The authorities should not seek to inhibit the evolution of the English language

I will begin with my arguments that the authorities should inhibit the evolution of the English language. DEFINITIONSLanguage: a system of communication by speaking, writing, or making signs in a way that can be understood, or any of the different systems of communication used in particular regions. [1]Inhibit: to take an action that makes something less likely to happen. [2]Evolution: a gradual process of change and development. [3]So to begin, we must understand what the English language is. A language is a system of communication through means of speaking and writing, and the English language is a specific system with defined words, pronunciations, and definitions. In order to facilitate communication, society agrees through various means what words mean, what new words are added to the language, and what meanings need to be changed. The standard for word meanings in the English language is provided by dictionaries. While definitions vary slightly from dictionary to dictionary, the basic meaning of words can easily be established. For purposes of this argument, I will use the Cambridge Online Dictionary, which can be read in British or American English. When Cambridge University Press(CUP) undergoes the task of defining words, they use the Cambridge International Corpus[4], which is an extremely large collection of word usage in different forms, in both speech and writing. CUP uses the most general and widely used meanings of any given word as the definition. Now, for a living, changing language like English, this means that new words can be added to the dictionary, and new meanings for words can be added as well, if they are used in that context in a wide enough scope as to be 'generally understood'. This is the basic process of an evolving language. Why then, should authorities inhibit the evolution of the English Language? There are several reasons, but first we must examine the meaning of 'inhibit'. "Inhibit: to take an action that makes something less likely to happen. " Notice that the resolution is not 'The authorities should not seek to prevent the evolution of the English language'. Therefore, any actions that make it less likely for the language to evolve, in any way, fulfill the meaning of inhibit. Now let us consider an example from Pro's argument. We will use the word 'retarded'. When a large enough group of people start to use the word 'retarded' as an insult to people, it becomes an issue for that society. Authorities in government or special interest groups can step in and make a statement about the word, and state that it is better to use the term 'people with learning difficulties' in order to prevent conflict. This can be taken as an inhibition to the natural usage of the word 'retarded' by authorities, but causes no harm and helps to maintain a stable society. Similarly, Dictionaries can include notations about word usage to inhibit their usage, due to the sensitivities to the words. For example, the Cambridge Online Dictionary defines retarded as "having a slower mental development than other people of the same age", but includes a note stating "Because "retarded" has sometimes been used as an insult, the term is now less often used to describe people with slow mental development. "[5] This action by CUP can prevent people from using the word who might have used it otherwise, and that is a contributing factor to inhibiting what otherwise would be the natural evolution of the English language. I propose that political authorities, and authorities in charge of studying and providing common definitions for words, should implement measures to inhibit the evolution of the English language when such evolution starts leading toward areas that cause difficulty in society. Once again, I am not arguing that authorities should prevent evolution of language, but to take action that makes something less likely to happen when it leads to strife. Again, I thank Pro for this debate topic and await my opponent's response. [1]. http://dictionary.cambridge.org...[2]http://dictionary.cambridge.org... [3]. http://dictionary.cambridge.org... [4]. http://www.cambridge.org... [5]. http://dictionary.cambridge.org...