Languages, then, evolve. But although modern English has evolved from Chaucerian English, I don’t think many people would wish to claim that modern English is an improvement on Chaucerian English. Ideas of improvement or quality do not normally enter our heads when we speak of language. Indeed, to the extent that they do, we often see change as deterioration, as degeneration. We tend to see earlier usages as correct, recent changes as corruptions. But we can still detect evolution-like trends that are progressive in a purely abstract, value-free sense. And we can even find evidence of positive
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