Language change
This is an example of English written in the fourteenth century between 1380 and 1392. You can see how different it is from twenty-first century English.
In olde dayes of the king Arthour,
Of which that Britons speake great honour,
All was this land full fill'd of faerie;* *fairies
The Elf-queen, with her jolly company,
Danced full oft in many a green mead
This was the old opinion, as I read;
I speak of many hundred years ago;
But now can no man see none elves mo',
Geoffrey Chaucer, c 1400, 'The Wife of Bath's Tale' - out of copyright
All languages change over time. There are many reasons for change:
- Words are borrowed from other languages. For example, 'autobiography' comes from the Greek words autos (self), bios (life) and graphein (write), and 'boomerang' comes from a now unknown Aboriginal language.
- New words are created to reflect new technologies, for example, 'selfie', 'blog' or 'hashtag'.
- Abbreviations become commonly used, for example, 'cozzie' instead of 'costume'.
- Spelling changes, for example, 'alright' instead of 'all right' (this change is still occurring).
Over the past few decades many new words have entered the English language. Computers and the World Wide Web (WWW) have resulted in new technology-specific jargon like wiki, cybersafety, google and app.
These words are now everyday words.
Create a list of words which have been added to our language recently.
- Browse new technology-specific jargon, or other words, on the websites at the links below.
Ask your teacher about creating a display of these words using online programs like Wordle or Tagxedo.
