Alright, I'm fed up with this shit and demand a valid response.
What is your personal opinion on the topic of individuals claiming that "language evolves"? Take, for example, this phrase being said in order to explain why certain words exist: mostly slang, sometimes how Americans have different spellings than other English types, and so on.
(tl;dr) What do you personally think or feel about this phrase?
"Language evolves."
>>7853692
Of fucking course it evolves
Typically it gets streamlined with less syllables
>>7853704
It evolves, of course. Though, it's still a fucking cop-out when someone ends an argument with that particular phrase.
>Language doesn't evolve
>>7853692
Yes, it evolves, in that it changes over time as new concepts and ways of life/thinking are introduced.
You have to be really dumb to not realize that it constantly changes and evolves senpai.
Like when people give words completely different meanings?
Literally for example.
>>7853803
Literally literally now means both what it means and the exact opposite of its meaning. Because hey, language evolves.
Of course it evolves, but I think OP is complaining about some people using this argument to justify butchering a language.
>>7853908
>implying you can butcher language
language evolves m8
>>7853692
>mfw OP makes naive pointless threads before reading Saussure's course of general linguistics.But then again, you're american
>>7853692
Of course it evolves
Take cuck for example
It's meaning has evolved to encapsulate a multitude of meanings in the past year alone
If we're talking about written word:
When you teach the plebs how to read and write you can't complain about the degradation of written langauge
>>7853908
Butchering is what happens when you teach everyone how to read and write
Just like the average grade level of presidential speeches going down every time the vote has gotten expanded so too does langauge when everyone has access to it
>>7853925
OP here, I may be """American""", (don't get mad at me silly English majors, I'm using three quotation marks because language evolves ;]) though I'm natively Russian. I only lived in Russia from birth for a few years, then was moved over to North America. And even then, I feel the English language is valuable. Maintaining the integrity of English is important - people who butcher the language are complete arseholes. Language butchers, ones that use the excuse, "language evolves", those kinds of people infuriate me. I want it to stop, and understand it's a bit silly that I can't come to terms with it, but that doesn't stop my hatred of it.
Wallace's essay on Authority and American Usage deals with this nicely. While language evolves, Standard Written English (i.e. what educated people use) has a certain obdurant quality and doesn't necessarily evolve. Slang and dialects, however, do evolve much faster, but the relative importance is diminished by its smaller Discourse Communities.
>>7854008
Thank you.
>>7854008
>Wallace's essay on Authority and American Usage
http://languagehat.com/david-foster-wallace-demolished/
>>7853981
It's not butchering i'm sorry. You have a narrow understanding of what 'language' is. Language is first and foremost a system by which we convey meaning and ideas trough a common convention of rules to all people (in a given language). This is what makes communication possible. If I say 'tree' I can know for sure that you will think of and have a mental representation of a tree. However, and this is the important bit : neither you nor I came to the agreement that the word and sound that compose the word and meaning 'tree' should be what it presently is. Language is something that we always inherit, it belongs to no one except to the mass that composes it's natives speakers so in that regard, we have no individual control over it's inevitable mutation whether we like it or not. Language has always changed and continues to do so. That being said, slang ( as I see is what concerns you he most) is a sub section of a main language because it's composed of conventions that are only understood by a restricted circle of speakers of a particular social class (high or low). Like accents, they can trough off the status,location and condition of the speaker. Slang tends to burn out quickly through the years and is in fact an affirming example of the mutations that happen to the main language throughout the centuries.
TL;DR - Really, you should check out Saussure
>>7855452
Alright, I'll check out Saussure. Thanks for the thought out reply - I really appreciate the effort and care, I will not let it go to waste.
To specify, what I'm specifically peeved about: for example, when an individual 'mis-spells' a word with a single character being off. Later, I then come to realize / research the word - which I'd falsely presumed to be incorrect - to be actually correct in official resources / Google. And, of course, during trying to argue with the individual, they'd come to the conclusion, "language evolves". While true, I still think they're a fucking wanker spouting bollocks because they wish to be correct. In a sense, looking at it, I also take on the role of the wanker, trying to spout bollocks to make myself seem correct, both externally and internally.
There's other cases where I'm not entirely sure what one means while using English. Two words could have the same meaning, (easy enough to interpret) whereas one word could take on more than one meaning. (slightly harder to interpret) This is agitating, but it seems that I'd have to adapt to the evolution of language to overcome this minor inconvenience.
(Why am I posting here? I forgot why this matters so much to me.)
>>7853902
maybe realizing that exact thing has happened to a lot of common words will be your first step as a pleb to becoming a thinking human
>>7855467
I understand were you're coming from : ). A couple of years ago here in Portugal there was a signing of an accord between all of the Portuguese speaking countries (most known of which is Brazil) to shorten a lot of grammatical and spelling diferences. The result is that what is now officially 'correct' and taught in schools is a somewhat Brazilianesque Portuguese. I refused to change the way I write and continue to do so ( I and many others got points knocked off college assignments due to 'misspelling') because I myself don't agree to it. And I can perfectly understand that when misspelling mutates to the 'norm' it seems as if the language is being dumbed down or mindlessly oriented. It's anarchy. Only the coming generations won't realize it.
>>7853692
I want to answer your question but I'm not really sure what you're asking or why you're so angry.
>>7853981
>"arsehole"
>american
????
>>7855533
I live in Canada. What's wrong with a man to live in an American location and use the term "arsehole"? I think arsehole has less of an impact than "asshole" does - plus, it sounds a lot nicer in my head. I feel as if it had been a little less of an impact. I didn't have to force the harsh language to make the point, it was more of a side-jest towards the entity.
I feel as if I'm as confused as you might be.
>>7855477
astonish me shitface
Language evolves but that doesn't mean we should just embrace every change that seems like it might occur.
It's possible for language to evolve into shittier language.
>>7855550
Autoantonyms
Although the literally thing is still bullshit, and the editors of dictionaries which include it should be raped to death by wild niggers
Millennials:
Like literally, you know, like, I died, like, literally, you know, right?
>>7853945
I hope you die in a fire.
If only because you didn't immediately mention that making the masses literate is still worth it.
Are you retarded? Language does, objectively, evolve.
>>7853692
>(tl;dr) What do you personally think or feel about this phrase?
>"Language evolves."
Ic cwiðee dwæsaþ.
Don't see why you're so butthurt about language evolving. You're only attached to it in its current form because that's how you know it, and by the time it has evolved into a language you can't recognize anymore you'll have been dead for centuries. The new generations will be attached to the evolved language because that's the language they know.
>>7856627
I don't intend on dying.
>>7857041
Good luck.
>>7857046
If that's genuine: thank you.
