English as a Global Language
THE IMPACTS OF ENGLISH AS A GLOBAL LANGUAGE
Since the world’s origin, language has evolved to meet specific social and cultural needs. Human beings have developed manifold languages to be able to communicate and identify as a community. Louis Calvet states that language emerged therefore polygenetically, and that humankind is multilingual (23). At present, however, English is considered to be a global language, a lingua franca and a window onto the world, leaving aside other languages of major importance in the past and present. The idea of modernization with the objective of creating social hegemony as regards language may provoke a backlash from some people, given that not everyone has access to learn English. Therefore, there is a great majority that is not competent in English as to adapt to social change and to the consequences that this modernization might cause. As Robert Burchfield affirms:
English has also become a lingua franca to the point that any literate educated person is in a very real sense deprived if he does not know English. Poverty, famine, and disease are instantly recognized as the cruelest and least excusable forms of deprivation. Linguistic deprivation is a less easily noticed condition, but one nevertheless of great significance. (160)
English seems to have acquired an international expansion and it has reached the media, the Internet, workplaces and it also has a major influence in cultural issues. Robert Cooper affirms that language spread may be defined as an increase, over time, in the proportion of a communication network that adopts a given language variety for a given communication function (15). A growing gap between the dominant social groups and the people unable to reach the basic standards of English has stemmed from this English trend. The disparity between members of society also mirrors the number of people who are being socially excluded. This paper purports to examine the reasons and consequences of the social
Since the world’s origin, language has evolved to meet specific social and cultural needs. Human beings have developed manifold languages to be able to communicate and identify as a community. Louis Calvet states that language emerged therefore polygenetically, and that humankind is multilingual (23). At present, however, English is considered to be a global language, a lingua franca and a window onto the world, leaving aside other languages of major importance in the past and present. The idea of modernization with the objective of creating social hegemony as regards language may provoke a backlash from some people, given that not everyone has access to learn English. Therefore, there is a great majority that is not competent in English as to adapt to social change and to the consequences that this modernization might cause. As Robert Burchfield affirms:
English has also become a lingua franca to the point that any literate educated person is in a very real sense deprived if he does not know English. Poverty, famine, and disease are instantly recognized as the cruelest and least excusable forms of deprivation. Linguistic deprivation is a less easily noticed condition, but one nevertheless of great significance. (160)
English seems to have acquired an international expansion and it has reached the media, the Internet, workplaces and it also has a major influence in cultural issues. Robert Cooper affirms that language spread may be defined as an increase, over time, in the proportion of a communication network that adopts a given language variety for a given communication function (15). A growing gap between the dominant social groups and the people unable to reach the basic standards of English has stemmed from this English trend. The disparity between members of society also mirrors the number of people who are being socially excluded. This paper purports to examine the reasons and consequences of the social
References: Burchfield, Robert. The English language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985. Calvet, Louis. -J.Linguistique et colonialism: petit traité de glottophagie. Paris: Payot, 1974. Cooper, Robert L. “A framework for the study of language spread” in Cooper (1982) Language Spread: Studies in Diffusion and Social Change Crystal, David. English as a Global Language. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Graddol, David. The future of English? London: The British Council, 1997. Phillipson, Robert. Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. Roskilde: Institute VI, Roskilde University Centre (3 volumes), 1986.