Modern Languages

In the past, languages changed over time.  New ones (like english) arose and others (like gothic) died.  That was hundreds of years ago, though, pre-printing press.  Now that most people are literate, will out languages be preserved, or will english be a dead language in another 500 years?

>will english be a dead language in another 500 years?

Yo nigga! Fo' shizzle ma nizzle! Shoop da whoop!

Even today, there are many languages that are becoming extinct. Some of these languages only have 5-100 fluent speakers left.

However, English is a language that is heavily chronicled, and would never become extinct. It may be bastardized, though... thank you >>2

English has reached a state never reached before by any other language. Even relatively speaking it is far more important that Latin or Ancient Chinese or any other language ever has been. So doubtless it will be preserved for millenniums to come. That doesn't mean it isn't in a constant process of change though. Just look at the differences between a contemporary text and one written at the turn of the 19th century. At some stage linguists will be talking about the current English language as just another stage in it's evolution.

Oh and here's an amusing thought, should our records of history ever be wiped out, we will have left one hell of a puzzle for future linguists. Given the geographical distribution of English (and other Indo-European languages) and the influence it and the romance languages have had on every other global language, I can imagine linguists busily hypothesizing some sort of global root language and civilization :P.

Some centuries ago French became the language of diplomacy and culture in Europe (cf. lingua franca), nowadays however English has mostly replaced it in this function. English is different only in that it's now not only the language of a continent but the language of a world. :) Still, IMO, an other language, represented by an other major political power, can appear and replace English likewise.

English will lose it's "international importance" over time just like Latin and French did.

Farting will lose it's "comedic importance" over time just like this post did.

There are distinct branches of the English language, though. Ebonics is becoming increasingly unintelligible to others outside the socioeconomic class of people who speak it. (Ebonics is NOT just spoken by black people; it's, generally speaking, the language of the poor, especially in the south.) Accents, however, are fading away, due to more prominent American migratory patterns, and also because mass/high speed communications have given us example accents to take after.

>>8
A friend of mine turns on a fake accent when he's on the phone with his cousin.  He used to talk to his cousin regularly, though.  This is recent development.