Unit7 part1 Ouestions

What is the evolution of language from old English, Middle English and Modern English?What are their features?
Old English developed from the Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, was characterized by limited vocabulary with word endings that identified the gender, number and case of words. Middle English was distinguished by a large influx of French words into the language, and the shift to more simplified word forms. Modern English featured a move toward standardization of the language by formalizing both usage spelling.

In the 17th and 18th century, why did some writers hold a low opinion of English? How did English writers at that time solve this problem?
They felt that because French and Latin followed specific patterns and rules, these languages were more prestigious than English. Such writers concluded that the corruption they saw in their native tongue could be improved by standardization of the language.

What is the purpose of English academy?
Move toward standardization .

Describe prescriptive and descriptive grammar.
A few of the rules proposed in the prescriptive grammar texts of Dryden’s time were changes in the use of double negatives, contractions, and spellings. Such rules are known today as prescriptive grammar. Writers of this second kind of grammar texts objectively described the rules native speakers seemed to follow. This kind of grammar was referred to as descriptive.

Give me some examples of the debate between the prescriptivists and the descriptivists.
Prepositions show up quite regularly at the end of sentences. Prescriptivists aiso view the usage of “ain’t” as a contraction of “am not” as inelegant and wrong, whereas many dictionaries list “ain’t”, indicating the word is used by speakers of English. The prescriptivists also disallow regional usage that does not follow the standard rules of English.

Is corruption of the English language a problem? What are the opinion of prescriptivists and descriptivists?
The descriptivists’s answer is that English is changing, as all languages must, but that such change is not a corruption of the language. Living languages must change, adapt, and grow. Whether change is good or bad is not the question, descriptivists say, because change is inevitable. The only languages no longer in flux are those no longer in use.