Evolution

    Students have all learned about the theory of evolution. It applies to human beings and animals and where everything originated from. The same theory can be applied to languages. Languages are constantly evolving and changing. The English language in particular, being a combination of a few different types of languages already, is constantly changing. People need to accept this change and accept the fact that communication is simply a form of self expression, as people change their language also changes.

    This idea is expressed in the piece, Slang in America by Walt Whitman, Whitman argues that the English language is entirely made up of slang. Words simply try and describe things to other people so that the human race can communicate with one another. America in particular is a clash of many different cultures and immigrants that make it up.

    People will always be able to relate to those who speak their native language better to them for this reason. People can express themselves better with the language they have grown up with. This is why immigrants struggle so much in other countries to get around. Learning a new language can be exhausting on the human brain because the person trying to learn a new language can simply not connect with the being speaking the language they do not know. This is why learning a foreign language can also be very frustrating for a person.

    It is said that if all communication were to be broken down into a twenty-four hour time period, writing would have only been developed at 11:52 PM. This is significant to think about for the reason being that most communication is oral. Oral communication is much different from written, the receiver can connect more with the person when communicating orally due to body language, facial expressions, hand gestures, and tone. This idea is also expressed in the TED talk “txtng is ruining r language. JK!!”. This is due to the issue that people think texting depreciates the value of English. People in every generation have had concerns that English and its formalities are depreciating. Language cannot depreciate though it can only evolve.

    This is why language is constantly evolving, particularly English, as its society constantly develops, it changes with people. No one can stop the English language from evolving the way it is. Unless human beings were to go back in time and destroy the development of the world, then language would not go back to its “old-time”, formal ways.