I am not sure what is the author trying to convey with the article. I mean... isn't it a feature of languages that they evolve and change with society? I think pretty much every language today is not exactly the same that it was a couple of generations ago so why would we expect it to be what it is now in the future? Or is the complaint just that are the Americas bringing the most changes?
A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
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Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#12This has been happening to the English language for the entirety of its existence. The process may have accelerated, but it's the same process that's led to the mishmash of Germanic, Latin and panoply of loanwords that we use every day.
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#13Though there are lots of conspicuous imports in e.g. product names, those are just on the surface. It's harder for "supposed to be" to replace "meant to be" than for "ATM" to replace "cash point."
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#14Misleading title, author equates "English" to "British English".
Why would you expect the BBC to refer to "English" as "British English"?
To assuage American readers? That's a rather condescending attitude, don't you think?
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#15Misleading title, author equates "English" to "British English".
Not a misleading title - necessary for the last sentence in the first paragraph. And should the non-clarified form of the language not automatically be assumed to be the original form of it? Compare Spanish Spanish vs Mexican Spanish, it feels an unnecessary clarification
There is no "original form" still spoken today. Why would the version that happens to be currently socially accepted as "correct" by most native speakers in England be the "original" form? The vast majority of English speakers don't speak British English.
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#16An interesting phenomenon I've noticed is that a lot of people, and often intelligent people, believe that language that have been evolving for thousands of years should, somehow, just stop evolving today.
Interestingly, while one would expect it to be correlated with political belief (conservatives would want language as it was in good old days, progressives would embrace the change) my personal anecdotal evidence says it isn't.
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#17I think I just hurt my eyes from rolling them so far back in my head. Cultures in contact with each other share words. It goes both ways. A quarter or more of the words in English are outright copied from French... oh, but that happened a long time ago. As an American, I've noticed certain words I associate with British English creeping into our vocabulary as well. In my mind I associate it with Harry Potter and Doct…
While I agree, the article does cover this:
"After all, as a nation we’ve been both invaded and invader, and our language is all the richer for it. Words like bungalow, bazaar, even Blighty, have their roots elsewhere. Heck, go far enough back and isn’t it pretty much all just distorted Latin, French or German?"
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#18I was about to point out how much American TV is broadcast daily in the UK and how that shapes language and culture over here. But I think the complete lack of British online social communities is going to be even more influential. Everyone over here is on facebook, youtube, reddit, etc. Everyone is installing games and apps on their phones with American English phrasing. Aside from reading the bbc, telegraph etc or shopping/banking online, every other bit of online content consumed over here is mostly American centered.
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not a misleading title - necessary for the last sentence in the first paragraph. And should the non-clarified form of the language not automatically be assumed to be the original form of it? Compare Spanish Spanish vs Mexican Spanish, it feels an unnecessary clarification
There is no "original form" still spoken today. Why would the version that happens to be currently socially accepted as "correct" by most native speakers in England be the "original" form? The vast majority of English speakers don't speak British English.
I don't have any good argument why, besides the one that in non-English speaking countries, English == British English.
Same for Spanish, when I'm talking about that language it doesn't even cross my mind that someone might think Mexican Spanish.
But English is not my first language so it may be different e.g. for Americans.
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#20As a foreign speaker, American English has become the reference. Almost all English sources I use are American. (e.g. movies, tv series, youtube channels...). I try not to use words specific to British English and I set my spellchecker to U.S. English.
It sounds wrong to refer to British English as the English language. There are several English languages that coexist and cross-pollinate.