Free English Language Dissertations - The Novel By Ms Truss Evoked Further Emotion In Ron Liddle Who Also Wrote
The novel by Ms Truss evoked further emotion in Ron Liddle who also wrote for ‘The Times’ (Davis, The Times, 2004). He comments on the class distinction associated with the pursuit of correct English, describing it as middle-class and smug, particularly relevant when considered in relation to the intentions of the National Curriculum’s inclusion strategy. Hirsch, writing in the ‘New Statesman’ comments on various studies but considers that, overall, the schools with the ‘most advantaged pupil intakes not those with the best teachers’ appear to have achieved the most (Hirsch, 2001), which he considers a further example of class distinction. This can be balanced by looking at the etymology of the word ‘punctuation’ which shares a common root with the word ‘punctilious’ meaning ‘attentive to formality or etiquette’ (Oxford Illustrated Dictionary, 1984).
Controversy continues into whether punctuation [is] the basting that holds the fabric of language in shape (Truss, 2003), or whether there has been a ‘slide towards mediocrity’ in the standard of English taught in the National Curriculum. Despite the rudiments of grammar not being taught to a generation of children (Davis, The Times, 2004), the English language has now been classed as one of the world’s major languages, and is spoken by approximately 1.6 billion people world-wide. At least 380 million categorising English as their mother tongue (Crystal, 2003: Ch. 1; Tyson-Ward, 2001: 8). English is the official state language in a number of countries.
English is now universally regarded as a lingua franca where punctuation should be considered a courtesy designed to help readers to understand a story without stumbling (Truss, 2003). English has become the acknowledged language of science, trade and business and the official language of air traffic world-wide, causing the French government to introduce legislation to prevent the erosion of the French language (Fishman, 1998, Professor Emeritus). An estimate of 50 million Internet users now converse in English and nine-tenths of the world’s electronically stored information is in English (Griffith, 2003: 9) with English being described as the ‘21st century sequel of colonialism’ or ‘linguistic imperialism’ (Fishman, 1998).
CONCLUSION
We cannot yet specify satisfactorily just what we mean by a ‘perfect’ language
(Aitchison, 1991, pp. 214)
The problem that occurred with Latin was the very nature of its precision: its prescriptive disposition and closed vocabulary precluded any possibility of change. Fortunately, as Davis observes, the English language is an ever-evolving beast (The Times, 2004), with the result that the global supply of and the demand for English instruction are exploding (Fishman, 1998). Davis reports, however, that grammarians are at each other’s throats.
