THE Adventure OF English EP 8 PDF

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THE ADVENTURE OF ENGLISH: MANY TONGUES CALLED ENGLISH. The adventure of English is a British television series presented by Melvyn Bragg that follows the journey of the English language: from his birth as a minor Germanic dialect to his present – and future, as a global language. The last episode of the series focuses on 3 points:   



The relationship between British English and American English from the 19th century to this day (or better, to 2003) English as a global language The potential on English of becoming a vernacular language

Even though what we call today “American English” was one day just British English spoke oversea,

It’s not hard to point out how much those two languages differ nowadays . starting from the 19 th century, it was already clear how American English was becoming a language of its own, progressively influenced by internal factors, different from the ones in England. When it comes to economical factors, its important to remember America was experiencing a unprecedented economic boom, which reflected in the vocabulary used, both coming from a preexisting words or new ones. Business man, go-getter, skyscraperare some example. Definitely American was also the subtle desireof detaching themselves from everything British (probably a “habit” that dates back to the period of the Independence War). This particular social inflexion made common for Americans to create new words for objects or concepts that already have one in English (Elevator instead of lift, drapes instead of curtains and so on), which deepened the negative opinion British speakers had, considering American English a slang, an informal twist of the formal, polished British English. British English was about to face linguistic changes as well, mostly due to the WWI. As we saw for the American economic boom, war was also a strong enough event to shake and scar the population down to its linguistic core. A useful example is see how certain emotions used to be conveyed with the use of rather pompous periphrasis in the Victorian and Edwardian era alike : to be in trouble was “to be thrown like a horse rider into a swamp”, a saying linked to a common activities of the time, while after the war, “to be bombarded” seems to be the phrasing of choice to convey the same emotion. In the early 20th century, after WWI, while Europe faced a hard time, America was experiencing a new economical expansion. The increasing demand brought in a significant number of immigrants. The first wave was of African Americans coming from South America: they brought new sounds and words to the English language, mostly thanks to the increasing appreciation for jazz and blues music (both terms became mainstream in the English language, even though they trace back to African languages).

Another wave of immigration came from central and east Europe: German and Yiddish words that became largely used in America were words like hamburger or seminar, but also different ways of sentence construction (“I’m telling you!”or “am I hungry!”). These words easily spread trough cinema, and were common in movies, especiallygangsters ones. The myths of cinema added new meanings to preexisting words like “star” (now intended as a famous actor/actress) or “trailer”. American English was more and more looked down by British English speakers, for its tendency to easily absorb words from different languages but also create neologism by joining words (ex. Skyscraper ). That approach reflected the modernity and the cherished diversity of the American nation, while Britain tended to do the complete opposite. A good example is the speech Winston Churchill transmitted by radio to his Nation, when Hitler threatened to attack England. the speech stressed on words likeisland, ground, never, strike, all words coming from old English, deeply significant of the nation identity. 

After WWII, English gradually became a global language, essential, even compulsory in some countries (like in Japan) .

Eneglish, American English in particular became automatically linked to progress and capitalistic wealth , in straight opposition to what European countries were experiencing at that time (a slow, indebted economy). The vocabulary expanded even further at the end of the 20thcentrury, thanks to the advent of the computer era, which brought in terms like input , digital program, hardware.. Just like English became the leading language for internet communications, the dollar became the leading currency in global economy thus making English the first language for trading : as a base rule, the seller learns the language of the buyer, that so happened to be English. At this point in history, almost every country has some sort of connection or interest in speaking English. India, for example, had at least 40 million people speaking fluent English, and a third of the entire population had some sort of knowledge of the language. This preference is shared not only by the general public or for commercial reasons, but also the official languageof international bodies like United Nation and World Bank, for scientific journals and some sports confederation. The increasing popularity of English outside the UK and America wasn’t widely appreciated: France even passed a law (1984) to prohibit the use of English equivalents for French words. The law didn’t exactly work, since it’s very hard to control how people actually use language. Nonetheless, in the following years, some English words were added to the French dictionary (even though they only dated back to the 50ies, like covergirl ). 

As we said, English was widely used around the world in official situations and for official

documents, but it was a formal, straightforward and neutral language, stripped of every possible regionalism or slang, in order to be universally understood. A direct opposite phenomenon was observable in the English spoken around the world. Singapore offers a great example: although it became independent from England In 1965, its official language stayed English, but throughout the years it morphed into its own version of English, mixing in other asian languages spoken on the island (like Indonesian and Chinese) , dialects and various inflections that makes it unique. This phenomenon shows the incredible potential of the English language of becoming a vernacular language, just like Latin was, and becoming the starting point, the root, of new lingue franche like Italian or French were for Latin.

As we have seen, the English spoken overseas has taken different directions, from the American English to the other thousands of variations spoken all around the world. But it's also worth noticing the different mutations English has experienced (and still is nowadays) in the UK. From north to south, ma It’s important to notice that the English language is not experiencing significant mutations only in other non-native speaking counties (like the example of Singapore or other ex colonies). The language spoken in the United Kingdom is also changing and adapting itself to new influences. On one side, telecommunication tends to somehow standardize the language from north to south , but, on the other hand, some dialectal syntax, differences in pronunciations or unique vocabulary really keep resist in some areas of the country. Scots Gaelic is spoken by roughly 58.000 in Scotland, but the younger generation uses it almost only to communicate with those two older generation, which puts the language in danger of extinction and it is currently UNESCO protected. It is not uncommon for the same younger generation to use specific words coming directly from Gaelic, since the meaning is impossible or inaccurate to express in English with a single word. Another example of northern dialect is Glaswegian. Glaswegian dialect is a dialect that still holds its distinctiveness, while other dialects are slowly fading and molding into English. It’s based on two languages, explains Jane Stuart-Smith professor at Glasgow University, Scottish English (English spoken with a Scottish accent) and Scots, that has its own distinctive historical development. When talked to its full extend, it’s impossible to understand. Another phenomenon that shaped English throughout time is the encounter with other cultures and languages, within the country area. An example can be observed in areas like Bradford, Yorkshire that counts 1.7 million citizens immigrated from South Asia (Pakistan, India…). The offspring of those who first moved there are now learning English in school and speaking their parents’ native language at home, and their bilingualism is reflected on the community: words from Pakistani or Urdu are commonly used as slang or informal language. The last stop in the episode is at the oxford English dictionary . John Simpson, chief editor at Oxford English Dictionary explains how they usually wait several years before adding a new word in the oxford dictionary of the English language. The process, for long that it is, is necessary to thoroughly analyze how the word is used, and if it sticks in the spoken language, how widely it spreads and what the exact meaning is. An interesting feature is that if and when a new word is added, it won’t be taken off the Complete Oxford Dictionary: it will forever be part of the history of the English language....