According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, language can be described as 'a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings.' It can also be deemed a 'form or manner of verbal expression' or 'the vocabulary and phraseology belonging to an art or a department of knowledge'. The very fact that there are so many meanings to this one word proves that language and the way in which we communicate is in its own way beautiful and dynamic. Over the years as mankind develops intellectually, the manner in which we speak and communicate also evolves, and thus occurs language change. Language change can be described as, 'the phenomenon by which permanent alterations are made in the features and the use of a language over time.' (Richard Nordquist 1). Language change occurs not only regarding semantics (the meaning of words), but lexically (having to do with vocabulary), syntactically (sentence structure) and even phonologically (the way words sound).

Language change occurs for a varying number of reasons. One of the main reasons for language change first occurring was that of colonisation, which is the forced appropriation of a country and its people by another. An example of this is when Trinidad and Tobago was first colonised by the Spanish, the native inhabitants were forced to change their language to Spanish, the mother tongue of their colonisers. As explained in our previous article on the language history of Trinidad and Tobago, our twin island state was conquered by a few different nations, including the Spanish, the Dutch and finally the British. For this reason, Trinidad and Tobago has undergone language change in that, the country’s main language changed so many different times, until it remained with English, Trinidadian English Creole, Tobagonian English Creole, Patois, Trinidadian Hindustani, among other dialects interspersed with the country's versions of English Creole.

Another important reason for which language change occurs has to do with language contact, i.e. languages that come into contact with one another. One instance of this is the formation of Trinidadian English Creole, which was formed due to contact between the different colonial languages and those of West African slaves and Indian indentured labourers. As a result, our vocabulary contains phrases and words that are affected by the influence of these different languages. One such example is the influence of Bhojpuri, which has influenced the way in which we call the cilantro herb, 'bandania'.  

One of the most prominent reasons for language change in today’s world would have to most definitely be the needs of speakers. An example of this is the fact that a lot of new vocabulary is required in order to go along with new inventions. The internet is a powerful tool in language change, as it has affected the way in which we write, as well as our lexicon, using abbreviations such as 'LOL' and 'BRB' to describe our actions, instead of spelling them out. According to David Crystal of the University of Bangor, 'Language itself changes slowly, but the internet has speeded up the process of those changes so you notice them more quickly.' 
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Language change is an important phenomenon in our society and it happens sometimes without our noticing. Whether its change is due to colonisation, influence of other languages or even something we see on the internet, language change occurs every day and serves as an important part of the evolution of our society. It enables us to better communicate and also understand our own world on a much deeper level.  
 
Do you have any other examples of how language changes? Let us know in the comments below.

Trinidad and Tobago is lucky to be one of the most multicultural societies in the world, with many of
its inhabitants having ancestors from Africa, India, Europe, China, Syria, Lebanonand many others.
This mixing of cultures has occurred due to European colonisation which put Trinidad and Tobago under the rule of three main entities, Spain, France and finally England Tobago was colonised by England, France, Holland, Latvia and Spain. When taking colonisation into consideration, one tends to think of our inheritance of possibly government structures, cultural practices and more. As a result
of being colonised by these lands, we sometimes take for granted the linguistic situation of the
twin-island state which has been influenced by Spanish, French and English, along with the languages of the enslaved Africans and Indian indentured labourers that lived under their rule.

These languages mixed together evidencing obvious input from the mother tongues of thecolonisers, along with the inclusion of words and modifications of English pronunciations by the Africans and Indians that were forced to learn the language in order to survive. As a result of the mixing of the previously mentioned languages, we now have what is called Trinidadian EnglishCreole which is a national vernacular of the official language, English, after leaving French,French Creole and Spanish behind. None of the previous languages, namely Spanish, French and even Hindi and Bhojpuri and some of the African languages brought here, remained a s a whole, except for Spanish and Bhojpuri to some extent and French Creole. Instead these languages stayed as mere snippets within the English Creole varieties spoken in the twin-island nation.

​Everyday within our speech, we see where words from our ancestors have infiltrated our lexicon, with words such as “maljo” meaning bad eye, which comes from French Creole and ultimately the French words “mal” and "yeux' meaning the bad eye as well,
or expressions such as “it making hot” which is directly translated from the French and Spanish and French Creole syntactic formation of the expression meaning that the weather is hot, “il fait chaud”
or “hace calor” or “i ka fè cho”. Very important to note, is that some citizens of our country are not
aware that these expressions come from other languages. Many are ignorant of this as a consequence of not being bilingual themselves, and thus making the connections based on what they are being
taught at school.

Research done at the University of the West Indies has revealed that Mervyn C. Alleyne, a Trinbagonian linguist, refers to the Caribbean as a “linguistic graveyard” due to its official
intolerance of multilingualism (Ferreira 1). Although French and Spanish are taught in most
secondary schools around the twin-island state, they are not widely spoken as second and third
languages around the country. The teaching of these languages can facilitate late bilingualism,
where the individual learns a language later on in life, which is a good option, based on the fact
that not many children learn anything but Trinidadian or Tobagonian English Creole at home,
and many acquire English in schools. Due to the presence of this variety, there exists heavy
emphasis on improving the English of the citizens at educational institutions and less on foreign
tongues.


Do you have in interest in learning a foreign language? Do you understand its importance or would
you like to? Let us know in the comments below!