Article Task

• The future of English can be assessed by looking at the past, such as its role as a lingua franca being parallel to the expansion of Latin and its assimilation into romance languages
• World Englishes are 'interlanguages' combining local and English languages, examples include Singlish and Spanglish
• US spellings, grammar, and pronunciation are used globally
• Efforts are being made to 'preserve' local UK dialects, but laxer rules on grammar online and the assimilation of Estuary English spoken in Greater London into common vocabulary are said to be replacing them
• The increase in pictograms as a means of communication has led to the idea that communication is becoming shorter, evidenced by clippings and shortenings used online ('h8', 'l8r')
• Spread of English as a global language

  Raises questions of fairness and ethics
• Whilst English is on the rise internationally, foreign language learning is on the decline in English speaking countries
• Spread of English in Europe

  Due to its teaching in public schools, where it is promoted
• Solutions

  • Linguistic tax
  • Restrictions on patents for businesses from English-speaking countries registering in non-English-speaking countries
  • Use of artificial intelligence translation in scientific publications
• English still rules the world, but that’s not necessarily OK
• Inequality in confidence in English

  ESL learners compete with native speakers in oracy
• Linguistic justice


  Idea that those who are not native speakers incur learning costs, while native speakers can freely communicate
• English as a global language

  Co-official or official language in many countries, including in Africa due to its colonial past
• Acquiring a 'British' (RP) accent

  Sign of respect
• Dr Ugwuanyi argues that English has continued to develop in Nigeria
• Speech tempo in Nigerian English tends to be slower, with stress on the second syllable rather than the first
• Most Nigerians are multilingual, with English as a second language
• Speaker: 'Speech content'
• Dr Ugwuanyi maintains accents are socialised rather than taught
• Judith Onwuzurike believes acquiring a 'British' (RP) accent is a sign of respect
• Judith Onwuzurike is a phonetics coach
• Languages spoken in Nigeria

  • Over 500
• RP accent

  A 'British' accent
• British accents are promoted as 'refined' and 'classy' and taught on courses