"Think of the different standards as used in Britain and the United States, not to mention Australia, New Zealand, and English-speaking Canada and South Africa"
Also India: when I'm wandering around visiting family, many people speak a standardized English to speak across the countries internal linguistic divides that they insist to me is "British English" when it clearly has both clear vocabulary and grammatical differences.
It's clearly English, but not any English anyone speaks anywhere else.
English speakers in the US and UK, at least, tend not to appreciate just how distinct and linguistically cool Indian English is. In my case, before meeting my in-laws, I think it was because the Indians I heard and interacted with in mass culture tended to have crisp, refined speech that was essentially standard British English with an accent.
Another factor, referencing a point from this article: diglossia in Indian English is alive and well, as it is in many major Indian languages. Pick up an Indian newspaper and you’ll notice only subtle distinctions from the British standard. Transcribe the speech of an average Indian English speaker and it looks entirely different. Use of articles and the “only” emphatic particle are illustrative examples.
Triadomany (great word!) burdens ancient history and archaeology as well: early, middle and late stone ages, old middle and new kingdoms in ancient Egypt and many more.
The great story you cite about Zhou Enlai is, sadly, false. There was a misunderstanding that was “too delicious to invite correction”: Zhou was talking about the 1968 student riots in Paris three years earlier.
It occurs to me that language and culture share a similarity - you don’t know what your cultural inclinations are (or likewise your distinctions of language) until you confront people of a different culture (or language variation). I’ve noticed this with people in our north Texas church which was founded by and substantially peopled by some families from Ohio and western Pennsylvania who, for some unclear reason relocated to these parts in the last 30-40 years. We all get along quite well but there are grammatical quirks and the way we keep our houses which stand out as banners of language and culture. To their credit, they are learning the right ways.
The existence of the internet “grammar Nazi” is another interesting influence. When someone pops into a discussion with “it’s ’he and I’, not ‘him and me’ they expose their grammar Nazism. Sometimes greeted with a “thank you”; sometimes with an expression of disdain “how dare you criticize someone looking down on them, it’s rude and demeaning!” Whether this slows or advances changes in our modern English to cyber-speak neo- late modern English we are to learn.
this is a great article. i tutor students, many ESOL, & sometimes tell them, "what you are learning is mid-20c english because that's what most of the books you will read are written in, & what people around you are speaking is 21c english." a simplification, but they get it.
i think the advent of autocorrect & its subsequent developments marks a phase-shift because for the first time usage is driven by machines & not people. i won't be surprised if in a hundred years only specialists will be able to read & write.
So interesting! FWIW there’s a theory that Kissinger and Zhou Enlai misunderstood each other, and that Zhou’s comments referred to the street protests that were shaking France in the late 1960s :)
Historians tend to point to the eccentric abbot Joachim of Fiore as our OG triadomaniac, whose millenarian Ages of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit form the background of the Renaissance’s more secular saecula, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern.
1. The present progressive verb tense in English, which is taking up more semantic territory, will eventually push semantic or grammatical shifts elsewhere, much as the Great Vowel Shift was set in motion by a change in one vowel. The following kinds of sentences are normal now even though they don’t signify ongoing action.
“I’m leaving tomorrow”
“I’m doing a lot of yoga these days”
2. In North America, the Mary-merry-marry and caught-cot mergers will be completed (much to my annoyance, though I will likely be dead).
3. “Gonna” will become a standard contraction, as will “y’all.”
Increasing numbers and share of English speakers who don’t produce these sounds natively and will be responsible for an increasing share of English language media and entertainment
I have relatives from the Deep South, and my impression has always been that y’all wasn’t specifically a plural form of you. I never had a clear notion of what it really signified, but I’m pretty sure that as a kid I was individually cautioned, “Y’all shouldn’t be doin’ that.”
(That was sixty years ago, so I’ll grant that usage might have changed or that I just remember wrong.)
=> "Not everyone accepts that the last five centuries of the English language belong under a single label." - this happens to every language except - slightly - if isolated from external influences & anyway, new words are added from generation to generation
languages are living things / always changing, always adapting & evolving
they ignore labels & arbitrary classifications- labels are just labels or common agreements resulting in part from the visions & knowledge in the time they were created
what does come after modern english? => modern-modern english? - post-modern english? - computerized english? - ai English? // just thinking aloud
in a way, i'm changing english right know with my horrible grammar / punctuation - LOL / sooner or later, modern english will be old english for someone no matter the name or label of the period. - yep, time is a flowing river & dams just work for a while
"Think of the different standards as used in Britain and the United States, not to mention Australia, New Zealand, and English-speaking Canada and South Africa"
Also India: when I'm wandering around visiting family, many people speak a standardized English to speak across the countries internal linguistic divides that they insist to me is "British English" when it clearly has both clear vocabulary and grammatical differences.
It's clearly English, but not any English anyone speaks anywhere else.
English speakers in the US and UK, at least, tend not to appreciate just how distinct and linguistically cool Indian English is. In my case, before meeting my in-laws, I think it was because the Indians I heard and interacted with in mass culture tended to have crisp, refined speech that was essentially standard British English with an accent.
Another factor, referencing a point from this article: diglossia in Indian English is alive and well, as it is in many major Indian languages. Pick up an Indian newspaper and you’ll notice only subtle distinctions from the British standard. Transcribe the speech of an average Indian English speaker and it looks entirely different. Use of articles and the “only” emphatic particle are illustrative examples.
And this is probably the largest group of English speakers in the world. It's the largest standard in that sense
Triadomany (great word!) burdens ancient history and archaeology as well: early, middle and late stone ages, old middle and new kingdoms in ancient Egypt and many more.
In this snippet: "sæ; ⁊ ne", what is the character after the semicolon?
The great story you cite about Zhou Enlai is, sadly, false. There was a misunderstanding that was “too delicious to invite correction”: Zhou was talking about the 1968 student riots in Paris three years earlier.
https://www.neatorama.com/2011/06/12/too-soon-to-tell/
(Addendum: Oops, I neglected to follow your footnote!)
"triadomaniacal", lol
It occurs to me that language and culture share a similarity - you don’t know what your cultural inclinations are (or likewise your distinctions of language) until you confront people of a different culture (or language variation). I’ve noticed this with people in our north Texas church which was founded by and substantially peopled by some families from Ohio and western Pennsylvania who, for some unclear reason relocated to these parts in the last 30-40 years. We all get along quite well but there are grammatical quirks and the way we keep our houses which stand out as banners of language and culture. To their credit, they are learning the right ways.
The existence of the internet “grammar Nazi” is another interesting influence. When someone pops into a discussion with “it’s ’he and I’, not ‘him and me’ they expose their grammar Nazism. Sometimes greeted with a “thank you”; sometimes with an expression of disdain “how dare you criticize someone looking down on them, it’s rude and demeaning!” Whether this slows or advances changes in our modern English to cyber-speak neo- late modern English we are to learn.
this is a great article. i tutor students, many ESOL, & sometimes tell them, "what you are learning is mid-20c english because that's what most of the books you will read are written in, & what people around you are speaking is 21c english." a simplification, but they get it.
i think the advent of autocorrect & its subsequent developments marks a phase-shift because for the first time usage is driven by machines & not people. i won't be surprised if in a hundred years only specialists will be able to read & write.
Excellent article
So interesting! FWIW there’s a theory that Kissinger and Zhou Enlai misunderstood each other, and that Zhou’s comments referred to the street protests that were shaking France in the late 1960s :)
Historians tend to point to the eccentric abbot Joachim of Fiore as our OG triadomaniac, whose millenarian Ages of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit form the background of the Renaissance’s more secular saecula, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern.
Here are my predictions:
1. The present progressive verb tense in English, which is taking up more semantic territory, will eventually push semantic or grammatical shifts elsewhere, much as the Great Vowel Shift was set in motion by a change in one vowel. The following kinds of sentences are normal now even though they don’t signify ongoing action.
“I’m leaving tomorrow”
“I’m doing a lot of yoga these days”
2. In North America, the Mary-merry-marry and caught-cot mergers will be completed (much to my annoyance, though I will likely be dead).
3. “Gonna” will become a standard contraction, as will “y’all.”
4. The “th” sounds will eventually be lost.
What's motivating point 4?
Increasing numbers and share of English speakers who don’t produce these sounds natively and will be responsible for an increasing share of English language media and entertainment
I don't really think I've seen any speakers making content who can't pronounce th. Maybe sseth I guess?
As a transplant to Texas, I find y'all extremely useful. Not having a distinctive plural 'you' is detrimental to clarity.
I have relatives from the Deep South, and my impression has always been that y’all wasn’t specifically a plural form of you. I never had a clear notion of what it really signified, but I’m pretty sure that as a kid I was individually cautioned, “Y’all shouldn’t be doin’ that.”
(That was sixty years ago, so I’ll grant that usage might have changed or that I just remember wrong.)
I would say I use y'all both singly and plurally, but only rarely singly. If there's confusion there's always "all y'all"!
great article!
=> "Not everyone accepts that the last five centuries of the English language belong under a single label." - this happens to every language except - slightly - if isolated from external influences & anyway, new words are added from generation to generation
languages are living things / always changing, always adapting & evolving
they ignore labels & arbitrary classifications- labels are just labels or common agreements resulting in part from the visions & knowledge in the time they were created
what does come after modern english? => modern-modern english? - post-modern english? - computerized english? - ai English? // just thinking aloud
in a way, i'm changing english right know with my horrible grammar / punctuation - LOL / sooner or later, modern english will be old english for someone no matter the name or label of the period. - yep, time is a flowing river & dams just work for a while
again, great writing from you!!!