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Some languages when threatened receive the full protection of the law – and yet the hybrids flourish and the risks continue. French, English and franglais are a case in point.
Robert McCrum was the originator and scriptwriter for the BBC television series ‘The Story of English’, which will be broadcast later this year in the UK and USA. He talks to English Today about the background to the series and its companion book (Faber and the BBC).
In a world where English threatens many other languages it is hard to imagine the English language under attack, but some campaigners in the United States insist that it is – and needs constitutional protection.
Tenses crop up in two ways in this issue, both inspired by readers' letters. The first referred to the use of the present perfect on both sides of the Atlantic, and DAVID CRYSTAL looks at that. The second is the puzzling ‘plupluperfect’, and VALERIE LAMBERT, BILL BROUGHTON and FRANK PALMER look at that.
Prompted by a variety of letters from readers about deterioration and falling language standards, TOM McARTHUR discusses purism and the standard language, past and present.