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The Ongoing Demise of English

September 13, 2016 | Filed under: James Harbeck and tagged with: James Harbeck, language change, Linguistics Frankly, usage
Copyright: pixelrobot / 123RF Stock Photo

Copyright: pixelrobot / 123RF Stock Photo

English just isn’t spoken as well as it used to be. As people who have to deal every day with the abuses of common users, we will surely all agree with this sentiment: “our unfortunate ears are doomed not only to excruciate in the torments of bad grammar, but to agonize under the torture of a viciousness of expression and a corruption of phraseology, the ridiculousness of which alone saves us from the death with which we are frequently threatened.”

Does that seem just a touch overstated and stiff? Well, it’s from The Vulgarisms and Improprieties of the English Language, published in 1833 by W.H. Savage, so we have to allow for minor changes in common phraseology. But look, here’s an author not from the 1800s who agrees: “the English language, as it is spoken by the politest part of the nation, and as it stands in the writings of the most approved authors, often offends against every part of grammar.”

That was Robert Lowth, writing in 1762, and standards have obviously degraded since then without our noticing. Even in Lowth’s time things had gone downhill over the preceding half century; compare Jonathan Swift in 1712 telling us “that our Language is extremely imperfect; that its daily Improvements are by no means in proportion to its daily Corruptions; … and, that in many Instances, it offends against every Part of Grammar.” Surely we can agree that it is better, and more consistent, to capitalize all Nouns, as Swift and his Contemporaries did.

Too late on that. Our language has been sliding, sliding, sliding. We could have heeded the advice of the pseudonymous author of Don’t: A Manual of Mistakes & Improprieties More or Less Prevalent in Conduct and Speech in 1885, and we would not now say “transpire” when we mean “occur,” or “fix” instead of “make fast” to mean “put in order, repair,” or “smart” to express “cleverness, brightness, or capability.”

We would also, in heeding other style guides of a mere century ago, know better than to write such a monstrosity as “The suspect was planning to use a car to raid the warehouse.” We would know that “suspect” should be “suspicious person,” that “plan” and “raid” are not verbs, and that “car” does not mean “automobile.” But, alas, we have fallen too far.

Or we have grown too far. Growing pains are felt more sharply by some than by others. Just as many of my generation will swear that the best music was written before 1990, quite a few people will insist that the best English is the kind they remember having learned as children. We don’t know, of course, how reliable their memories are, and we may wonder why they haven’t put childish things away, but so it goes. Stern voices over the centuries have taught us that English just isn’t spoken as well as it used to be…and it never has been.

~~~

Previous “Linguistics, Frankly” post: Omitting Periods? It’s About Genres.

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Written by James Harbeck

James Harbeck is a web editor and trained linguist and is author of the blog Sesquiotica, articles for TheWeek.com and the book Songs of Love and Grammar. Follow him on Twitter if you have the nerve.

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6 Responses to "The Ongoing Demise of English"

  1. Anita Jenkins says:
    September 13, 2016 at 9:44 am

    Great column. Bravo.

  2. Dave Ealey says:
    September 13, 2016 at 2:52 pm

    Yet how can a death be ongoing? Surely another one of those demise by a thousand cuts!

  3. Erin O'Quinn says:
    October 3, 2016 at 11:55 am

    Or, from another point of view, it is becoming more diversified, richer. I say this as a language aficianado and lover of all words.

    Moribund, no.

  4. James Harbeck says:
    October 3, 2016 at 12:26 pm

    Just to be clear, since the verbal irony the article may be a bit on the subtle side: this article is, as the saying goes, “taking the piss.” Its intent is to demonstrate the absurdity of the never-ending lamentations about the declining state of the language. For a more straightforward presentation of my embrace of the ongoing growth and evolution of the English language, see https://sesquiotic.wordpress.com/2009/01/09/an-appreciation-of-english-a-language-in-motion/ and https://sesquiotic.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/our-changing-language-when-does-wrong-become-right/ (among others).

    1. Erin O'Quinn says:
      October 3, 2016 at 12:44 pm

      Ha! I think I understand the subtlety. My own snarky comment was directed at those who see it as “dying.”

      Language is on its way to oblivion when none stretch it and play with it and make love to it and imbed a sense of irony into its marrow. 😀

    2. Anita Jenkins says:
      October 3, 2016 at 2:32 pm

      When I taught high school English I of course tried to teach about recognizing satire. Without much success.

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