Re: The Future Language

Dennis Paul Himes wrote:
>     As far as language change in the future goes, I've always thought that
> the development of recorded sound will slow down change in the spoken
> language.
Certainly a reasonable hypothesis, and I'd think that longer life would
have a tendency to slow down language change as well; but either way, 20
centuries will bring a lot of change, perhaps as much as, say, has
changed from Late Old English to Contemporary English.

Recorded sound will definitely help out historical linguists, especially
after they have several centuries worth of records.  No more educated
guesses about intermediate stages.  :-)

> Didn't the invention of the printing press slow down change in
> the written language?
It definitely did slow down changes in spelling, but as for changes in
other aspects of written language, I kind of doubt it.  In fact, the
printing press triggered at least one change, increased standardization
of spelling.  I believe most of our punctuation was invented after the
printing press.

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