Language of the Month

English Language Evolution

Have you ever wondered what are the oldest words in the English language, or which are the most likely to disappear? Scientists at the University of Reading in England recently announced the results of their research on the evolution of Indo-European languages, a large language group among which English is a modern example.

(...cont'd from newsletter) According to their study, some of the oldest English words in use today are over 10,000 years old and include words like “I”, “we”, “who”, and numbers such as “one”, “two” and “three”. In addition, the researchers predicted which words will undergo changes the most quickly and which are apt to be replaced in the future. According to their research, words such as “squeeze”, “guts”, “stick”, “throw”, and “dirty” will most likely be replaced the soonest. Using an IBM supercomputer, known as ThamesBlue, to analyze and compare words used in different related languages; they concluded that 50% of the English words used today would have been unrecognizable to English-speakers living 2,500 years ago.

The less frequently certain words are used, the more likely they are to be replaced in the future. Following known patterns of language use, several simple rules were revealed. For example, numerals appear to evolve the slowest, followed by nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Conjunctions and prepositions such as “and”, “or”, “but”, “on”, “over” and “against” evolve the fastest, some as much as 100 times faster than numerals. “Throw” which is expected to evolve quickly, has a half-life of 900 years. Currently, there are 42 unrelated words for “throw” across all related languages. It is predicted that in 10,000 years, the word will likely have been replaced in 10 of these languages – possibly including English. This gives us the incentive to use our favorite words more frequently in order to keep them alive.