Michael Wu - English Doesn't Love You
Lets start with the basics. We know that English is structured off of 26 basic symbols called letters, each corresponding to certain vocal sounds. This may sound obvious, but there is no intrinsic link needed between speech and writing. Some languages such as Mandarin have no correlation between written text and speech. The latin alphabet allows readers to involuntarily generate a rough approximation of a word’s sound, even if the word doesn’t exist, just by looking at it, such as “plist,” “drimp,” or “krame.” But if you’re well-versed enough, you may have noticed at some point or another that certain letters aren’t unique. For example, the letter c makes two sounds that can be replicated using either /k/ or /s/. So can’t we just get rid of c to simplify things?
Not so fast. English is a tightly knit web, and taking out a letter unravels the whole thing. C may not make unique sounds on its own, but /ch/ does, and it’s really not worth it to get rid of a letter when so many words use c currently. English spelling is based off a huge list of rules, all of which have exeptions. For example, the most well-known rule in English is that every word needs a vowel. Despite that, there are plenty of words without vowels, mostly otomatopoeia like “shh.” The letter q is supposed to always be followed by u, but many words (anglicized from other languages) contain the letter q by itself. The letter i is supposed to come before e unless the two are placed after a c, but words like “weird,” “seize,” and “height” say otherwise.
Part 3: Pronunciation
Spelling also conflicts with pronunciation. There are tons of inconsistencies between letter sounds. The letters “ough” can be pronounced in more ways than I can count. /off/ in “cough,” /oe/ in “though,” /au/ in “drought,” /uff/ in “rough,” /ot/ in “bought,” and /oo/ in “through.” A secondhand English learner will have a really tough time memorizing all these sounds through reading. If “four” is pronounced the same as /for/, then “hour” should be pronounced like /whore/, and “whore” should be pronounced like /who’re/, the contraction of “who” and “are.” But that’s not how it works, and maybe that's for the best. It's also not going to change any time soon since English speakers are already familiar with the current system, and it would be very awkward to be walking around every day hearing people say, "I got to go to work in a whore".
I apologize profusely.
Part 4: Sentences
So, what’s the takeaway
from all this? After all, despite all of its flaws, English works. It may be
notoriously inuntuitive, but it works. In fact, writing sentences in English is
surprisingly clear-cut. Everything is either a dependent clause, independent
clause, or nonsense, and the first two have guidelines for use in sentences.
Commas and conjunctions separate independent clauses, and periods and
semicolons close off sentences. It also works out, and once you’ve zoomed out
to this scale, you get some of the most popular works of literature of all
time. English is a giant in the world of language, and there’s no arguing with
that, despite how imperfect the language may be. After all, no language is. In
the quest for perfection, humanity always falls short. But something doesn’t
have to be perfect to be useful.
Hi Michael, this was a very interesting take on the English language. Those were some very interesting examples.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! In some ways, English is harder to pronounce than other languages that are judged for being hard to pronounce (like french or german) becasue at those languages have more cosistent rules. I think you should check out that Youtube video of what English sounds like to non-English speakers. Its a bunch of nonsense, but somehow it really sounds like English in the way the syllabes are put together and pronounced.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael, awesome post! This was very interesting. I do believe that English is a very inconsistent language. Great review!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with most of these points. You convey your argument with great confidence and this is a pretty interesting idea for a blog post. Good stuff
ReplyDeleteThis is a good indepent look at english. I never thought as a nadive speaker how many ways "ough" can be pronounced.
ReplyDeleteYo michael I thought your explanation of english was pretty good. are you ok though out of ALL of the examples you choose "I got to go to work in a whore". I do wonder how non-english speaking navigate through it, and whats interesting is, at least the ones who english weren't they're first language that I know, they always say it was easier to learn than other languages.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael,
ReplyDeleteEnglish rules have many exceptions, and I had fun reading your list of how English could be improved. I think the most annoying part of the English language is spelling. You basically have to memorize how to spell everything because, so many rules have expectations. However I think English grammar is easier than some other languages. I have studied German, Russian, and Latin. They have a lot more rules you need to know in order to make coherent sentences.
-Sasha
I like how you structured this "review of the English language" into sections, and I thought you made some really good points. My favorite of the sections was #3 when you compared the pronunciation of letter combinations in different words. I think it also could've been cool to see you talk about how some of these problems with English could be fixed.
ReplyDeleteYou had some good takes on the English language. This was interesting.
ReplyDelete