Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 20:25:30 -0500

From: Dan Goodman dsgood[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]VISI.COM

Subject: English 100 years from now



What the English language as a whole will be like a century from now

depends partly on the relative prestige of English-speaking countries;

whether there's a civil war in Mexico which sends refugees north, or

the Mexican economy improves enough that it's not worthwhile going to

the US for work; and a few other things which are difficult to

predict.



I will predict this: Most major American metropolitan areas which

have distinctive local dialects now will still have them -- but

they'll be different. The New York Metropolitan dialect, for example,

will probably include a fair number of Somali words and at least a few

less Yiddish words.



Newer metropolitan areas which don't now have distinctive local

dialects will develop them. I don't know how differently Salt Lake

City people speak than people from the nearest parts of rural Utah --

but there will be a detectable difference a century from now.



The dialect used in country music will be increasingly different from

any spoken dialect.



The Hudson Valley dialect will either have succumbed completely to the

New York Metropolitan dialect and Upstate New York dialect, or will

survive only in small, remote areas.



The Canadian border will be increasingly less of a border between

dialects.



Dan Goodman

dsgood[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]visi.com

http://www.visi.com/~dsgood/index.html

I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers