PDF #120 – Julie C Forrester – A Brief Overview of English as a Language in Change
This paper will make a brief review of the reasons for language change, before addressing the issue of how the concept of the native speaker as a model for English is also being modified. Some examples will then be given of recent changes that have been noted in the English language, covering the modification of pronunciation over time, the addition of lexis, and changing syntactical and semantic rules or levels of acceptability, to demonstrate how words and phrases are being used now in ways which might not have been considered acceptable in the past.