Incorporating Multilingualism in the Development of the English ...

Figure 1: The functional distribution of English in various domains from 700 to 1800(Görlach 2001, p.48)Approach 1. Incorporating language changeand language contactSmith states, “No living language is unchanging.”All languages are under the influence of otherlanguages that they have contact with. When newwords and expressions are borrowed or created basedon foreign elements, the new ones and the old onesexist side by side for a certain period. Codificationand standardization, namely whether new forms willbecome part of the common language, depend onvarious factors.Crystal in his model of the English languagedemonstrates that every language has social,regional, temporal, and personal variations (Crystal,p. 3). Knowing not only its structure but alsoits use, Crystal asserts, is essential for thoroughunderstanding of any language. The strong interestin sociolinguistics and pragmatics nowadaysindicates that the amalgamation of synchronic anddiachronic phenomena will be beneficial especiallybecause language use is considered important inlinguistics today (Smith, pp.8-10). Analogy andreanalysis are good sources of information abouthow people formulate and utilize rules. Analogyand reanalysis are known to frequently occur in thechildren’s language acquisition process as well as inthe foreigners’ language learning process. Childrengrowing in the English-speaking environmentproduce expressions like “We goed to the pool andswimmed,” and “The cat catched the mouses,” whichare typical examples of analogy. An example ofreanalysis is the word “pea” as in “sweetpea.” TheFrench loan word “pease [pi:z],” though singularas it is, was borrowed into Middle English, and thefinal [z] sound was interpreted as the plural suffix,resulting in the new singular form, “pea.” The oldnursery rhymes retain the original singular form with–se at its end:Pease porridge hot,Pease porridge cold,Pease porridge in a potNine days old.My students often make such errows in which theyexceedingly apply linguistic rules. Typical examplesinclude:The light in the darkness must seems to be a symbol142Educational Studies 52International Christian University