al so contributed a l ot of Chinese-featured words to English, such as Gang of Four, the Red Guard and Intell ectual Youth. Fourthly, t he gl obalization’s contribution to the vocabul ary shoul d not be negl ected. Peopl e from different countries can now easily get touch with each other. Therefore, the different cultures will affect each other, which will refl ect in l anguage. We can see a l ot of words in English which are borrowed from foreign l anguages. These words, like Kung Fu, Tai Chi, and Yin Yang which represent part of Chinese culture, entered English because of the frequent, fast and convenient communications between Chinese and English speakers. And we Chinese sometimes do speak English in the way which is not accepted by the grammar. But the native speakers can understand us and some wrong expressions are accepted as English, “Long time no see.”Finally, the fast devel opment of society compel s the grammar to be simplified. Under the great pressure, peopl e have to speed up to keep pace with the society’s high-speeding devel opment. We prefer to use the most simplified words to give the most information in the shortest time. In order to meet these needs, the grammar has to be simplified, which is regarded the most effective way to simplify a l anguage. From the above, we can see English has experienced great changes in it s l ong history. Will it change continuously? In my opinion, there is no d oubt. New words in new fiel ds will come into being. Being the most widely spoken l anguage, English is supposed to be more convenient and easier for l earners in the future. But how will English be like in several centuries l ater? Who knows?