Change and Development in the English Language111 - Essay Example

Change and Development in the English Language Thesis ment: There is a clear distance between the established English pronunciation and the current English pronunciation. This is because of the modern discoveries took place in the history of English language. 1. The Pronunciation of Sound: The pronunciation of English has been studied and the sounds of the English language where coined in term of phonetics. "There is no particular English pronunciation sounds vary greatly from one dialect to another" (Pyles, Thomas and John Algeo, chapter 2, pg 26).

The authors said it clear that sound from one person tongue may vary with other and so he people al the over the world started pronouncing English language according to their will. So they laid down certain laws to govern the pronunciation of English language. Pyles, Thomas and John Algeo, gave an example that the rule of pronouncing the letter "r". The concept of linking "r" which is used in British accent and it made difficult for the Americans to interpret certain words. This is a wide gap that made problem for the correspondence of the established and current English. 2. Five Types of Sound Change: The types of sound change identifies are:1.

Assimilation: Here the sounds which are more alike are combined and due to pace of the pronunciation the spelling of the word changes.2. Dissimilation: Here the neighboring sounds become less a like and as a result some of the original pronunciation is omitted. 3. Elision: Due to less stress for words or letter the sound is omitted while pronouncing. As per Pyles, Thomas and John Algeo there are two types, in omitting the sounds either at the start or at the end of a word and it is called as aphesis and apocope respectively. 4. Intrusion: The addition of sounds especially between consonants is called intrusion.

Because of this there could problem in spellings and interpretation of the words. 5. Metathesis: "The order of sound reordered while pronouncing words" ( Pyles, Thomas and John Algeo, ch 2, pg 34) This also leads to the misunderstanding of the words. 3. The History: The history of English language also is a cause for the diversity involved in the language. The English language is constructed from Greek and Latin. The people from different places took place in the event of the spreading of English language.

And so there is a clear difference between the modern and established English. 4. Spellings and Pronunciation Variation: "The traditional words like bade are being transformed into bed" ( Pyles, Thomas and John Algeo, ch 3, pg 52). This is because of the adjustment made between the pronunciation and spelling. Hence pronunciation gap between the modern and traditional language. Conclusion:The above reason states the generation gap involved in language pronunciation. Thus the modern techniques made lack of correspondence between the modern pronunciation and established orthography.

Work CitedPyles, Thomas and John Algeo. "The Sounds of the Current English". The Origins and Development of the English Language. 4th edition, Wadsworth Publishing. 1993. 22- 37Pyles, Thomas and John Algeo. "Letter and Sounds". The Origins and Development of the English Language. 4th edition, Wadsworth Publishing. 1993. 39- 53