In his essay "THE ONGOING STRUGGLES OF GARLIC-HANGERS", Bryan A. Garner criticizes the deterioration of the English language from a quite conservative point of view. He blames almost everyone: teachers, students, mass media, academics, and linguists. In describing the verbal change, Garner mentions five major stages. While reading, I wondered whether this phenomenon just affects English. At Hamburg university, for example, you will ofter hear: "Wo kommen da die Kommas hin?" The plural of 'Komma', the German word for 'comma', is 'Kommata'. According to David A. Garner's five stages, the plural 'Kommas' would be a perfect example for the final stage. The word is widely accepted.
Yesterday I received a text message from my fellow student using the word 'eliminieren', the German expression for 'eliminate'. Misspelling it 'eleminieren', the student's message is a good example for Garner's stage number three where even well-educated people commonly misspell certain words. I agree with Garner that modern languages change quite rapidly and this does certainly not only apply to English as demonstrated with my two examples. Garner notes that linguists wouldn't have very much to do if the English language wasn't changing, however, Garner himself would have to find something else to complain about if that wasn't so!
In his essay "THE ONGOING STRUGGLES OF GARLIC-HANGERS (",) [P,St - ^ ,”] Bryan A. Garner criticizes the deterioration of the English language from a quite conservative point of view. He blames almost everyone: teachers, students, mass media, academics, and linguists. In describing the verbal change, Garner mentions five major stages. While reading, I wondered whether this phenomenon just affects English. At Hamburg (university) [Sp - ^ University], for example, you will ofter hear (:) [P - ^,] "Wo kommen da die Kommas hin?" The plural of (‘) [P,St - ^ “]Komma(‘,) [P,St - ^ ,”] the German word for (‘) [P,St - ^ “]comma (’,) [P,St - ^ ,”] is (‘) [P,St - ^ “]Kommata(’.) [P,St - ^ .”] According to David A. Garner's five stages, the plural (‘) [P,St - ^ “] Kommas (’) [P,St - ^”] would be a perfect example for the final stage. The word is widely accepted.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I received a text message from my fellow student using the word (‘) [P,St - ^ “]eliminieren(‘,) [P,St - ^ ,”] the German expression for (‘) [P,St - ^ “]eliminate(’.) [P,St - ^ .”] Misspelling it '(‘) [P,St - ^ “]eleminieren (',) [P,St - ^ ,”] the student's message is a good example for Garner's stage number three (:) [P - ^,] where even well-educated people commonly misspell certain words. I agree with Garner that modern languages change quite rapidly and this does certainly not only apply to English. According to Garner, the deterioration of the English language provides the basis of a linguist's work. But without the natural change of languages, what would Garner actually have to complain about?
In his essay "THE ONGOING STRUGGLES OF GARLIC-HANGERS," Bryan A. Garner criticizes the deterioration of the English language from a quite conservative point of view. He blames almost everyone: teachers, students, mass media, academics, and linguists. In describing the verbal change, Garner mentions five major stages. While reading, I wondered whether this phenomenon just affects English. At Hamburg University, for example, you will ofter hear, "Wo kommen da die Kommas hin?" The plural of "Komma," the German word for "comma," is "Kommata." According to David A. Garner's five stages, the plural "Kommas" would be a perfect example for the final stage. The word is widely accepted.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I received a text message from my fellow student using the word 'eliminieren', the German expression for "eliminate." Misspelling it "eleminieren," the student's message is a good example for Garner's stage number three, where even well-educated people commonly misspell certain words. I agree with Garner that modern languages change quite rapidly and this does certainly not only apply to English as demonstrated with my two examples. Garner notes that linguists wouldn't have very much to do if the English language wasn't changing, however, Garner himself would have to find something else to complain about if that wasn't so!