English isn't decaying, it's evolving like it always has

Linguistics professor argues that complaints about English 'decaying' are misguided, as the language has undergone far more radical changes throughout history. Old English from 450-1100 is now unintelligible. Viking invasions introduced Old Norse, Anglo-Norman French shifted elite language, and 18th-century grammarians dictated norms. Features like dropping 'g' in -ing endings or deleting 't' in 'often' reflect centuries-old speech habits. The pronunciation of 'often' with a 't' became less favored around the 15th century. The 's' on verbs like 'does' replaced 'th' in 16th-century London. Dropping 'l' in 'talk' was once frowned upon but is now standard. The rule against ending sentences with prepositions originated from 18th-century grammarian Robert Lowth's suggestion based on Latin, later misconstrued as a hard rule. In the late 18th century, class restructuring and higher literacy led to accent becoming a class marker. Grammarians and elocutionists raced to define 'proper' English, leading to usage guides. The apostrophe in 'droppin'' was added in the 19th century to mark it as nonstandard, though earlier evidence suggests '-in' was preferred. Jonathan Swift rhymed 'brewing' with 'ruin' in 1731. Language change often begins with less favored groups: the young, female, poor, nonwhite. The author's new book 'Why We Talk Funny: The Real Story Behind Our Accents' explores these themes.