From New York City, this is Luxicon Valley, a podcast about language, and this time we are

going to talk about the pace of language change.

And no, that is not boring because what I'm trying to do is answer a question that I get

from a great many of you.

And this is a typical thing.

I get the question and I kind of let it pass by, but I'm beginning to realize that in

a way, people like me have created a misimpression.

I am always saying it is natural to language to change.

It's always changing.

It's not going to stop changing.

We just have to accept it.

And you know, I get the feeling that a lot of you are accepting that message to an extent

that linguists would not have expected the public to get it, say, 25 years ago.

It's actually getting out there.

You all are receptive to it.

But what it means is that in a way, we have created something of a monster because I'm

finding that a great many of you and a great many people who aren't contacting me, but

who I just happen to read or talk to, are thinking that the inevitability of language

change means that English, this language I'm speaking now, in say 500 years, is going

to be a different language or close to a different language.

And certainly, if we check up on this language that I'm speaking now in say 1500 years, then

it's going to be something else because language always changes.

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