How Africans Are Changing French – One Joke, Rap and Book at a Time

Re:How Africans Are Changing French – One Joke, Rap and Book... by thaumasiotes on Sunday December 17, 2023 @09:36PM (#38678662)

> Modern English can be very flexible, which is probably why it has become popular as a lingua franca.

You have the causality backwards here.

> Word order can be fiddled with mercilessly too. Officially, English sentences are subject - verb - object (SVO) for example: "I sat on the bed". You can say "I the bed sat on" or "On the bed sat I" or "sat I on the bed" and it still works fine.

This is just incorrect.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Africans Are Changing French – One Joke, Rap and Book... by yawboakye on Monday December 18, 2023 @02:27AM (#38680051)

the rare forms/orders are allowed for the purposes of literature and other forms of art. the grammar of the modern english language and its gradual adoption through intellectual training was intentionally done. it was necessary in order to (1) elevate english to the level of latin and french, and hence (2) be a suitable tool for both art and intellectual writings. that was the only way it could unseat french and become the dominant language fit for all purposes.

[ Parent | on HN ]