6.0 Language in the World

• David Crystal:

  • Stated English first became global due to the presence of the British Empire and colonialism.
  • English also became global due to industrial revolution, where English was the language of technology and inventors.
  • 2/3rds of inventors spoke English.
  • Financial reasons had influence - people speak the language of wherever the money is which was certainly England and the US.
• Peter Strevens:

  • Map and Branch Model
  • Highlights how English spread to different locations with a simplified diagram.

  
• Tom McArthur:

  • Wheel Model (1987)
  • This was a way of highlighting the different sections of English around the world, showing the main dialects and the sub dialects.

  
• Kashru:

  • Concentric Circles of English (1992)
  • Similar to wheel model as in it shows different variations of English and their importance.
  • Inner circle is where English is vital.
  • Outer circle is where English is not as important, but still learnt as a main language.
  • Expanding Circle is where English is seen as important but is learn as a second language as it is not deemed necessary.

  
• English as a Lingua Franca:

  • ELF is the idea that English will, one day, be used as a 'global means of inter-community communication.'
  • This implies that English will be the main langauge used by most countries around the world for fluent and easy communication by all.
  • English is already a Lingua Franca, to some extent, but is becoming less significant due to the rise of Mandarin and Spanish.
• John Algeo - Differences in American English:

  • Americans retain the 'r' in words like 'more' and 'mother.'
  • The flat 'a' is generally retained in words such as 'cat', 'path' and 'class.'
  • The past principle 'gotten' is used as well as got.
  • English can clearly distinguish between 't' and 'd'.
  • British has retained words like 'fortnight'.
  • In English, 'corn' means 'grain.'
• AAVE:

  • African American Vernacular English.
  • 'Yo' is used in greeting.
  • 'Homie' is used to refer to a friend.
  • Phonologically, 'th' is pronounced 'd' as in 'dat'.
  • 'g dropping' is also common.
  • Gramatically, copular verbs do not exist.
  • E.g. 'The dog barking' as opposed to 'the dog is barking.'
  • There is also frequency use of 'ain't'.
  • Also commonly used in double negative, such as 'ain't seen nothing.'
• Singlish:

  • Omits copular verbs.
  • Omits lots of pronouns.
  • Result of a 'melting pot' of English with various East Asian languages and dialects as well as other popular international languages.
  • The Singaporean government disliked Singlish as it encouraged people to be ok with mediocre standards of English.
  • There is evidence that Singlish is bad, as students find it difficult to code switch.
  • Singlish has been used in exams, ruining the standard of English making their papers score lower.
  • Some want standard English to be taught, but eliminating Singlish will not help anything.
• Linguistic Imperialism:

  • Coined by Robert Philipson.
  • 2 of 7000 global languages die every month.
  • Most are due to the dominance of super-languages like English, Spanish and Mandarin.
  • Some languages are being protected.
  • Welsh nearly died out due to English and is now being fiercely protected by government schemes.
• Denglish:

  • 53% of Germans are beginning to mix English nouns, adjectives an verbs into everyday German sentences.
  • Some are going as far as to include full English sentences.
  • This is mostly present in informal conversation, where languages are mixed effortlessly while conveying the same meaning.
  • Words like 'goodbye' are replacing 'auf wiedersehen' since it is simpler and less time consuming to say (Functional Theory?)
• Mario Saraceni:

  • English control has been lost and should be accepted.
  • English should now be considered as 'Englishes' since there is no definitive version.
  • He compares England's control of English to Italy's control of Pizza.
  • 'If someone wants to put banana and bacon on a pizza then we are going to have to let it go.'
• Jean Paul Nerriere:

  • Coined the term 'globish.'
  • This was another idea regarding English as a Lingua Franca.
  • In this case, world English is considered as a totally different language called 'globish', an amalgamation of many dialects.
• Ostler:

  • He believes that English will lose prominence.
  • Translation software is developing rapidly, especially with AI.
  • With ease of translation, other languages can be used for deals as there is no need for a common shared language.
• Graddol:

  • Believes that English will lose popularity and influence in the coming years.
  • He thinks Mandarin and Spanish have a higher likelihood of becoming a Lingua Franca since they are spoken by more people.
  • 1.1bn speak Mandarin
  • 559mn speak Spanish, but this is growing quickly.
• Dravid Crystal - 'Dimunition':

  • Language is related to society, language shifts with societal shifts.
  • Power always drives language in both change and function.
  • English became the main language as we had the power.
  • Many important things are based around English, like ATC and the Internet.
  • Most powerful countries speak English, so countries are likely to adopt English in order to do business with them.
  • He believes the question is not whether English will be on top, but rather which version of English it will be.
• Language Purity Laws:

  • Germany is introducing language purity laws to fight back against the dominance of English.
  • In 2001, the German Language Union launched a petition against BSE (Bad Simple English) taking over the German language.