MonseigneurBienvenuTue, Mar 2, 2010 I think all of this this is quite right. French has always been a 'short' language, English has always been evolving and Imperialism did a lot of work towards that end, and modern media does promote the growth of vocabulary. Notions of 'correct' English are outdated only in a spatially limited sense, as the notion was never there originally (we only need note Shakespearian times for a vivid example, he could not even come up with a standard spelling of his own name, as I remember, perhaps wrongly), then appeared and then began to die and morph into something else.
However, all of these trends are focused on english to the exclusion of at least one other language I can think of, development and spread of which is an interesting phenomenon: Mandarin. Same sort of trends can be seen: adaption, 'forced' learning, etc. Will the trends die out? And what does that tell us about the English language?
I think all of this this is quite right. French has always been a 'short' language, English has always been evolving and Imperialism did a lot of work towards that end, and modern media does promote the growth of vocabulary. Notions of 'correct' English are outdated only in a spatially limited sense, as the notion was never there originally (we only need note Shakespearian times for a vivid example, he could not even come up with a standard spelling of his own name, as I remember, perhaps wrongly), then appeared and then began to die and morph into something else.
However, all of these trends are focused on english to the exclusion of at least one other language I can think of, development and spread of which is an interesting phenomenon: Mandarin. Same sort of trends can be seen: adaption, 'forced' learning, etc. Will the trends die out? And what does that tell us about the English language?