There is an old adage which says that practice makes perfect.
However, this doesn't apply when it comes to the English language. As you grow
older and keep on adding new words to your existing nomenclature and you are in
for the never ending complexities of the English language. The language may
only comprise of 26 letters and 48 distinct sounds, but the insidious dilemma
of unpredictable spellings can overpower you!
The perfect example is of the word “bear" which can either refer to
a noun- the four legged animal like a panda--or the verb which typically means
to hold up or to carry in mind. At the end of the day it all trickles down to
one thing- Which is in what context are you using the word. Furthermore, the
8000 homophones make the language exceedingly difficult to fathom. The words “bare"
and "bear"
sounds similar but disparate in terms of their meanings. Feel the difference by
just typing the two distinct words such as "bare hands" vs. "bear hands".
The former means uncovered hands, whereas the latter makes you instantly
imagine hairy hands, like that of a bear.
More interestingly many words have evolved during the course
of time, such as the word "Cartridge" emerged from the French predilection
of the word “cartouche". Furthermore, the word "Colonel", which is a
French-loan word, has been used since the sixteenth century. The primitive form
of the word was "Coronel".
The influx of the media and the burgeoning of the Hollywood
industry will lead to the further evolving of the English language, or will the English language
cease to exist altogether?
No comments:
Post a Comment