Language Myths 1,2,3,5

Myth 1: The meaning of words should not be allowed to vary or change

Languages are alive and therefore susceptible to change. Languages change over time and will keep doing so, there is nothing we can do about it because languages are self-regulating systems which can be left to take care of themselves. The grammar changes as well, grammar structures in English have changed over time from a simple verb-subject system to more complex and varied sentence structures. I believe that it is good that languages change and evolve, but sometimes I am worried where the language is headed if you listen to the changes in public discord.

Myth 2: Some languages are just not good enough

Some languages in this world are diminishing, there are fewer people each year that speak it. In New-Zealand they want to save the Maori language but not enough people speak it for it to become a wide spread language. Sometimes languages are “not good enough” because they do not have the grammatical structures needed to discuss modern inventions clearly and concisely, for example: the Romansh language cannot combine ideas into single words while German can and therefore German is the preferred language to discuss technical issues in. Personally I love regional languages and I also believe that Twents should be a recognised language. However, when there are no people left who can speak it a language will die. Languages rely on their speakers to evolve the language and if there are no speakers left, the language will become stagnant and eventually dead like Latin.

Myth 3: The media are ruining English

The English used in media is always going to be, and has always been our favourite thing to grumble about. Even in the 19th century we loved to grumble about the deteriorating English used in the media. But I think, in agreement with the book, that the media reflects the language we all use. There is another aspect to be considered as well, news is supposed to be short and to the point. There is no use for flowery language in journalism. The poem talks about boiling it down, make it shorter! Especially nowadays when people have the attention span of puppies, we do not tolerate long-winded stories on our news broadcasts and in our daily news. I do think the media should be aware of their position in spreading the language others use. They should monitor themselves to see if they can also be used to improve the standard of language in the long run.

Myth 5: English spelling is kattastroffik

The spelling of the English language might seem like someone has just grabbed letters and thrown them in a random order but this is mostly because of the varied pronunciations we have for simple vowels and letters. You can not rely on knowing that consonants are the same so they sound the same, no they all sound slightly different in each word depending on their neighbouring letters. This might seem odd but it is the same in most Germanic languages. There are vowels that sound like other vowels and if you think you’ve got it down you are introduced to homophones, words that sound the same but are spelled different and have different meanings. This might make it seem confusing for learners of the language but it will grow on you. If it doesn’t, don’t be afraid, languages evolve and it might disappear.