The Shape of Things to Come? Some Basic Questions About English as a Lingua Franca

The shape of things to come? Some basic questions about English as a lingua franca

Introduction: 'English ' as a global lingua franca

'English ', whatever may be meant by this designation, is the language in which most lingua franca communication worldwide is now taking place. This predominance is well documented (cf. e.g. Crystal 1997, Graddol 1997). Although, as these authors argue, this predominance may well turn out to be a temporary one, maybe for approximately the next 50 years, for the time being the global use of English is still on the increase, and markedly so (cf. e.g. Ammon 1996 for the European Union).[1] The reaction to this state of affairs among the population at large and government agencies covers the whole spectrum from enthusiasm to rejection and counter-offensive. Among academics, however, it seems fair to say that attitudes are mainly (though by no means exclusively) negative, with calls for resistance to the hegemony of English gaining considerable momentum over the last decade or so (e.g. Canagarajah 1999, Pennycook 1994, 1998, Phillipson 1992, Smith and Forman 1997). This critical literature includes treatments of historical, cultural, ecological, educational, socio-political and psychological issues, obviously with a good deal of overlap among these areas. In both the areas of language use and (particularly) language learning and teaching, challenges have been formulated which call into question the native speakers ' long-accepted 'ownership of English ' (Widdowson 1994).[2] Ammon (2000) presents arguments for moving 'towards more fairness in International English ' but does (still) feel a need for a question-mark in the second part of his article’s title: "Linguistic Rights of Non-native Speakers?".[3] Ammon is concerned mainly with non-native speakers ' rights to 'linguistic peculiarities ' (2000: 111) when using English in the inter-national scientific community. He convincingly demonstrates that the insistence on

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(1996). Disorders of Discourse. London: Longman. Wolff, H. (1964). Intelligibility and inter-ethnic attitudes. In: Hymes, D. (ed). Language in Culture and Society. New York: Harper Row. 440-445. [3] See also Knapp 's (1987: 1033) remark that in scientific writing "the tolerance of native speakers for non-native varieties is extremely low". [7] Again, for Outer Circle varieties these questions have been addressed: see in particular Bamgbose (1998). [11] Note, however, that two years on, Crystal (1999) focuses on the issues of diversity, new hybrid forms and the need for empirical research.