are languages developing as fast as before? And what are the process to “officially” add new words to the language?
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*Existing* languages continue to transform and develop rapidly, and, arguably faster than historically so.
However, the *overall number* of languages and dialects is decreasing rapidly. Somewhere between 1000 and 1500 existing languages are expected to be “lost” (no living speakers) by the end of this century.
If you rule out artificial/fictional/constructed languages (e.g. Klingon, for example) that are rarely spoken outside of particular communities (e.g. *Star Trek* fandom, for example) development of *new* languages is basically non-existent.
All of the above — increasingly rapid development of existing languages, decrease in the overall number of languages spoken, and the dearth of new languages emerging (except as entertainment) — is all attributable to the quickly increasing global connectedness. Language differentiation thrives when cultures are separated from each other; language consolidation happens when different cultures are in frequent communication.
As for “officially” adding words to a language, there’s no such thing.
No one “owns” a language (although some governments try) and while meanings of new words frequently get codified by practices like the creation of dictionaries, writing down a definition *at a point in time* doesn’t really do anything to stop the meaning or usage of existing words from continuing to transform and develop.
And, man, are dictionary publishers thankful for that; otherwise they’d be out of business instead of issuing new editions every few years.
Yes, and there isn’t any “official” process.
The closest thing to an “official” process is when the different dictionaries decide to add a word or new definition of a word to their dictionaries. But that’s just the people who run them deciding to add the words, not some sort of “official” decision. And sometimes the dictionaries disagree with each other.
But every year new words/slang are added to dictionaries.
Like I would bet “Rizz” will get added soon enough.
Based on how many skibidis I’ve gyatted in Ohio with my rizzler…. I’d say it’s changing fairly quickly
Most are English-ifying. The Chinese now say bye-bye as opposed to the Chinese word. Indian languages are wayyyy englishified
>And what are the process to “officially” add new words to the language?
Depends on the language. Some languages have a regulatory body (often called an “academy”) which regulates what is and isn’t an “official” word. And among those languages that do have such bodies some are more conservative than others, like French, which does not recognize many words that are in common use by French speakers.
For languages like English, which has no language regulator, there aren’t really “official” words at all. People usually follow major dictionaries like Webster’s or the OED but words they include is completely up to the discretion of the editors/publishers.
There is no such thing as an official addition to a language, regardless of what pedants think.
Language evolves with usage. Words mean whatever people understand them to mean, so how popular a word’s usage is *literally* determines its definition. And if it means that “literally” is no longer literal, that’s what happens.
The English speaking world ascribes an undue importance to the publishers of dictionaries. Dictionaries do not officialize the addition of words: they exist to *inform* people of how words are used, including new ones.
Let’s say Websters or Oxford obstinately refused to add new slang words. This doesn’t stop the evolution of the English language – people would still invent new words and meanings, popularize them, and use them. What would instead happen would be that those dictionaries would become less and less relevant, and hence less useful. This is why dictionaries instead try very hard to add new words that enter the public consciousness.
Attempts to officialize language additions are doomed to fail as the tide of public usage floods their attempts. A really good example is the Académie Française, which tries to determine the officiality of French words and conceives of French alternatives to anglicization. It doesn’t do much to change the evolution of the French language. Instead, it is driving itself slowly into irrelevance as more and more French people adopt English loanwords and ignore the “official” ones, as well as increasing rebellion from French linguists who see it as an anachronism.
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