Future Language (English)?

[Guttersnipe]

This has probably been posted already, but how do you think English will be spoken in centuries to come? Old English and Middle English were quite different from the language spoken today, so who's to say it won't undergo more transformations? Alternatively, what do you think other languages will be like? Do you believe humans will one day speak a universal language?

These questions are partially inspired by 1984 and A Clockwork Orange, the other part relating to my being a wannabe linguist.

I'm not sure if it's possible to predict some changes, but if that system exists, please let me know.

 

[CupofJoe]

This might be of interest to you...

‘Go toss your cookies elsewhere’: ten phrases that cause confusion across the Anglosphere

An American university has banned the expression ‘no worries’. Here are some other words and phrases that confuse speakers of different versions of English.

theconversation.com

Changes to English are taking place all the time.
There are already a half dozen and maybe more distinct version of "English" [American, Australian, Indian, Singaporean, Nigerian, Caribbean, South Africa etc as well as English around the British Isles] that all draw on more local influences.
I was just reading about "prepone" as an Indian-English word that means to bring something forward in time rather than postponing it... A word I never knew I needed, but I do now.
There is no central authority on what is correct English, unlike there are for some other languages [I think French, German, Chinese and probably some others]. So it is pretty much what people want it to be. And so it will ever be, most likely.
If there is a universal language I can see it being a variant of Chinese and not English based.
I could see that English [or a form Chinese] becoming the dominant second language. already I know a few academics trying to learn Cantonese[?] because the newest and most advanced research papers in their field are published in Chinese journals and sites.
Personally, unless there is a global effort, I can't see there being an amalgam language appearing.
Burgess did do some dobby, sladky rabbit with his Nadsat slovos

 

[Rodders]

Slang is always difficult to pin down as it changes with each generation. I think the biggest impact to language is probably the emoji which could end up being a truly international language.

 

[farntfar]

I could see that English [or a form Chinese] becoming the dominant second language.

As in Firefly, where the two "official" languages are English and Chinese. And of course some mixtures of the 2.

 

[paeng]

List of dialects of English - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Mon0Zer0]

As in Firefly, where the two "official" languages are English and Chinese. And of course some mixtures of the 2.

The Chinese in Firefly always makes me cringe. Really, they just use Chinese as an excuse to get swearwords past the censor.

Singaporeans speak Singlish. It's basically English with some Mandarin, Malay, Hokkien, Cantonese and Tamil loan words, reduplication., They occasionally use Chinese grammar and Chinese speech particles like "la". I love the sound of Singlish, it always makes me lol like that sketch from the Fast Show. Singaporeans always sound super friendly and enthusiastic, to my ears. (video has some singlish swears - be aware when kids / boss is around)

A while back, I remember seeing some Chinese youth orientated chat shows where young adults were talking a very unusual hybrid of Chinese and English, but I can't find it on youtube anymore.

I can't imagine Chinese slang making a new creole language in the west like Singlish. I don't think the west has a high enough population of Asian immigrants to allow the language to cross over, and Chinese is quite challenging for speakers who haven't been exposed to tonal languages before 18 months, due to the high number of homonyms.

 

[Danny McG]

I remember Prince Charles, many years ago, giving a speech in Pidgin English when he visited Papua New Guinea.
"Me numba one fella bilong im kwin"

 

[chongjasmine]

I am a Singaporean, and I speak Singlish, a mixture of English and Chinese.

 

[Justin Swanton]

Outjies, ah rekkon we all goan tork sah theffricun. It's a lekker taal mehn. You gotta bitta Afrikaans en charou en urreno. These pommies they chewin onna hot spud, ek sê. It's chill here, ah kin tork what ah lark. Reely narsay!

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

Mi na sasa, Belta.

 

[Swank]

Totally impossible to predict. In SF you can have a melting pot or an isolated splinter that presecers a language unchanged.

 

[bretbernhoft]

This has probably been posted already, but how do you think English will be spoken in centuries to come? Old English and Middle English were quite different from the language spoken today, so who's to say it won't undergo more transformations? Alternatively, what do you think other languages will be like? Do you believe humans will one day speak a universal language?

These questions are partially inspired by 1984 and A Clockwork Orange, the other part relating to my being a wannabe linguist.

I'm not sure if it's possible to predict some changes, but if that system exists, please let me know.

I think what you're looking for is referred to as "evolutionary linguistics". Here is a Wikipedia article on the subject to help you determine if this is the correct rabbit hole for you to follow.