{"id":428971,"date":"2018-06-03T10:38:26","date_gmt":"2018-06-03T10:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essaypaper.org\/language-evolution\/"},"modified":"2018-10-24T09:06:07","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T09:06:07","slug":"language-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/language-evolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Language Evolution"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Barbara'sby Barbara von Diether, MEd, EdD
Thesis and Dissertation Writing Coach, Thesis and Dissertation Editor, Scholarly and Academic Writing Consultant<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following are some observations about the nature of our language and how it is changing. Here is a sentence containing several examples of language evolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf u google \u2018laser\u2019 and interface that def with the tangebalized results we already have we can nuke the veggies:)\u201d<\/p>\n

The above sentence contains several ways our language is changing: a new spelling (u), a noun converted to a verb (google), a compound (interface), one abbreviation (def), an adjective that has been turned into a verb (tangibalized), an abbreviation that has become a word (nuke), slang (veggies), and a new punctuation mark \u2014 :).<\/p>\n

But then, our language has been changing from the first grunt. Try this:<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was a worthy womman al hir lyve, housbondes at chirche-dore she hadde fyve, wuthouten other companye in youthe, but thereof nedeth nat to speke as nouthe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chaucer wrote this verse, but that is about how Christopher Columbus spoke and wrote a few years after Chaucer\u2019s death in 1400.<\/p>\n

How about \u201cGot milk?\u201d Or \u201cI axed her.\u201d Neither Chaucer nor Columbus would have understood. The first is a grammatical mistake, and the second is a mispronunciation of \u201casked,\u201d which is now creeping into the written language as \u201caxed.\u201d Whether these current usage examples become permanent has not yet been decided, but then, who ever thought \u201c9\/11\u201d would come to mean anything other than September 11, and a toilet plunger would ever be called a \u201chydro blast force cup\u201d (US Army).<\/p>\n

Here are some ways the language is changing, and some of them will become permanent, if they haven\u2019t already.<\/p>\n

The Use of Pompous or Ambiguous Jargon.<\/h2>\n

AT&T used the lofty \u201ccustomer input\/output access facility\u201d to describe their complaint windows. The White House called the Granada invasion a \u201cpre-dawn vertical insertion.\u201d We like to pick on the Pentagon because they are so creative. When they say \u201cneutralize the adversary in an expedient fashion\u201d they mean shoot first, dude. The Pentagon refers to combat as \u201cviolence processing,\u201d and \u201cpermanent pre-hostilities\u201d means peace, brother. \u201cCollateral damage\u201d means killing our allies by accident.<\/p>\n

But let us not forget business and industry. Shell Oil called their gas station attendants \u201chydro carbon transfer specialists,\u201d and there aren\u2019t any janitors any more because they are all called maintenance engineers (and there isn\u2019t an engineering degree among the lot). Most companies don\u2019t have mail rooms, they have Document Distribution Centers. Sales men and women are the oh-so correct \u201cassociates,\u201d which avoids gender identification, but it sounds like they own part of the business. Maybe that\u2019s the point.<\/p>\n

The Compression of Words into Acronyms and Abbreviation.<\/h2>\n

Does anyone remember what scuba means? We don\u2019t bother to capitalize it, but it means Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. How about \u201claser?\u201d It means Light Amplification through Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The ZIP in zip code means Zoned Improvement Program, and POSH mean \u201cport out, starboard back,\u201d which are the best staterooms on a ship.<\/p>\n

If we start to put compressions together, we find sentences like this one from Amoco Oil. \u201cTo access GPNU2, @ADD the source file TEXDIS*TEMPLATES.GPNU2 while in PARSD.\u201d Excuse me? And from Northrop Aviation we find this procedure: \u201cThe program was loaded onto the CMS and compiled with Fortran Compliers rs(FORTUS), GICFTG, and H Extended (FHX).<\/p>\n

The Epidemic of Slang<\/h2>\n

Slang is so prevalent that people do not realize they are using it. \u201cReoccurance\u201d is not a word, nor is its more famous cousin \u201cirregardless.\u201d I have heard people in high-class business meetings say \u201cguestimate\u201d with a straight face, and \u201cevergreen\u201d to mean up-to-date or continuously improved.<\/p>\n

In everyday language, we hear other slang words such as \u201cbummer,\u201d \u201cframistant,\u201d \u201cdiddlysquat,\u201d cockamayme,\u201d \u201cdisambiguate,\u201d and, of course \u201cveggies\u201d, which is what \u201cvegans\u201d eat. How about \u201csup\u201d meaning \u201cWhat\u2019s up?\u201d LOL has now hit the verbal language.<\/p>\n

Compounding Words into New Words<\/h2>\n

Compounding starts when two words are used so frequently together that they become hyphenated. After a few years of hyphenation, the hyphen is removed and a new word hits the street. \u201cDown time\u201d became \u201cdown-time\u201d and now it\u2019s \u201cdowntime.\u201d There are endless combinations: \u201cgreenmail,\u201d \u201cmeltdown,\u201d \u201cairhead,\u201d \u201cproactive,\u201d and \u201cripoff,\u201d to name a very few.<\/p>\n

We like to put \u201cmega\u201d in front of almost any word: \u201cmegabucks,\u201d \u201cmegatrend,\u201d \u201cmegastar,\u201d \u201cmegabyte,\u201d and \u201cmegamillionaire.\u201d We also put \u201cultra\u201d in front of words: \u201cultralite,\u201d \u201cultrafine,\u201d or \u201cultrasuede,\u201d and we stick \u201canti\u201d anywhere at all: \u201cantiterrorist,\u201d \u201cantidiscrimination,\u201d \u201cantiwar,\u201d \u201cantimarriage,\u201d etc.<\/p>\n

Lastly, we like to stick \u201cout\u201d on the end of many self-respecting words: \u201cfar out,\u201d make out,\u201d \u201cveg out,\u201d \u201cpig out,\u201d \u201cfreak out,\u201d \u201cburned out,\u201d \u201ccop out,\u201d \u201czoned out,\u201d \u201cgrossed out,\u201d and \u201cchill out,\u201d to name a few. Some of these will become hyphenated, then one word over time.<\/p>\n

New Definitions for Old Words, and New Foreign Words<\/h2>\n

It all depends on how you say it: \u201cbad\u201d if you mean bad, and \u201cbaaad\u201d if you mean good. \u201cAnchor\u201d used to stop ships, \u201cwired\u201d meant wiring in a house or elsewhere, \u201cheavy\u201d used to mean it weighs a lot, and \u201ctrash\u201d meant something you put out on the curb. \u201cMeat market\u201d did not mean a place to meet \u201chook up,\u201d \u201cstoned\u201d was a medieval form of execution still practiced today in some third-world countries, and \u201ccrunch\u201d was what Rice Krispies did. \u201cCool\u201d meant a temperature.<\/p>\n

We are ingesting foreign words at a record pace. Anything on the menu at a Mexican restaurant is a new American word, \u201cglitch\u201d is a German word, and \u201cskoosh\u201d is a Japanese word. Globalization, over the next 1,000 years, will have us all speaking the same language.<\/p>\n

The Conversation of Nouns and Adjectives into Verbs<\/h2>\n

\u201cWe will status the drawings tomorrow\u201d (Bectel).<\/p>\n

\u201cHe inferfaces well with clients\u201d (IBM).<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring phase 2 we will reorientate the program (Boeing Aircraft).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe power line was built secludedly to please landowners\u201d (US Forest Service).<\/p>\n

All of these sentences were drawn from actual documents used in writing workshops. Also, there is \u201cWe Pofessionalize in Damage-Free Towing\u201d on the side of a truck, \u201cThis report will definitize an answer\u201d from Martin Marrieta, and \u201cRoutinization has begun\u201d from ARCO Oil. \u201cRuggedized\u201d means heavy duty reinforcement at the BLM, and from Cameron Iron Works: \u201cThat whole program should be absoluted.\u201d Brilliant.<\/p>\n

Regionalism<\/h2>\n

If you are \u201cliving under the bridge\u201d you live south of the Mackinaw River Bridge, and if you want a big sandwich, you have to know what to ask for: a \u201cwimpie\u201d in the northeast, a \u201choagie\u201d in Philadelphia, a \u201csubmarine\u201d in New York, a \u201cpo boy\u201d in Louisiana, a \u201chero\u201d in the southwest, and a \u201cblimpie\u201d in San Francisco. If you are \u201cmakin\u2019 groceries\u201d in Louisiana you have gone to the store, and depending on where you are you will either be killed for calling somebody a \u201ccoon ass\u201d or you will be congratulated for recognizing a really nice guy. Getting a soft drink can be challenging, depending on where you are. In some parts of the county, \u201ccoke\u201d means anything cold, after which you must specify which cold drink you want, and then there is \u201cfiz,\u201d \u201csoda,\u201d \u201cpop,\u201d and \u201csoda pop.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Invention of Idioms<\/h2>\n

\u201cIt blew my mind that you were chewing the fat and shooting the bull with that hacker. But lay it on me, because if you want to be off the wall and spend an arm and a leg on getting buffed out let me water the horse and I\u2019ll join you.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sentence is comprised entirely of idioms. In business, people \u201cmassage the numbers\u201d and get \u201cup to speed.\u201d In the trucking industry if someone says their coffee has been \u201csaucered and blowed\u201d it means it\u2019s ready to drink. In the government they talk about \u201crevenue enhancement,\u201d which means they are going to raise our taxes.<\/p>\n

In 1942 Eric Partridge in his book,\u00a0Usage and Abusage<\/em>,\u201d said, \u201cThe field of language is strewn with the dry bones of adventurous words which once started out with a paternal blessing to make their fortune, but which have met with an untimely end and serve only, when collected, to fill the shelves of a lexicographical museum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Changes in the verbal language occur with breathtaking speed. Some of that language, if it sticks around long enough and is used frequently enough, is eventually used in the written language. Some make it into the dictionaries. However, just because a word makes it into a dictionary, does not mean it will stay there! Old words fly off the pages, and unused words fly after them. Dictionaries evolve, just as the language evolves. The wary keep a 1932 copy of the\u00a0Encyclopedia Britannica<\/em>\u00a0on their shelves because it has scholarly articles instead of definitions like modern encyclopedias, which are expanded dictionaries with plenty of color pictures, and toss out last year\u2019s dictionary with last year\u2019s phone book.<\/p>\n

Writers in business, industry, and government, at the management level and above, should beware of using words that might detract from their professional countenance. The misuse of word can lead to ridicule among associates and distract attention from a good education and excellent talents.<\/p>\n

(Copyright 2007)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Barbara von Diether, MEd, EdDThesis and Dissertation Writing Coach, Thesis and Dissertation Editor, Scholarly and Academic Writing Consultant \u00a0 Following are some observations about the nature of our language and how it is changing. Here is a sentence containing Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dissertation-writing","category-essay-paper-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428971\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}