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Why is English a global language? - Coggle Diagram
Why is English a global language?
English has two billion global speakers worldwide (native speakers are the minority)
Beneke estimates that 80% of interactions in English are non-native
We call native English speakers level 1 speakers
We call non-native speakers level 2
Multiple versions of English exist because of this
English began its life as Anglo-Saxon, but it took a long time for it become established within society
French and Latin were used primarily beforehand
Its power came about when Shakespeare began to create new words and also the development of the English bible
English was travelling around the world (colonialism) and coming into contact with other languages
Why is English a global language?
Major political power
British empire
Colonialism
Military power
Royal Navy
Economic power
Language of the U.S, world superpower
Technological power
e.g the Internet
Scientific power
Western medicine
Standard English
Welsh forms (12th century)
Irish forms (12th century)
Scottish forms (17th century)
British isles often resisted English as a language
Diaspora
A dispersal or spreading from a central point
Jenkins
Large scale migration from the U.K to U.S.A / Australia / New Zealand
Leith
"the language of a conquered people has little effect on that of the conquerors"
English was established as a second official language in the British colonised countries (L2)
E.g Nigeria and India
Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, English used as the language of business
David Crystal - World Englishes
English changes all over the world (when it is adopted)
American English only took weeks to develop (e.g British adventurers seeing things they had never seen before, and taking words from those who already lived there)
"Robot" in South African means traffic light
Words mean different things in various world Englishes
New world Englishes are constantly developing
Critique of Kacruhu's Circle Model
A country must fall into a specific area of the model
A country is not able to shift across to another area of the circle
L1 is suggested as the best part of the model
Doesn't set apart Spanglish, Creole, Patois, Pidgin etc
Schneider's Dynamic Model
Foundation
English appears in a new territory
Colonial expansion and trade results in English world wide
Bilingualism, in the very early stages, is slow to spread
Starts with some borrowings to aid simple communication
Exonormative Stabilisation
English begins to be used, modelled from "exo" (outside) values and norms = Britain
The politically dominant country determines the linguistic behaviour and so English is established as the language of the administration / law / education
Nativisation
Old and new languages become more closely linked (due to both social and business relationships)
Endonormative Stabilisation
English being spoken develops new "endo" standards and norms. It also becomes codified (it develops its own rules and principles)
Differentiation
The new variety of English develops its own regional and social differences
Language death
Trask
"people abandon their language in favour of some other language seen as more prestigious or useful"
90% of the world's languages are expected to disappear by 2100
English has been described as a language killer
E.g Tasmania (literal language killer)
Former British colony
British arrived in 1803
Ordered the natives out of their own territory
Killed those who resisted ("sudden language death")
Last speaker of Tasmanian died in 1876
Or a metaphorical killer
English could be considered prestigious and powerful
Other speakers of other languages might shift their language
English has powerful associations
Most used language on the internet
Language of international culture
Language of international trade
Case Studies
France
Prescriptivist
The Academie Francais has attempt to prevent the Anglicization of the French language
It has encouraged the avoidance of loan-words from Modern English in favour of French neologisms
Germany