The Resemblance Between Language & Power

Entering to a university is not easy: the competition among international students is each time tougher. What better way to outshine your competition that by knowing another language? This gives you more power among the rest. Right here we see a relationship between language and power. Just a Lina states in her blog, “The more languages you know the easier it is for you to build bridges amongst different cultures.”

On the other hand we are so used to speaking a certain language and hearing it that we forget that it controls us. It has so much power over us that we tend to forget it does. Just as they state in episode seven, “…language can enslave the people” (8:51). There is no way we could survive without a form of language. We wouldn’t be able to interact with others and therefore we wouldn’t be able to commerce and sustain ourselves. What I´ve learned in my history classes is that kings are always in search of power. They would constantly expand their kingdom to show superiority among others. Here we can see another resemblance language has with power. It is seeking to expand. English has become the more popular language worldwide. It started to be spoken in developed countries, but it reached a point were even third-world countries used it. In the video they demonstrate how British demanded for schools to teach English in India. They wanted for the language to spread and this way overrule the rest of the languages. It wanted power. Even though English was competing with 200 other tongues spoken by the people in India it would become “the imperial language of India” (5:39).
The natives didn’t agree with the changes the British were doing to their community. They didn’t want to replace their traditional language with English. Still, they had no choice since the British were imposing a new language to them. Just as the Roman Empire invaded new territories to obtain more land, the British were imposing the English language on new communities.

Why would descriptivist’s be so concerned about the standardization of English? It is clear that English is spoken differently all around the world with a different accents and with new words that are influenced by their traditional language. In my opinion this is not a negative aspect, just an example of how English was still able to overrun the rest of the spoken tongues.

According to history all big empire will reach its rising point and then start to decline. This happened in the fifteenth century when the Roman Empire fell and the Byzantine Empire rose. Would something similar happen to the English language? Will it gradually start losing it´s power and importance? Right now the biggest competition it has is the Chinese. So would the Chinese language by able to replace the English?   

MLA Citation:

The Adventure of English. Dir. Nigel Wattis. Perf. Amanda Root and David Gwillim. LWT, 2003. Youtube. 19 Sept. 2011. Web. 31 Jan. 2013. 

Theories, Definitions, and More

The English language got to a point that because of it being the most popular language of all, some controversies started appearing. In my opinion I believe that this is normal and that it was something we all saw coming. It is almost impossible for a language that became so world wide to not have any misunderstandings. People from different regions start creating their own version of English. Creating new accents, new words, as well as new definitions. The most effective way that ideas were transferred from place to place was from written texts. You can imagine in which language were those publications written on. English.

 John Locke was an English philosopher that believed that by getting the language clear there would be no misunderstandings within the humans. He states, “If the definition of the words could be agreed and misunderstandings avoided, peace would follow” (2:24). I agree with him because the only way we are not going to have misunderstandings is by having the same sets of definitions to the words. Since a lot of variations of English have evolved through out the world, it is very difficult for each word to have the same definition. John would have number one fan of the Oxford Dictionary!
The best way one can expand a language is by creating new words. Not only it is fun, but also creative and fun to do. Newton was one who gave new words to scientific terms. In his book Opticks he gave words some new definitions as well as created new words. This helped the English language become more complete.

Unlike John Locke, Jonathan Swift didn’t believe in the “vulgar liberties.” He didn’t believe that the modifications that the people did to the English language actually helped the language become more complete. In a certain way I believe that we should all have some basic rules for how to speak it and this way for it to function correctly. But on the other hand I also believe that one should have the freedom to speak as one wants. The world is full of limitations, lets don’t allow our way of speaking have limitations too. Not only would be not fair, but also very hard. We have seen how popular the English language is and how many varieties have been created. Good luck education almost all the world on the correct way of speaking it.
Unlike Swift, Samuel Johnson would have got along with Locke. He created the one of the most famous dictionary of all times. Yet he had a little problem. He didn’t include the words he didn’t understand. Some might consider this as an act of laziness, but after all he didn’t had any other options. How could he have learned the rest of the other definitions without having any kind of dictionary?

Jane Austen didn’t use “any words of the street” (33:26). This makes it clear that she used the language to judge the social statues of each person. This continues to happen now days. In some cases you can determine the statues of a person by the way they speak and the words they use. Thomas Paine stated, “simpler language could carry precise thought” (38:24). I agree with him. The simpler the things the better. The more complex something is, the less is going to be understood by others. A great example of this are the poems wrote by William Wordsworth. He rather use simple words for the readers to understand, than use complex rules and the readers not being able to understand his message. He was pretty clever, in my opinion. Last but not least we have William Cobbet, who studies the slang. Or the day by day English, since we all now speak in abbreviations. G2G.

The Adventure of English. Dir. Nigel Wattis. Perf. Amanda Root and David Gwillim. LWT, 2003. Youtube. 19 Sept. 2011. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.

"Black on White"

On this episode they talk about the influence that the American blacks had on the English story. As they state in the video, “Blacks had their own special grammar, syntax, and pronunciation” (2:32). This kind of English was considered by whites to be “lazy” and “ungrammatical” (2:54). But, it is not considered incorrect, since it’s just a different variety. This English, considered as a tradition, is still seen in black communities.

In Charleston, where a lot of blacks live, they talk a language that has been unchanged for 300 hundred years. Still it is a dying language, since not all the habitants continue with their traditional language. This variety of English is called Gullah: the language they spoke during their slavery time. In my opinion Gullah is easier to understand than Scottish. I understood most of the phrases said without having to read the subtitles. As they state in the video when they talk about herbal medicine, “What strikes the outsider is the African style of accent of their conversation” (7:41). Why would it strike them since after all the language comes from Africa and many say their really home is Africa?

The old women said it, “I think a lot of older people now see so much young people travel and speaks different languages they get a shame of the Gullah language” (0:33). All of this is due to the technology. New inventions have opened the doors for many people. You can know travel, express your ideas easily, communicate right away, and learn new languages. In my opinion this is a great advantage for the society in general, but it has the side effect that leads to the loss of cultures and traditions. In Africa there’s the Masai Mara, an indigenous group, that each time loses more of its culture. I had the chance to talk with some and they said that once a member leaves to the “real word” they never come back. They get the chance to see how the rest of the people live and they realize that life outside the savanna is much better. Their diets are composed of goat and wild plants. Once they see all the food that is offered outside their usual scenery, they put their necessities in front of their cultures. Also many that remain being part of the Masai Mara have lost some of their tradition. They realized that they need some money to survive and you would see more than one with a digital watch. Their culture, for the most part, has already been lost.

On part 7 of the episode Mark Pontius leaves this comment: “It's also interesting at some of the pronunciations of such words as aks for ask, and bofe for both. It must be genetic because all these years later mispronunciations still exists, and probably always will.” I agree and disagree with Mark. I do believe that pronunciation is always going to exist because we are all different and speak in our own way. Still I don’t believe that the mispronunciations are genetic. I think it’s just how we were raised. Our parents are the ones who taught us how to speak and our pronunciation is pretty much going to just like theirs. 

MLA Citations:

Armstrong, Edward. “The Story of English episode 1 – Black on White  – Part 1/7.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 27, Aug. 2009. Web. 17. Jan. 2013. 

Armstrong, Edward. “The Story of English episode 1 – Black on White  – Part 2/7.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 27, Aug. 2009. Web. 17. Jan. 2013. 

Armstrong, Edward. “The Story of English episode 1 – Black on White  – Part 4/7.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 27, Aug. 2009. Web. 17. Jan. 2013. 

Armstrong, Edward. “The Story of English episode 1 – Black on White  – Part 5/7.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 27, Aug. 2009. Web. 17. Jan. 2013. 

Armstrong, Edward. “The Story of English episode 1 – Black on White  – Part 7/7.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 27, Aug. 2009. Web. 17. Jan. 2013. 

The Varieties of English (Th' varieties ay sassenach)

Ah fin' it pure funay hoo th' newswoman plugs in scottish words tae th' sassenach sentences 'at she is readin'. givin' sassenach a whole new accent. when she says, “the fife astronauts will be in space fur aicht days” (0:54) she pronoonces aicht as she woods be 'spikin german. she pronoonces it as acht insteid ay simply aicht. she seems tae be tryin' tae stoaner tae pronoonce th' words correctly. in a way it seems 'at she wants tae soond classy an' th' only way tae accomplish thes is by 'spikin in sassenach. wa woods they want tae soond classy? accordin' tae th' video havin' non scottish sassenach accent will pure techt 'at they spoke an upper class sassenach. an' as history has shoon it plenty ay times, humans ur aye in a constant barnie tae reach th' top ay th' social pyramid. sae it was important tae spick a guid, fluent sassenach. e'en th' kids waur sent tae sassenach schools sae 'at they coods learn it in th' correct way (what exactly is th' correct way?). so far whit Ah hae understuid is 'at th' scottish got some ay th' sassenach words an' modified them sae 'at it woods fit their ain traditional leid. thes created a new kin' ay sassenach 'at Ah wooldn’t be able tae kin if it wasn’t fur th' subtitles. they waur slowly merged intae th' sassenach leid. it aw started when kin' Jimmy moved tae london 'at englain hud th' leaders ay th' society an' nae scootlund, accordin' tae th' video (4:00). he slowly started spreadin' th' sassenach leid by demandin' fur aw th' scotland’s churches tae conduct their services wi' his “new translated book” (4:18). sae they ended up havin' a standard sassenach but wi' a scottish accent. whit we see haur is a new variety ay sassenach, yit nae a separate new leid. thes way they (scottish) ur able tae spick in sassenach, but withit leavin' behin' thaur accent an' pride fur their nation.

NOW THE TRANSLATION!

I find it really funny how the newswoman plugs in Scottish words to the English sentences that she is reading. Giving English a whole new accent. When she says, “The five astronauts will be in space for eight days” (0:54) she pronounces eight as she would be speaking German. She pronounces it as acht instead of simply eight. She seems to be trying to hard to pronounce the words correctly. In a way it seems that she wants to sound classy and the only way to accomplish this is by speaking in English. Why would they want to sound classy? According to the video having non Scottish English accent will mean that they spoke an upper class English. And as history has shown it plenty of times, humans are always in a constant fight to reach the top of the social pyramid. So it was important to speak a good, fluent English. Even the kids were sent to English schools so that they could learn it in the correct way (what exactly is the correct way?). 

 So far what I have understood is that the Scottish got some of the English words and modified them so that it would fit their own traditional language. This created a new kind of English that I wouldn’t be able to understand if it wasn’t for the subtitles. They were slowly merged into the English language.  It all started when King James moved to London that England had the leaders of the society and not Scotland, according to the video (4:00). He slowly started spreading the English language by demanding for all the Scotland’s churches to conduct their services with his “new translated book” (4:18). So they ended up having a Standard English but with a Scottish accent. What we see here is a new variety of English, yet not a separate new language. This way they (Scottish) are able to speak in English, but without leaving behind there accent and pride for their nation. 

Episode 4:

Armstrong, Edward. “The Story of English episode 4 – The Guid Scots Tongue  – Part 1/7.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 27, Aug. 2009. Web. 15. Jan. 2013.

Armstrong, Edward. “The Story of English episode 4 – The Guid Scots Tongue  – Part 2/7.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 27, Aug. 2009. Web. 15. Jan. 2013.

Armstrong, Edward. “The Story of English episode 4 – The Guid Scots Tongue  – Part 3/7.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 27, Aug. 2009. Web. 15. Jan. 2013.