There are so many different languages all around the world, and with time, all of them undergo many changes for different reasons, and the English language is no different from the others. You may want to discuss this with your tutor from the english language course you attend.
So, why did these changes occur in the first place? Some of the main influences that caused a change in the English language are;
• The migration of people to and from different countries
• Meeting and socialising with people speaking different languages
No two people speak in the same manner. This stands true for individuals residing in the same community as well. The language of the person varies depending on gender, ethnicity, social and educational background. Let’s look at an example here; the original word for ‘dating’, was ‘courting.’
Due to these reasons, and many more influences in our society, the English language has embraced new expressions, words, and even pronunciations. This is how we, as humans, learn new words and integrate them into our lives. And this is how a language expands its form.
So, what changes are we talking about?
If you try to really listen to the everyday communication of individuals in your life or the people you come across everyday, you will realise that there are so many words that pass as common words today. Plus, the rise of the Internet and its resulting colloquial terms introduced so many words as well. Words like; LOL- laugh out loud, or YOLO- you only live once and bae are something you’ll hear a lot these days.
You will come across a bundle of new terms every five years or so. If we talk about other English, other than slang, then I am sure you must have come across the word ‘blimey’ that is the new iteration of ‘surprise’ or ‘whoa’.
The other change we see and notice a lot these days is the structuring of the sentences. Let’s take an example; in the previous year’s people used to, “have you got a moment?” but now they say, “You have a sec?” See what I mean? The words are abbreviated, plus new words are being added to the everyday questions you ask.
In fact, there are so many words that people just don’t say any more. Words like ‘ought’ and ‘shall’ are out of the bill, whereas, words like, ‘can’, ‘should’ are still being used today.
According to the experts, the English language has numerous words explaining a single thing. For example; the word big has synonyms; large, huge, vast, massive, enormous. People want to know the exact number of words in the English language, but we can’t be too sure about that. The Oxford English dictionary contains about 615 words, excluding the scientific words, specific words only used as scientific jargon. If we were to count them too, then the total number of words would be easily touching one million.
English is a very complex language, but learning the language is very important if you live in Singapore. There are many centres that teach english lessons to children. Contact them now and enrol your child today.
