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Evolution Of English Language Essay

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Why language evolved can easily be fathomed but the when and the how still remain debatable and mysterious. Kathryn Thornton opines, “Language leaves behind no fossils and could not be recorded until the advent of writing, some 5,000 years ago. However, it seems reasonable to assume that language evolved along with early modern humans at least 100,000 years ago” . Concerning literature Raymond Williams is of the opinion that it is of comparatively recent origin which refers to “any written, printed matter on any subject” . One is not entering into a serious discussion on the aptness and inaptness, adequacy or inadequacy of what Williams hold. However, one is bound to engage into its demarcation for under its umbrella fall “plays, essays, novels, poetry, and short stories” . In this essay, the concern is not the origin and development of language and literature as such but to consider how it has shaped the human history. Secondly, English did not originate in India; it came with the British. For the moment, therefore, one’s …show more content…

There may not be any other language either that has undergone through so numerous a transformation within the country of its origin as well as outside of it. Every time English intermingled with another language, it gave rise to new Englishes, new identities, new nations, new literatures and an innovative window to look upon the world. Atanu Bhattacharya is very positive in his outlook, “The influence of English cannot be denied in any sphere of our life: it is the prestige language, the language of global access, the language that conducts the affair of the world. We, however, must be aware of the fact that the English that we use is our own English and not the language that the once-rulers imposed upon us. It is reworked English and not the English of our colonial masters”

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