Is English in DECLINE? A Linguist’s Perspective | Pt. 1

#englishgrammar #genalpha #neopronouns #linguistics
Intro: 00:00 - 00:59
Why does grammar matter? 00:59 - 03:43
Why not “do whatever we want” when it comes to grammar? 03:43 - 06:20
Why linguistic rules are valuable: 06:20 - 08:58
Videos used:
• Teachers Are Fed Up Of...
• Teachers Are SICK Of D... • Hospital computer inte...
• Video

[@heidicooper7912]

"Rules help us achieve clarity." I'm going to use that phrase forever.

[@epicgrapefruit7563]

I think a lot of it has to do with how the youth aren't consuming as much high quality material anymore. Reading something like a book is getting less and less popular, and people are just exposing themselves to short form video instead of for example documentaries.

[@DanAllbee]

"Romance. Is she truly dead?" That part - and the attendant emojis - gave me a good chuckle. I disagree that language isn't the most exciting thing, though. I could listen to you lecture on syntax, spelling, punctuation, and structure all day long.

[@ryannewman4412]

I know it's a video game. But check out Amy Hennig's writing in the Legacy of Kain series. It's better than Shakespeare and I wish we still gave words such reverence

[@docstockandbarrel]

A lot of people treat rules as restrictions but they're really like a kite string, which with limited knowledge may appear to hold the kite down, but actually allows it to climb and stay airborne, not plummet.

[@Flippotycoon4583]

I agree same for the Dutch language and how it seems to get mixed more with the English language. Love your hair btw :)

[@epicgrapefruit7563]

I think that has a lot to do with how easy it is to understand English as a dutch person, so you naturally get a lot of exposure to it. Not proud of it but I also mix a lot of English words in a sentence because I can't remember the Dutch word as quickly.

[@thomasruhm1677]

It must be hard to be a teacher nowadays. You don’t know what should be acceptable.

[@jameskreth3681]

Thank you very much for taking the time and effort to make these videos. I've struggled my whole life with writing, reading and spelling and my grammar and punctuation has always been atrocious. I think I'm doing better at these kind of things thanks to the help of great videos such as this one. I'll end with an emoji smiling face😀

[@shannonstirling1]

Thank you for bringing attention to this most critical topic. It is absolutely frightening what is happening to our language, the lack of fluency, and absence of regard for its importance.

[@mollof7893]

A compromise is often the best solution. A language needs rules, but they can be better. I think English need a small writing reform. One I like is to allways write [ɛ] as . Also of course change .

[@PleaseNThankYou]

Yes.

[@seanduggan3453]

I like your thinking and discourse on the topic. It matters because communication is a two-way process to achieve a mutual understanding of an issue. If the recipient of a communication doesn't understand the intention and meaning of the sender then we have a problem.

[@andeeanko7079]

Excellent, clear, incisive, and interesting discussion. I'm looking forward to part 2!

[@NyctophileXIII]

I absolutely assume people who disregard proper English conventions online are less intelligent than those who properly utilize them. I even scoff at and think less of people who make memes that are in this state of decline. I don't care if it's supposed to be permissible to ignore propriety in modern mediums. I even fully write out and use proper punctuation and grammar in texts.

[@bobnoggets5114]

Proper spelling is important to me despite the fact that i cannot reliably spell (dyslexic). Even autocorrect has trouble deciphering my spelling attempts. It can be frustrating when i have to think of a synonym for a word because I am unable to spell the word I intended to use.

[@lisaroper421]

I am a really bad speller, myself. I think it is only fair to ofter lots of grace when someone's trying and working-- but I also think the person writing (depending on the situation) owes it to the situation to make sure they are doing a decent job of spelling!

[@dhruv9744]

I think part of it can also be blamed on the phonetic inconsistency we see in English. I’m bilingual and I’ve noticed that the degrading of grammar is far more emphasized in English than in the other language I speak and I’ve heard the same from other people who speak different languages as well. English seems to be specifically prone to distortion.

[@edwardpaddock2528]

A lot of it is the rapid decline in the education systems, and people never learning proper English in the first place . . . perhaps to leave enough time to learn 417 new pronouns a week . . . in spite of never learning what a pronoun actually even is. So ignorant people chat online with other ignorant people, and the problem just spirals out of control.

[@PleaseNThankYou]

Your comment wins. Best ever. 🎉💯

[@Hexiad]

I'm annoyed by the fact that the letter Y is being slapped onto the end of many words. Incompetence is now Incompetency. Am I the only one?

[@planarian]

I haven’t noticed this, do you have other examples? It interests me! Do people say Insolency? I wonder if it’s due to people wanting to convey it as more of an action than a noun, to imply they think it’s deliberate. Maybe it is just mangling based on words like ‘idiocy’ and ‘hypocrisy’ & people think it belongs in a word family they’ve made up. Or maybe they work backward from the plural & think it works like “family”? So many possibilities. In any case, I (like you) hope it is corrected. We can’t lose understanding of the finer points of our language.

[@Hexiad]

@@planarian A few days ago I overheard someone say "I don't think that has any relevancy" instead relevance. Dictionaries are starting to accept these as neologisms.

[@wenbacik]

I think teachers complaining about grammar being uninteresting is a self fulfilling prophesy. Lots of people are fascinated by grammar. If teachers taught with passion, it would be more compelling.

[@troffle]

I like punctuation. Yes, generally even in an SMS. At worst, I will write an SMS with no punctuation or capitalisation deliberately to express the lack of expression, energy, interest in the topic, or presentation of complete and utter depression and surrender. Not least because in those cases I have virtually none of the energy required to punctuate and capitalise on a damned stupid small screen, of which a third is the damned pokey keyboard; but also as the subtextual expression of how badly the topic drains me. If I'm going to insert an emoji, it's because it will be some reaction or facial expression that I would display in person, face-to-face. I will write my sentence. The sentence will end with a period. And then, where in speech I would grin, I will insert the emoji.

[@TheArneSaknussemm]

Wheze got to spell propper ore we is nevah goin to comunicate proppah and dont git me started on punctuition peple right hole sentences without so match as a coma😊😊

[@APOLLOPATRIOT]

I blame TikTok trends and I enjoy hot Polish women 😂 🤘 ! Great stuff as always !!!

[@maryannewolter-pryke2450]

Adverbs are disappearing which is really sad.

[@thel1355]

In my experience, it's always descriptivism for thee, prescriptivism for me. Descriptivism is obviously right, except when the other side keeps acting like prescriptivists while pretending not to. Ironically, shaming people for policing language standards is usually just a cover for pushing a different set of standards. It's kind of like how the "anti-racists" are some of the most racist people you'll meet. The "anti-prescriptivists" somehow manage to be the most demanding of how other people speak and what words they use and who they can speak about. Don't believe them, even if they believe themselves. Language is culture, and they seek to destroy culture by destroying the language first. They're preoccupied with reshaping reality by reconstructing the langauge. Their apparent anti-prescriptivism is just a ruse, a tool, a useful argument to deploy against others but to ignore for yourself.

[@Ozzy-Jay]

Obviously. We bastardise English in our "realm". I tend to speak proper and lol all the time. Seriously I ran a backpackers in Eastern Australia. Just wow

[@StigHelmer]

Another problem is the redefinition of words especially by the woke left wing.

[@marioksoresalhillick299]

Love a prescriptivist pretending to be a linguist. ppl cn prfctly undrstnd m f i wrt lk ths btw. Anyway, rlly the attack on prescriptivism is very rarely coutched in the idea that it's patriarchal or racist, it *sometimes* is (and when it is mentioned, it is kinda just true... idk how you'd say this isn't the case).