Your friend Amita thinks that languages stay pretty stable across generations.

Your other friend Chae-Won thinks that all living languages naturally change, at least to some extent, across generations.

Who is right?

Question

Your friend Amita thinks that languages stay pretty stable across generations.

Your other friend Chae-Won thinks that all living languages naturally change, at least to some extent, across generations.

Who is right?

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The scenario presents a debate about language change across generations and asks which viewpoint is correct.
Option 1: 'Amita is right: they stay stable (except for sub-standard speech like slang, and dialects)'. This claim suggests languages are largely stable over time, with only minor variations such as slang or dialectical differences. However, linguistic realities show that languages evolve due to phonological shifts, lexical innovations, semantic changes, and syntactic developments that accumulate generation to generation. Therefore, saying languages stay stable ignores well-documented diachronic change and the dynamic nature of living languages across generations.
Option 2: 'Chae-Won is right: so long as any language is used as a living language, it will always change at least in some ways across generations.' This statement aligns with core principles of historical and sociolinguistics: languages are living systems that adapt as speakers encounter new needs, technologies, contact with other languages, and social factors. Even widely stabilized languages exhibit regular changes in pronunciation, vocabulary, and usage over time, so the claim that change occurs across generations is consistent with observed linguistic behavior in real communities.
In evaluating the two positions, the first option underestimates the dynamic nature of language and conflates broad stability with the nuanced reality that languages drift and transform regardless of perceived steadiness. The second option accurately captures the generational evolution of language as an ongoing, inherent feature of living languages, rather than an occasional or exceptional occurrence.
Summarizing the contrast, the first option asserts near-total stability, which conflicts with established evidence of diachronic change; the second option asserts perpetual, generational change inherent to living languages, which is supported by linguistic theory and observation.

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Your friend Amita thinks that languages stay pretty stable across generations. Your other friend Chae-Won thinks that all living languages naturally change, at least to some extent, across generations. Who is right?

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