关于英语语言的变化.docx

关于英语语言的变化.docx

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关于英语语言的变化

关于英语语言的变化

关于英语语言的变化

AboutLanguageChange

IstheEnglishlanguagechanging?

Yes,andsoiseveryotherhumanlanguage.Languageisalwayschanging,evolving,andadaptingtotheneedsofitsusers.Thisisn'tabadthing;ifEnglishhadn'tchangedsince,say,1950,wewouldn'thavewordstorefertomodems,faxmachines,orcableTV.Aslongastheneedsoflanguageuserscontinuetochange,sowillthelanguage.Thechangeissoslowthatfromyeartoyearwehardlynoticeit（excepttogrumbleeverysooftenaboutthe'poorEnglish'beingusedbytheyoungergeneration!

）.ButreadingShakespeare'swritingsfromthesixteenthcenturycanbedifficult.Ifyougobackacouplemorecenturies,Chaucer'sCanterburyTalesareverytoughsledding,andifyouwentbackanother500yearstotrytoreadBeowulf,itwouldbelikereadingadifferentlanguage. 

Whydoeslanguagechange?

Languagechangesforseveralreasons.First,itchangesbecausetheneedsofitsspeakerschange.Newtechnologies,newproducts,andnewexperiencesrequirenewwordstorefertothemclearlyandefficiently.Considerthefaxmachine:

Originallyitwascalledafacsimilemachine,becauseitallowedonepersontosendanotheracopy,orfacsimile,ofadocument.Asthemachinesbecamemorecommon,peoplebeganusingtheshorterformfaxtorefertoboththemachineandthedocument;fromthere,itwasjustashortsteptousingthewordfaxasaverb（asinI'llfaxthisovertoSylvia）. 

Anotherreasonforchangeisthatnotwopeoplehavehadexactlythesamelanguageexperience.Weallknowaslightlydifferentsetofwordsandconstructions,dependingonourage,job,educationlevel,regionofthecountry,andsoon.Wepickupnewwordsandphrasesfromallthedifferentpeoplewetalkwith,andthesecombinetomakesomethingnewandunlikeanyotherperson'sparticularwayofspeaking.Atthesametime,variousgroupsinsocietyuselanguageasawayofmarkingtheirgroupidentity-showingwhoisandisn'tamemberofthegroup.Manyofthechangesthatoccurinlanguagebeginwithteensandyoungadults:

Asyoungpeopleinteractwithotherstheirownage,theirlanguagegrowstoincludewords,phrases,andconstructionsthataredifferentfromthoseoftheoldergeneration.Somehaveashortlifespan（heardgroovylately?

）,butothersstickaroundtoaffectthelanguageasawhole. 

Wegetnewwordsfrommanydifferentplaces.Weborrowthemfromotherlanguages（sushi,chutzpah）,wecreatethembyshorteninglongerwords（gymfromgymnasium）orbycombiningwords（brunchfrombreakfastandlunch）,andwemakethemoutofpropernames（Levis,fahrenheit）.Sometimesweevencreateanewwordbybeingwrongabouttheanalysisofanexistingword.That'showthewordpeawascreated:

Fourhundredyearsago,thewordpeasewasusedtorefertoeitherasinglepeaorabunchofthem.Butovertime,peopleassumedthatpeasewasapluralform,forwhichpeamustbethesingular,andanewword-pea-wasborn.（Thesamethingwouldhappenifpeoplebegantothinkofthewordcheeseasreferringtomorethanonechee.） 

Wordorderalsochanges,thoughthisprocessismuchslower.OldEnglishwordorderwasmuchmore'free'thanthatofModernEnglish,andevencomparingtheEarlyModernEnglishoftheKingJamesBiblewithtoday'sEnglishshowsdifferencesinwordorder.Forexample,theKingJamesBibletranslatesMatthew6:

28as"Considertheliliesofthefield,howtheygrow;theytoilnot."Inamorerecenttranslation,thelastphraseistranslatedas"theydonottoil".Englishnolongerplacesnotaftertheverbinasentence. 

Finally,thesoundsofalanguagechangeovertime,too.About500yearsagoEnglishbegantoundergoamajorchangeinthewayitsvowelswerepronounced.Beforethat,geesewouldhaverhymedwithtoday'spronunciationofface,whilemicewouldhaverhymedwithtoday'speace.Butthena'GreatVowelShift'begantooccur,duringwhichtheaysound（asinpay）changedtoee（asinfee）inallthewordscontainingit,whiletheeesoundchangedtoi（asinpie）.Inall,sevendifferentvowelsoundswereaffected.Ifyou'veeverwonderedwhymostotherEuropeanlanguagesspellthesoundaywithane（asinfiancé）andthesoundeewithani（asinaria）,it'sbecausethoselanguagesdidn'tundergotheGreatVowelShift.OnlyEnglishdid. 

Wasn'tEnglishmoreelegantinShakespeare'sday?

Peopletendtothinkthatolderformsoflanguagearemoreelegant,logical,orcorrectthanmodernForms,butit'sjustnottrue.TheFactthatlanguageisalwayschangingdoesn'tmeanit'sgettingworse;it'sjustbecomingdifferent. 

InOldEnglish,asmallwingedcreaturewithFeatherswasknownasabrid.Overtime,thepronunciationchangedtobird.Althoughit'snothardtoimaginechildreninthe1400'sbeingscoldedFor'slurring'bridintobird,it'sclearthatbirdwonout.Nobodytodaywouldsuggestthatbirdisanincorrectwordorasloppypronunciation. 

Thespeechpatternsofyoungpeopletendtograteontheearsofadultsbecausethey'reunfamiliar.Also,newwordsandphrasesareusedinspokenorinformallanguagesoonerthaninFormal,writtenlanguage,soit'struethatthephrasesyouhearteenagersusingmaynotyetbeappropriateForbusinessletters.Butthatdoesn'tmeanthey'reworse-justnewer.ForyearsEnglishteachersandnewspapereditorsarguedthatthewordhopefullyshouldn'tbeusedtomean'Ihope',asinHopefullyitwon'traintoday,eventhoughpeoplefrequentlyuseditthatwayininformalspeech.（And,ofcoursenobodycomplainedaboutother'sentenceadverbs'suchasfranklyandactually.）Nowthebattleagainsthopefullyisallbutlost,anditappearsatthebeginningsofsentenceseveninformaldocuments. 

Ifyoulistencarefully,youcanhearlanguagechangeinprogress.Forexample,anymoreusedtooccuronlyinnegativesentences:

Idon'teatpizzaanymore.Butnow,inmanyareasofthecountry,it'sbeingusedinpositivesentences:

I'vebeeneatingalotofpizzaanymore.Inthisuse,anymoremeanssomethinglike'lately'.Ifthatsoundsoddtoyounow,keeplistening;youmaybehearingitinyourneighborhoodbeforelong. 

Whycan'tpeoplejustusecorrectEnglish?

By'correctEnglish',peopleusuallymeanStandardEnglish.MostlanguageshaveastandardForm;it'stheFormofthelanguageusedingovernment,education,andotherFormalcontexts.ButStandardEnglishisjustonedialectofEnglish. 

What'simportanttorealizeisthatthere'snosuchthingasa'sloppy'or'lazy'dialect.Everydialectofeverylanguagehasrules-not'schoolroom'ruleslike'don'tsplityourinfinitives',butratherthesortsofrulesthattellusthatthecatsleptisasentenceofEnglish,butsleptcattheisn't.Theserulestelluswhatlanguageislikeratherthanwhatitshouldbelike. 

Differentdialectshavedifferentrules.Forexample:

（l）Ididn'teatanydinner. 

（2）Ididn'teatnodinner. 

Sentence（l）followstherulesofStandardEnglish;sentence

（2）followsasetofrulespresentinseveralotherdialects.Butneitherissloppierthantheother;theyjustdifferintheruleFormakinganegativesentence.In（l）,dinnerismarkedasnegativewithany;in

（2）,it'smarkedasnegativewithno.Therulesaredifferent,butneitherismorelogicalorelegantthantheother.InFact,OldEnglishregularlyused'doublenegatives',paralleltowhatweseein

（2）,andmanymodernlanguages,includingItalianandSpanish,eitheralloworrequiremorethanonenegativewordinasentence.Sentenceslike

（2）onlysound'bad'ifyoudidn'thappentogrowupspeakingadialectthatusesthem. 

Youmayhavebeentaughttoavoid'splitinfinitives',asin（3）:

（3）1wasaskedtothoroughlywaterthegarden.

Thisissaidtobe'ungrammatical'becausethoroughlysplits'theinfinitivetowater.Whyaresplitinfinitivessobad?

Here'swhy:

Seventeenth-centurygrammariansbelievedLatinwastheideallanguage,sotheythoughtEnglishshouldbeasmuchlikeLatinaspossible.InLatin,aninfinitiveliketowaterisasingleword;it'simpossibletosplititup.Sotoday,300yearslater,we'restillbeingtaughtthatsentenceslike（3）arewrong,allbecausesomeoneinthe1600'sthoughtEnglishshouldbemorelikeLatin. 

Here'sonelastexample.Overthepastfewdecades,threenewwaysofreportingspeechhaveappeared:

（4）SoKarengoes,"Wow-IwishI'dbeenthere!

" 

（5）SoKarenislike,"Wow-IwishI'dbeenthere!

" 

（6）SoKarenisall,"Wow-IwishI'dbeenthere!

"

In（4）,goesmeansprettymuchthesamethingassaid;it'susedforreportingKaren'sactualwords.In（5）,islikemeansthespeakeristellingusmoreorlesswhatKarensaid.IfKarenhaduseddifferentwordsforthesamebasicidea,（5）wouldbeappropriate,but（4）wouldnot.Finally,isallin（6）isafairlynewconstruction.Inmostoftheareaswhereit'sused,itmeanssomethingsimilartoislike,butwithextraemotion.IfKarenhadsimplybeenreportingthetime,itwouldbeokaytosayShe'slike,"It'sfiveo'clock",butoddtosayShe'sall,"It'sfiveo'clock"-unlesstherewassomethingexcitingaboutitbeingfiveo'clock. 

Alazywayoftalking?

Notatall;theyoungergenerationhasmadeausefulthree-waydistinctionwherewepreviouslyonlyhadthewordsaid.Languagewillneverstopchanging;itwillcontinuetorespondtotheneedsofthepeoplewhouseit.Sothenexttimeyouhearanewphrasethatgratesonyourears,rememberthat,likeeverythingelseinnature,theEnglishlanguageisaworkinprogress. 

附件四三四单元作业

Unit3

I.Choosethebestonetofillintheblank.

1.Nationallanguageisusedwithinnationalboundaries.Englishinthiscenturyhasabecomea___________.

A.nationa