what will be the development tendency of English?

Fernandes   Wed Dec 27, 2006 1:57 pm GMT
Towards more simplicity? With simpler grammar and fewer inflections?
Pete   Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:04 am GMT
Well, English has become simpler than it was at a time, and has lost a lot of its inflections. I'd tend to think that it's going simpler with time. Maybe new things will be created and the language will become more syntetic. Just remember Latin, it started to become simpler and simpler, and then with some regionalisms, and isolation originated so many languages. That's not gonna happen with English because with all this technollogy (I don't know how you spell that damn word.) and the sensation of being in a world that has become a small village. Indeed, English is going to receive the influence of the major languages in the world, say French, Spanish... to some extent, for as long as the American and British allow it, of course :)

Pete sending his greetings from Peru
User   Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:30 am GMT
>> technollogy <<
technology
Pete   Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:56 am GMT
Thanks, mate. It was getting on my nerves...
Kelly   Fri Dec 29, 2006 4:22 pm GMT
''Towards more simplicity? With simpler grammar and fewer inflections? ''

well, clitics will become subjects...
and subject pronouncs (I, he, she, they) will become obsolete...


adverbs will be replaced with adjectives
(take it serious, how are you? I am good, thanks)
12HV   Fri Dec 29, 2006 4:59 pm GMT
"Towards more simplicity? With simpler grammar and fewer inflections?"

I'm not sure what you think grammatical "simplicity" is.

Any language that lacks inflection must make up for it by more complex word order.

What gets simpler in one aspect must often get more complicated in another.
Kelly   Sat Dec 30, 2006 4:48 am GMT
''Any language that lacks inflection must make up for it by more complex word order.''

not true.
English: SVO
Brazilian Portuguese: SVO (VSO with intransitive verbs only)
Fernandes   Sat Dec 30, 2006 4:25 pm GMT
12HV Fri Dec 29, 2006 4:59 pm GMT
"Towards more simplicity? With simpler grammar and fewer inflections?"

I'm not sure what you think grammatical "simplicity" is.

Any language that lacks inflection must make up for it by more complex word order.

What gets simpler in one aspect must often get more complicated in another.
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Don't u think fewer inflections are a sign of simplicity?
Calliope   Sat Dec 30, 2006 6:45 pm GMT
"Any language that lacks inflection must make up for it by more complex word order.

What gets simpler in one aspect must often get more complicated in another. "

I agree. In Greek you have all those dreadful inflections and whatnot, but there is basically no specific word order (I guess there are some very, very flexible rules, but in very special cases).

If you applied the Greek lack of word order in English (which lacks inflections), you wouldn't be able to communicate. That's kind of a problem for Greeks learning English - we are not accustomed to using a strict word order, so it takes some getting used to.
Adam   Sat Dec 30, 2006 6:50 pm GMT
"Indeed, English is going to receive the influence of the major languages in the world, say French, Spanish..."


French isn't a major language.

And surely English will exert more of an influence on French considering that English is spoken by far more people and is more widespread.
Pete   Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:00 pm GMT
<<French isn't a major language.>>

Then, why the hell do we have to learn it at school?? Anyway, I won't be arguing with you about this.

<<And surely English will exert more of an influence on French considering that English is spoken by far more people and is more widespread.>>

Yeah, you're right. I've been told in France they're already receiving a heavy influence, especially young people sometimes prefer to use English words, but that's happening in many countries in Europe, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, etc... in the world, actually, Mexico, PerĂº, Japan...
12BL   Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:49 pm GMT
"Don't u think fewer inflections are a sign of simplicity?"

Again, "simplicity" in language is a highly subjective thing. Every native speaker tends to see their own language as less complicated or simpler than others. Of course! Because a native speaker learns their language on their mother' knee with hardly a second's thought about it.

Inflections are only really difficult if you are learning a language as a second language - and particularly if your own language lacks much inflection.

So no, I don't think fewer inflections are a sign of simplicity; fewer inflections are a sign that the word order is probably going to be rather rigid and complex.
Guest   Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:50 pm GMT
If things like 'I wanna' and 'I'm gonna' become an official part of the language (incorporating more and more verbs), then it will become more complicated.
Guest   Tue Jan 02, 2007 3:23 pm GMT
Again, "simplicity" in language is a highly subjective thing.

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That is simply nonsense! Doubtless English is becoming more and more simple, whether u like it or not. Fewer inflections is universally acknowledged as a sign of simplicity in linguistics.
02SL   Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:36 pm GMT
"Doubtless English is becoming more and more simple"

On what do you base this statement?

"Fewer inflections is universally acknowledged as a sign of simplicity in linguistics."

And on what do you base this assertion?

I suppose what we need here is an explanation of just what you think "simplicity" means in linguistic terms.