Declaration: I declare that I wrote this thesis by myself and that I used only the sources listed in the bibliography section. Brno, April 2012 Adela Pilátová Acknowledgements
Download 153.35 Kb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- 3Why English as a Global Language
2.3What is a global languageDavid Crystal says that language will gain its global status once it has been recognized in all countries in the world (“Global language”, 3). Although there has not been officially defined what a global language means. The definition can be derived from the status of geographical spread of language, frequency of use on the international field, such as international organization, and also in frequency of use as a diplomatic language. (“Issues Global”) Apparently the status of Global language cannot be defined by number of native speakers1. As Crystal claims, if the global status would be set up only by number of native speakers, English would not be the one. To achieve status of Global language must influence other factors especially those that give a certain language special attention in other countries than countries of native speakers. The countries may either make a language official of a country. Then the language would serve as means of communication with government, law courts or educational system. Or the language can obtain a priority to be taught as a foreign language more often than others. The language will obtain a priority for learners, although it may never achieve an official status. Crystal also stated few reasons why some language can become the favoured one. It includes many factors among them there is historical tradition, commercial or technology contact but it also influences the economic factors such as financial support. The support influence a quality of language teaching, access to learn some language, materials to support the teaching and many more factors may play important role (Crystal “Global language” 4). What makes one language global and not the other? Crystal says: „Why a language becomes a global language has little to do with the number of people who speak it. It is much more to do with who those speakers are (“Global language” 7). Crystal also stated that language is living organism. It cannot stand on its own and the language lives along with the people. If the people become successful, the language will be successful as well. If people fail, the language will most likely fail as well. The military or political power has huge impact on the status of international language. We must include the economic power as the military power establishes the language, the economic power is the one that helps maintain and spread the language where it was brought to (Crystal “Global language” 7). Do we need a global language? Crystal argues that translation, as a solution, can be applicable only to certain level of need of communication. Although translation has had very important role ever since, nowadays when in some countries you may meet with more than 3 or 4 languages at the same time and at the same place, translation becomes meaningless. To enable people to communicate with each other there is a need to establish one single language. Actually, the rule of enabling people to communicate is needed even on international field. (Crystal “Global language” 11-13) International organizations, such as the United Nations, where at one meeting can meet up to 193 states (“About UN”), and adopting one language can be very essential. It would save the costs for multi-way translations. The United Nations have nowadays six official languages2 (“Languages”) and although there are thoughts to reduce it, the practical part is demanding as no country likes the idea of giving away its language to reduce costs. However, the changes towards one language can be seen when the committee is not present at certain meeting, the participants may use one language to communicate and at that point English is usually the choice. The profit of single language is not obvious only in International organizations but also within the business community. The growth of international business contacts is the impact of two other aspects. Firstly, it is the communication technology and secondly the air transportation. As these two aspects enable people to hold several meetings in different countries within one day, the need for single language grows. The translation costs and costs for interpretation would grow enormously, if a businessman would need to arrange all of them (Crystal “Global language” 11-13). Crystal looked back in history and says: There has never been a time when so many nations were needing to talk to each other so much. There has never been a time when so many people wished to travel to so many places. There has never been such a strain place on the conventional resources of translating and interpreting. Never has the need for more widespread bilingualism been greater, to ease the burden placed on the professional few. And never has there been a more urgent need for a global language (“Global language” 14). 3Why English as a Global Language3.1Spread of English around the worldEnglish is a West Germanic language; it is originated from dialects brought by Germanic invaders into Britain. The original old English language was influenced by two waves of invasion: invasion of Scandinavian nations in the 8th and 9th centuries, their language was a part of the Germanic language family and invasion of Normans, who spoke Old Norman. Educated people in England became the trilingual; they had to be able to speak French, Latin and English. First books were written in English, such as Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. English became the national language in Renaissance period as a part of patriotic feeling of that time. There were two main waves of spreading English language: the first spread happened in the 17th when English was transported to the ‘new world’. The spread continued in the 19th century as a result of colonization (Graddol “Future of English” 7). As Graddol quoted, English got the world position as a “language on which the sun never sets (“Future of English” 6). However, according to another researcher Dick Leith, the spread had one stage before the language went overseas. The spread began first within the British Isles when English was established as a main language in territories, such as Ireland, Scotland and Wales. These territories used to speak Celtic languages (Irish, Gaelic and Welsh). In other words we may say that the spread of English has been significant since 12th century and it continued to 20th and 21st century (Graddol, Leith, Swann, 180-181). Leith also claims, as an aftermath of the colonization, either within the Isles or beyond the Isles, is the appearance of new varieties of English. In overseas, such as North America or Australia, was the impact on language being in contact with native or pre-colonial population. Their ‘Englishes’ had to acquire new words due to the influence of local languages. Words were usually related to geographical features or animals (Graddol, Leith, Swann, 184). The most significant features of this influence bear American English and Australian English. Leith in the book argues that English in North America is the one of the early modern period, it is said that the language of North America is more ‘conservative’ than the one in England. As an example, the most significant difference between British and American English is the pronunciation /r/. The /r/ was widely pronounced in England in Elizabethan era, later the English omitted this feature but it was too late to bring it to ‘new world’. Interesting idea is that the Native Americans had just little influence on language. Leith cited Carver that it is same relation like with the influence of Celtic languages on Old English (qtd. in Graddol, Leith, Swann 196). Leith says: “the language of a conquered people has little effect on that of the conquerors (196).” This quotation can be further applicable on the impact on English in Australia as well. The settlement in Australia appeared two centuries later than the one in America. Most of the settlers were convicts, especially from London area. Therefore the pronunciation in Australian English is close to Cockney3(Graddol, Leith, Swann, 201). English was brought to South Africa in the 19th century, when British control was established. Crystal says English as an official language was set up in 1822 and the Afrikaans speaking population was forced to start speaking English. English was the language of education, law and public affairs. Afrikaans was the first language of most of the population, English was always considered as the second language. The influence Afrikaans on English was developed as the English was spoken by black population who learned English only at mission schools. Afrikaners are mostly bilingual nowadays (Crystal “Global language” 44-46). South Asia is another area where English was spread in colonial time and has a special role due to the number of English speakers. The speakers outnumbered the USA and the UK. According to Crystal, English received the status of official language at the beginning of colonial period (1765) until the independence (1947). At 1960 Hindi became the official language and English received the status of associated language. Due to the language diversification in India, English plays an important role to unify it (Crystal “Global language” 45-49). Crystal claims that in today’s perspective the status of English as a Global language was gained due to two factors - the spread in colonial time and the economic power of the United States in the 20th century (Crystal “Global language” 59). Crystal also says the impact on English on international field had the League of Nations. It was formed as part of the Treaty of Versailles, the first treaty ever that was written in two official languages, English and French (Crystal “Global language” 87). Graddol, on the other side, claims that the milestone in the history of spread of English language in the 20th century is an aftermath of the World War II, the establishment of the United Nations and other especially financial institutions, World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Marshall Plan helped the US immerse more deeply into European affairs. American influence in Asia is the consequence of two wars, the Korean and the Vietnamese. Graddol also mentioned that English became the language of science and technology. Most of the scientific journals are published in English. Books are mostly published in English. Most of the intellectual property is produced in English (Graddol “Future of English” 9). Crystal in his book also mentioned that the development of technology, such as computers was fully in hands of the USA. All computers’ programs mother tongue is English. One of the most important event towards the spread of language in ‘new era’ happened in Anglophone part of the world, the USA (Crystal “Global language” 121). To sum up the spread of English language in history David Crystal says: “It [English language] is a language which has repeatedly found itself in the right place at the right time.“ (Crystal “Global language” 122) Download 153.35 Kb. Share with your friends:
|