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> All languages shift, but I've got the feeling that English shifts a lot more, faster and more dramatically than most languages. And I'm not sure why. Probabl
by astrange 3y ago
> All languages shift, but I've got the feeling that English shifts a lot more, faster and more dramatically than most languages. And I'm not sure why.
Probably because they go off to colonize very far away places and then develop separately.
Isn't Afrikaans pronunciation shifted Dutch?
- mcv 3y agoI've got the feeling that Afrikaans is more like old fashioned Dutch. It sounds a bit archaic and sloppy to me ears. I've got the feeling that most of the shifts in English don't come from the colonies, though, but more from mainland Britain. Various city accents rising in popularity and spreading their quirks around the country, like the recent i -> oi shift. Also, I heard recently that American is actually closer to how English used to be in the 17th-18th century than UK English, which has had more development, including color -> colour and that sort of stuff.