Oct 15, 2014 - As English Language students we are encouraged to be descriptivist to the inevitable change of language.
Edition No. 151 Day: Wednesday 15 October Theme: Language Change Writer: Bethany Walker, 13U Who can define what is correct language and what is not? Who can determine when language is in its ‘perfect’ form? The English language has continually been changing since its creation, adopting new words and leaving behind others. Many today would be unable to fully understand an Old English text, displaying the great change that language has already gone through. Even after being standardised throughout the country to remove differences in language, English has had to undergo multiple changes to match the change in society. Language adapts to the needs of the user and thus many technological changes have influenced language change. For example, ‘television’ is a word in which people a couple of hundred years ago would not have understood but this new word was required to name the invention. Increased travel has also allowed influences from other countries to intertwine with the English Language. For example, American English is greatly seen in media and many words have been taken from this, such as ‘French fries’ and ‘prom’. Therefore, language change is required in this ever changing society. There are two different attitudes to the changing of the English language – prescriptivism and descriptivism. Ideally, prescriptivists would prefer for language to remain in the same state, never changing. As in Jane Aitchinson’s ‘Crumbling Castle’ metaphor to describe prescriptivism, they see English as a monument to be maintained and change as decay to the monument. Descriptivists, however, welcome change or at least acknowledge it as being unavoidable in language. Descriptivists would argue language had never been in a perfect state to begin with and has always been changing. As English Language students we are encouraged to be descriptivist to the inevitable change of language. Language will continue to change as time progresses and this change should be welcomed rather than hindered.
