Saturday, May 24, 2003

language reform update

Note that my plan to implement a global English already is being implemented and starting to bear fruit. The New York Times has run a most fascinating article on the spread of Engrishes.

Singlish seems to me a legitimate form of English -- perhaps a pidjin or creole version, but a version nonetheless, with its own vocabulary, grammar and syntax, much of it obviously cribbed from English. As a language, Singlish apparently also is developing a body of literature, just as other Englishes have.

In any event, it demonstrates the success of my plan, as stated, to develop a worldwide English language with no ties to any one nation or culture.

Singlish may be a pidjin English, but a pidjin form of a language is still a form of that language. Singlish is more closely related to English than it is to the other languages it draws from, and as noted in the article, as things continue and the Singaporeans' exposure to standard English continues, Singlish is going to conform in more ways to standard English.

In any event, as more Englishes arise around the world, the flow of ideas from one culture to another also will increase, with the eventual emergence of a pan-national English. This pan-English is what will be central to my world empire's lexicon, much as koine Greek became the second language of the ancient world, not just under Alexander and his immediate successors but under the Romans as well.

Singlish, Japlish, Russlish and Spanglish -- and the other Englishes that are out there -- are just the beginning. Give them time.

Now, this article from The New York Times shows that we ultimately will need some sort of regulatory process in place to pull the various strands of English together. Who better to do this than journalists, who deal with questions of clarity and grammatical correctness every day?

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