2. Changes in the
Language
English changed a lot since 1800 and
nowadays, in a way t hat people f rom
t hat t ime wouldn’t be able t o
underst and us f or basic reasons:
3. • Because of t he huge amount of words
added t o t he vocabulary:
* I n science: new ideas, machines,
mat erials, plant s, animals, st ars,
diesieses and medecines
• Because of t he j unct ion of t wo old
words t oget her (about 65% of t he
canges)
E.g.: Fingerprint = f inger + print
Airport = air + port
4. • Because of old words t hat had t heir
meanings changed.
E.g.: Casset e = f rom small box t o elet ronic
t hat reads VHS
• Because of words t hat came f rom
f oregin languages.
E.g. : Disco (f rench)
Pizza (it alian)
5. • Because beginnins or endings, or bot h,
had been added in old words:
E.g. : Desinf ormat ion
Heart less
Unput downable
• Because some words had been short ned:
E.g. : PHOTO f rom phot ograph
T.V. f rom t elevision
6. • Because some words were creat ed by
t he addit ion of sounds of t wo ot her
words:
E.g. : Mot el = f orm mot or and hot el
7. Oxford English Dictionary
(OED)
The OED creat ed by J ames Murray
was t he f irst dict onary in english t hat
cont ained all t he English words, even t he
ones t hat are no longer used, and t heir
meanins, explanat ions, hist ory, examples,
exprassions and usage.
8. • I t also cont ained some scient if ic wor ds and
wor ds f r om Nort h Amer ica, Aust ralia, New
Zeland, Sout h Af r ica, The Caribbeans, I ndia
and Pakist an, but not all of t he scient if or
regional wor ds.
• This dict ionar y was impor t ant because it
helped a lot in t he under st anding of t he
English language in t he past and nowadays. As
t he sociat y evolut ed and so didi English, t his
dict ionar y was t r ansf ered t o t he digit al
wor ld, so people can use t he int er net t o
search words. Also, because now inf or mat ion
about inf ormal words and slangs is now easier
t o f ind because of t he int er net .
9. New words were able t o t ravel
f ast er around t he English-speaking
world, because of t he communicat ion
t hrough t elephone, newspaper, radio,
t elevision, f ilms, music and t he int ernet ,
and t his had also inf luenced t he
pronunciat ion.
10. Accent and
Pronunciation
Anot her change in t he language, pr esent in
t he moder n English is t he accent and
pr onunciat ion. I n 1920, The Br it ish
Br oadcast ing Company (BBC) chose na accent
f or all t he English speaker s t o use on t he
radio. THis was t he accent of t he educat ed
people: gover ment , t he Church, t he
universit ies and army.I t was known as
“r eceived pronunciat ion”, “RP” or “King’s
English”.
11. Wit h t he use of RP in t he radios and ways
of communicat ion, mor e and more people
t hought it was t he pr onunciat ion used by
import ant people, so t hey st art ed t o use it .
I t was not accept ed t o use st r ong regional
accent on t elevision or r adio, or in t eaching
and gover ment .
I n 1960, st r ong accent s wer e st ar t ed t o
be accept ed ever ywher e because of t he
Br it ain break down in regions.
Nowadays, RP is not import ant and no
longer used, people in England speak a kind of
RP but , wit h a regional accent .
12. Influence Of The Internet
In The English
As we all know, t he I nt ernet is a
revolut ionary way of comunicat ion t hat
connect s t he whole world. Besides
communicat ion, it also changes t he
english, because of t he new t ecnologies,
t hat describe t he int ernet it self and it s
act ivit ies, like cyber-space, blog,
websit e and e-mail.
13. Also, new meanings had been giving t o new
wor ds, like sur f , link, virt ual and chat .
English also changed by t he int ernet
because people st ar t ed t o invent new
expr essions and ways of wr it ing t o make
communicat ion easier and f ast er.
E.g. : *r u alr yt – ar e you alr ight ?
*duz ne1 know how 2 make carr ot cake –
does anyone how t o make carr ot cake?
* t hx 4 ur msg, c u @ wor k – t hanks f or
your massage see you at work.
