The future of English
Download audio (mp3)
The journey English is taking through globalism and digital technology, and what the future of the language sounds like.
Journalist and writer Mark Abley predicts that by 2015 half the world's population will be speaking -- or at least learning -- English. But as the language sweeps the globe, it's not just changing those it encounters, it's changing too. New words are being added at a "break-neck" rate from other languages, from hip-hop lyrics, from the blogosphere.
Abley joins "RadioWest's" Doug Fabrizio to talk about the journey English is taking and what the future of the language sounds like.
Abley says words just don't give names to devices; they give flesh to ideas, so you have to consider grammar, and accents, and culture. There's no going back, he says, no retreat into the grammar and lexicon of the past.
Hosted by Doug Fabrizio, KUER’s award-winning "RadioWest" features conversations with authors, politicians, artists and others, examining today's national issues with a decidedly Western perspective.
PRI’s presentation of "RadioWest" on XM Satellite Radio is made possible through American Public Radio, a partnership of Public Radio International, Chicago Public Radio®, WGBH Radio Boston and WNYC, New York Public Radio®. View the XM Satellite Radio XMPR scehdule.
Email to a friend
Print version
Plain text
Listen
carolina- argentina
When I see the classic movies, I enjoy the dialect used and the correct pronunciation of the words. In contrary when I listen to young people, I see how much damage is done to the language and how the new generation is lacking the proper use of vocabluray when converting to others. Change is always good if it is in a constructive way not in a destructive way.
Post your comment