atw: Re: Change of collective noun use and other changes - why? Just because [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
- From: Michelle Hallett <michelle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:55:25 +1100
Michael,
I think this is an interesting explanation and may well explain why people are
using 'below' as an adjective rather than an adverb (after all, there is no
verb in the sentence). But it doesn't explain the wholesale confusion between
possessive and plural by well educated professional native English speakers. I
don't mind the language changing. Additions like WTF and ROFL amuse me. But I
don't like the idea that language might be changing because people are lazy in
its use
Michelle
On 19/03/2012, at 11:13 AM, Michael Lewis <michael.lewis@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Frequently, yes - but "most frequently"? Hardly - unless by "don't know" you
> mean "don't know it the way I do". Generations ago, well educated people used
> expressions like "methinks he is a dastard knave" and "it meseems that the
> apocalypse is nigh". The vocabulary and the grammar have changed, but not
> because of non-native speakers.
>
> There's an underlying point that is valid, though. Native speakers are like
> non-native speakers in that they over-regularise. That's why most nouns
> finish up taking the normal -s (or -es) in the plural, instead of the earlier
> forms like "sistren" (though we still retain "brethren" in special contexts,
> and "children" is still more common than "childs").
>
> We can see this happening with young children. They use the correct form
> "men" at first, then learn the rule about adding "-s" and change to "mans"
> for a while, then they re-learn "men" as an exception to the general rule.
> Much language change is simply the fading away of exceptions, especially the
> rare ones - the verb "be" retains its odd inflexions because we all use it
> too often to get a chance to forget the specifics, but "leaped" has
> superseded "leapt" in most cases.
>
> - Michael
>
>
> On 19 March 2012 10:26, <Peter.Martin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Michelle:
>
> Language is most frequently changed by those who don't know the language
> rather than those "who really care about it".
>
Other related posts:
