I first became interested in the topic of my thesis [the spread of the English language] while on holidays in Crete; there a guide jokingly told us that if the capital of the island would be destroyed and unearthed a thousand years later, future archaeologists would probably conclude that the inhabitants spoke English because all the shop-signs are in that language.
Daniel Spichtinger – The Spread of English and its Appropriation
Learning English presents a considerable challenge due to its linguistic irregularities. From spelling and pronunciation to grammar, the complexity of English can often seem overwhelming.
The variety of English letters’ pronunciation patterns is mildly absurd. Consider the “-ough” combination, a single string of letters pronounced in nine different ways depending on the context: “tough” sounds differently from “through”, “thought”, or “thorough“.
The simple task of spelling “fish” could alternatively be represented as “ghoti” if we adhere too strictly to the complex phonetic rules of English:
- – gh as in “tough” (/tʌf/)
- – o as in “women” (/ˈwɪmɪn/)
- – ti as in “nation” (/ˈneɪʃən/).
Or we can have silent “ghoti”:
- – gh as in “though” (/ðoʊ/)
- – o as in “people” (/ˈpiːpl/)
- – t as in “ballet” (/’bæleɪ/)
- – i as in “business” (/’bɪznəs/)
While this whimsical spelling is often attributed to George Bernard Shaw, a thorough investigation by the Language Log has disproved this common belief. In a delightful twist of linguistic fate, “ghoti” is the word for “fish” in the Klingon language, a constructed language from the Star Trek universe.
Another enlightening exploration of the complexities of English pronunciation can be found in the classic poem “The Chaos” by Gerard Nolst Trenité, which contains around eight hundred of the worst English spelling and pronunciation irregularities.
Languages exhibit different degrees of orthographic depth. Shallow orthography, such as in Romanian, my native language, is characterized by consistent spelling rules with a one-to-one mapping of letters (graphemes) to sounds (phonemes). On the other hand, English has a deep orthography with complex spelling patterns, as the twenty-six alphabet letters represent around forty-four phonemes. However, the exact number of English phonemes can vary depending on dialect and accent.
Silent letters sprinkled across English words add another layer of complexity. Terms such as “doubt“, “pneumonia“, “knife“, and “gnome” all carry silent letters, remnants of older English forms and borrowed languages.
Clearly,
English can be weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though.
Furthermore, consider the irregular plural forms of nouns, verbs, or prepositions. Their correct use can depend heavily on context, colloquialisms, or idiomatic expressions. Grammar rules, exceptions and exceptions of exceptions aren’t unique to English, as many languages have linguistic quirks. As in life, not everything needs to conform to neat or logical rules.
But how did the English language achieve widespread use, and billions of non-English speakers like myself had to learn it?
Despite the challenges mentioned above, some aspects of English make it relatively accessible for beginners. Its lack of gendered nouns, straightforward sentence structure, and simple verb conjugation are in deep contrast to its phonetical complexities.
English also exhibits supreme linguistic flexibility as it quickly absorbs new words and expressions. This adaptation enables it to keep up with the incredible pace of cultural and technological change and dominate many aspects of global communication. English “Words of the Year” from reputable dictionary-publishing companies have shown how readily English integrates contemporary terms (e.g., “photobomb“, “binge-watch“, “fake news“, “selfie“, “doom-scrolling“, “mansplaining“, etc.)
Consider the phrase: “English is a de facto lingua franca.” While the sentence is constructed in English, it borrows terms from both Latin and Italian.
De facto is a Latin term, translating directly to “from the fact.” In legal and governmental contexts, this term differentiates between what occurs in practice (“de facto“) and what the law explicitly states (“de jure“).
“Lingua franca“, when directly translated, means “Frankish language” in Italian. Historically, this term didn’t solely refer to the Frankish language but denoted a mixed language. It was primarily used by merchants across the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages, serving as a bridge between speakers of different native languages.
In the following article, we will look at the three-act story of the phenomenal spreading of English: the era of the British Empire, the rise of the American superpower, and the age of the Internet and digital revolutions.