Are all languages equally dialectically malleable? (hexbear.net)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I remember reading once about a movement trying to keep French from evolving (lol). And I’ve been thinking about how we have old English and Middle English and modern English, and how to someone living in the grey area they wouldn’t have known they were living in a time of their language being revolutionised (?). Or maybe people did? I’m not a linguist lol.

But yeh it got me thinking, is English a language that is particularly in flux compared to say, Korean? If it is, what makes a language more or less fast in its development over time? More or less insular/isolated societies of speakers must enter into it I guess?

I dunno I guess I’m just shooting the shit because I find language interesting. Let’s talk about interesting linguistic things. I swear I am not high.

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[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

The colonial nature of England, France, etc. is exactly why these languages have a reputation for adapting and evolving.

France may have fought it extremely hard with their institutions, but even they can't stop the African continent (that largely sees "pure" french as a colonial relic) from adapting french to their cultures to the point that Africa is the driving force of French now.

Languages evolve much like animals do I guess? The same way isolated communities can diverge, or how language dialects can rapidly change when material conditions change. when you have such a massive international community of speakers in your language, there are many more opportunities for material conditions and isolation to drive linguistic change. And now, thanks to the internet and mass media, these changes can be shared across the language instead of diverging beyond intelligibility.

this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2025

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