The Nature of The English Language Today

The Nature of The English Language Today
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The Nature of The English Language Today
English is a language that has been acquired by the majority of people around the world. In modern-day society, it is rare to find an individual who is not familiar with the English language. In most countries, English is taught as a second language. This is because, on the world stage, leaders, businesspersons, activists, and world aid groups converse through the common language, which is English. When representatives meet on global platforms, they can speak their nation’s vernacular and have it interpreted. Still, the most common language during these meetings is English. Hence, with time, it is likely to become the world’s first universal language. Still, there are challenges to the English language and opportunities that have resulted from its use. In this paper, the author seeks to examine the nature of the English language in the modern-day world by drawing from information in select articles.
According to Shea (2014), the English language is slowly undergoing changes that may or may not be agreeable. For instance, the author notes that the word ‘experience’ is currently being used as a noun and as a verb. Yet, in the early days, the word ‘experience’ could only be used as a noun. According to Shea, it is such little details that some people are finding unacceptable in the English language. Most importantly, the author notes that those making such mistakes are mainly youth. However, based on information from authors such as Carmen Fought and Sherman Alexie, it is clear why the youth would be making such mistakes. For instance, in his article, Alexie (1998) notes that he learned how to read by reading a superman comic book. A comic book is not the most advisable piece of literature to read if one is looking to acquire good grammatical skills. However, to Alexie, the comic book enabled him to channel his energy and love for reading towards something useful. He did not seek to learn the English language by reading the comic book. But he was able to read many other books due to access to the comic book.
If a child begins reading materials such as comic books, he or she is most likely to apply the words and phrases he has acquired from such material in his or her writing. As noted in Fought’s article, most of the young people who are monolingual English speakers end up creating a new English dialect, which is based on learner English (Fought, 2005). This could be the case for individuals who grow up in immigrant communities. Kids from such backgrounds create dialects that are a combination of their native language and the English language. This allows them to communicate well with native speakers and English speakers too. However, this spoken dialect also slowly develops in their written language. Hence, it is not surprising to find individuals from immigrant communities making mistakes in their written work.
Still, young people from immigrant backgrounds are not the main problem. Young native English speakers are finding it easy to change various rules of the English langu...