Re: terminal dialect?
| From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, March 31, 1999, 4:45 |
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Gary Shannon wrote:
> This radical change could very well cause the English language, at least, to
> become much more stable in the centuries to come. My grandchildren are
> watching the same Bugs Bunny cartoons on TV that I watched in the theaters
> when I was a child. So for two generations we have been exposed to the same
> pronunciation. And once the reruns of I Love Lucy are no longer being
> watched, the reruns of tomorrows sitcoms (featuring pronunciation that those
> actors learned while watching I Love Lucy reruns) will continue to
> perpetuate the "standard" pronunciation.
Well, technology is definitely causing greater standardization, but I
doubt that reruns will be popular enough to retard language change
significantly. You must also consider that technology is changing
society at an unprecedented rate, and rapid social change is always
associated with rapid linguistic change. I mean, I can see your point
about technology retarding change, and maybe there's something to it.
Who knows which influence will win out?
--
"It's bad manners to talk about ropes in the house of a man whose father
was hanged." - Irish proverb
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