Languages change. This is an inevitable change. Languages will not stay the same, yet somehow manage to stay around and are spoken for hundreds maybe even thousands of years. Languages are a fundamental element of human daily life. With language, humans are able to talk to their families and friends, conduct business deals, gain an education, the list goes on and on. What if in twenty years, the language humans speak today were not understood? What about fifty? Or even one hundred? Would humans be able to adapt to the changes in language as they had in the past? This essay will view John H. McWhorter 's article, "What the World Will Speak in 2115;" (2015) and discuss how languages have changed in the past, what might happen in the future with
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McWhorter tells the reader that Mandarin Chinese is expected to become the lingua franca at one point. This is believed to be true for the reason that the Chinese population is so large. Additionally, countless economic transactions between people speaking different languages occurs daily with Mandarin Chinese speakers. However, McWhorter argues against this point since Mandarin Chinese includes a multitude of different tones that one needs to be able to make in order to be able to pronounce words; this is typically incredibly difficult to learn post childhood. Additionally the writing is exceptionally difficult to learn if one was not born into it and surrounded by it a like a child who grows up there would be. Another example of a difficult language that McWhorter gives would be "a 'click ' language of southern Africa" where there are dozens of different clicks that one has to learn and master in order to be able to communicate interpersonally. Due to these languages being so difficult to learn post childhood, it is unlikely that they will become the lingua franca. Many children would be unable to learn the language at a young age since their parents are unable to speak it, so they would be unable to learn them as they are not exposed to them. When they are adults, they then may try to learn that additional language, except if a language is too …show more content…
According to Noacks article, out of the more than seven billion people on Earth, nearly two-thirds, approximately four and a half billion people, speak one of twelve main world languages. So while there are about six thousand languages, there are only twelve which are truly the main ones spoken. In the article, there is a reference to a fifteen year study by a language specialist named Ulrich Ammon. In his study, he predicts that Chinese, Spanish, and French should be learned in order to be able to talk with the largest percentage of people since these are most widely spoken. While English is not at the top, currently, it will continue to rise and top all rankings in the near future. Meaning that even in his research he found that English will be the dominant language of the
McWhorter tells the reader that Mandarin Chinese is expected to become the lingua franca at one point. This is believed to be true for the reason that the Chinese population is so large. Additionally, countless economic transactions between people speaking different languages occurs daily with Mandarin Chinese speakers. However, McWhorter argues against this point since Mandarin Chinese includes a multitude of different tones that one needs to be able to make in order to be able to pronounce words; this is typically incredibly difficult to learn post childhood. Additionally the writing is exceptionally difficult to learn if one was not born into it and surrounded by it a like a child who grows up there would be. Another example of a difficult language that McWhorter gives would be "a 'click ' language of southern Africa" where there are dozens of different clicks that one has to learn and master in order to be able to communicate interpersonally. Due to these languages being so difficult to learn post childhood, it is unlikely that they will become the lingua franca. Many children would be unable to learn the language at a young age since their parents are unable to speak it, so they would be unable to learn them as they are not exposed to them. When they are adults, they then may try to learn that additional language, except if a language is too …show more content…
According to Noacks article, out of the more than seven billion people on Earth, nearly two-thirds, approximately four and a half billion people, speak one of twelve main world languages. So while there are about six thousand languages, there are only twelve which are truly the main ones spoken. In the article, there is a reference to a fifteen year study by a language specialist named Ulrich Ammon. In his study, he predicts that Chinese, Spanish, and French should be learned in order to be able to talk with the largest percentage of people since these are most widely spoken. While English is not at the top, currently, it will continue to rise and top all rankings in the near future. Meaning that even in his research he found that English will be the dominant language of the