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> English seems to be losing nuance quickly, as we smash words into synonymity through ignorance Languages lose complexity all the time. Ask Italy, Spain, Port
by asveikau 7y ago
> English seems to be losing nuance quickly, as we smash words into synonymity through ignorance
Languages lose complexity all the time. Ask Italy, Spain, Portugal, France why they don't have a full Latin case system with various suffices to distinguish them. It's not because their ancestors suddenly became stupid. It's just that languages change and a very common outcome is that complexities get lost in time. I can tell you with certainty that this has been happening in Indo-European languages for thousands of years and yet civilization has thrived in the same period.
You're overthinking it in a very judgemental way.
- shantly 7y agoI think I’m allowed to judge loss of expressiveness with no apparent benefit as bad. It’s fine to judge things.
- asveikau 7y agoYou are perfectly welcome to get stressed out over completely natural processes that happen repeatably in the course of human history, but I would just like you to be aware of this aspect before thinking it improper. Happy new year.
- shantly 7y agoI just don’t think that such things are bound to always be fine, is all. I’m aware of the evolution of language and not upset that folks don’t like it when I put a circumflex in “rôle” these days. I would like to know where new expressive vocabulary is coming in to replace what we’re losing—I don’t see it. Yes slang and such, as always, but those are mostly more close or exact synonyms for existing words and aren’t entering Standard Written English at the same rate we’re losing words, as far as I can tell.