English Rewind - 6 Minute English: Disappearing words

Hello! This is a programme from the BBC Learning English archive.

It was first broadcast in March 2009 on the BBC Learning English website.

We hope you enjoy it.

This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English dot com.

Hello, I'm Kate Colin and this is 6 Minute English

and thanks to Jackie Dalton for joining me today.

Good morrow, Jackie!

Er, pardon?

Good morrow! I beseech thee, whence comest thou?

Um.

Don't worry, I didn't expect you to understand that.

I'm speaking in 'Old English'.

What I said was the equivalent of saying, 'Good morning. Where do you come from?'

using words which were in use a few hundred years ago

and that we don't use any longer.

Hello, Kate.

Yes, English is a language which is evolving all the time.

So this means that there are new words continuously appearing

and older words are disappearing.

I didn't understand the Old English you started the programme with,

because you were using words which we no longer use in everyday speech.

Exactly. So, as you might have guessed,

the topic we'll be discussing is language and how it evolves and develops.

So, Jackie, as usual,

— I have a question for you. — OK.

Some of the oldest English-sounding words date back how many years?

Is it a) 1,000 years? b) 20,000 years? Or c) 500 years?

Well, I suspect it was quite a long time ago,

so I'm going to say 20,000 years.

OK, well, we'll check your answer at the end of the programme.

But, first, we're going to hear part of an interview with a scientist

who's been using a special computer

to study our use of words and their evolution through time.

Can you tell us what 'evolution' means?

Yes, 'evolution'. It's similar to the word 'evolving', which I explained earlier.

'Evolution' is the gradual process of change and development,

over a long period of time,

and in this context it refers to language

and how it develops and changes over the years.

OK. Well, let's listen and see if you can hear

which words he thinks are some of the oldest in the English language.

Well, we've be able to discover that the numbers two and three and five

and the pronoun 'I' and 'who', those are the oldest words in the English language.

So, Jackie, did you get that?

Yes, he said that the oldest words were 'two', 'three' and 'five'

and the pronoun 'I' and the word 'who'.

That's correct!

It's hard to believe that some of the words we use every day

are, in fact, extremely old.

Back to our scientist.

As well as thinking about words that have been in use for many years,

he also predicts which words may eventually become extinct.

Jackie, what does 'predict' mean?

To 'predict' is to say what you think will happen in the future,

especially as a result of having prior knowledge or experience.

For example, it's cloudy outside today, so I predict that it's going to rain later.

And 'extinct', what does 'extinct' mean?

To become 'extinct' means to be no longer in existence

or you can use the phrasal verb 'to die out'.

The word is often used when talking about a tribe of people or a type of animal

which has 'died out', for example, the dinosaurs have become 'extinct'.

So our scientist predicts which words are likely to become extinct.

He does this by finding out how quickly different words evolve or develop

and are replaced by other words with the same meaning.

Now, let's listen to the next extract.

Which words does he predict might become extinct?

We can make some guesses as to what words might next go extinct.

So for example the word 'dirty' seems to have the highest rate of change

and so we might predict that sometime in the next 750 years,

that word will be lost.

He said the word 'dirty' may become lost or become extinct in the future.

This is because it's being replaced quite quickly

— by other words that mean the same thing. — That's right,

and we'll be hearing some more about his theory of why words come and go,

but first a look at some of the vocabulary we'll come across.

He uses the word 'frequency'. What does 'frequency' mean?

This is how often something happens,

so the frequency with which a word is used means how often the word is used.

And 'common everyday speech'?

This is the language that we use most frequently.

And what about the word 'predictor'?

A 'predictor' is something which can help us predict

or say what will happen in the future.

And finally, 'retained'?

'Retained' means 'to keep',

so if a word is retained, it means we'll continue to use it.

Thanks, well, let's listen to the final extract.

What we've discovered is that the frequency

with which words are used in our common everyday speech,

is a strong predictor of whether or not they'll be retained.

So he says the words we use most often

are the most likely to still be in use in the future.

The most common words tend to be the oldest ones!

That's correct and you might like to know that the other words

he predicts may become extinct are 'squeeze and 'guts'.

Let's go over some words which we came across in the programme today.

We had 'evolution', which means 'the gradual process of change and development

over a long period of time'.

Then we had 'extinct',

which means 'to be no longer in existence or to have died out',

'predict', to say what you think will happen,

'frequency', how often something happens,

'common everyday speech', the language that we use most frequently,

'predictor', something which can help us predict

or say what will happen in the future,

and finally, 'retained', which is 'to keep or be continued'.

Thanks, Jackie, and just before we finish for this week,

let's see if you got the answer to my question correct.

I asked about some of the oldest English-sounding words

and how old you thought some of them were.

I think I said 20,000 years old.

— And you were correct! — Hooray!

The oldest English-sounding words were used by humans over 20,000 years ago.

Incredible to think that our Stone Age ancestors

were using similar-sounding words all those years ago.

That's all we have time for today. Until next time,

— goodbye. — Goodbye.