Global

The future of global English
Under each heading, the narrative identifies a major domain of modern society, puts it in a historical perspective, then discusses the extent to which it now uses or depends upon English.
In speculating about the future of English as a world language, we need to pay careful attention to indications which seem to go against the general trend. And we need to ask, in broad terms: What kinds of development could impede the future growth of English?
A significant change in the balance of power – whether political, economic, technological or cultural- could affect the standing of other languages so that they become increasingly attractive, and begin to take over functions currently assumed by English.
Pressures arising out of the need to express community identity might disrupt the ability of English to function as a global language.
Content
The rejection of English
Contrasting attitudes
New English
The rejection of English
People of a country feel so antagonistic or ambivalent about English.
In a post-colonial era, there should be a strong reaction against continuing to use the language of the former colonial power, and infavor of promoting the indigenous languages.
English became the language of my formal education.
There are also economic arguments which might persuade a country to reduce its investment in the English language.
Any decision to reject English has important consequences for the identity of a nation.
The rejection of English
CONTRASTING ATTITUDES: THE US SITUATION
So much of the power which has fuelled the growth of the English language during the twentieth century has stemmed from America
A greater influence on the way English is developing worldwide than does any other regional variety-often, of course, to the discomfiture of people in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, who regularly express worries in their national presses about the onslaught of `Americanisms`.
If anything were to disestablish the military or economic power of the USA, there would be inevitable consequences for the global status of the language.The millions of people learning English in order to have access to this power would begin to look elsewhere, and they would quickly acquire new language loyalties.
They feel they need to
The circumstances in which they need to are usually very clear
Why, in a country where over 95 per cent
of the population speak English,
should there be
a movementto make English official?
A wide range of argument is used by each side in support of its case
The political argument: for
Pro-official supporters see in the emergence of major immigrant groups, and the support for immigrant language programmes, the seeds of separatism, and the eventual dissolution of the unity which is reflected in the very name of the United States and its motto.
English is viewed, as a social adhesive-as a linguistic glue which guarantees political unity
The political argument: against
Anti-official supporters maintain that an official English bill is unnecessary. They argue that most immigrants are assimilating nicely and that the natural course of events will eventually produce a new social balance, without any need for legislation
The socio-economic argument: for
Pro-official supporters maintain that, at a time when there is considerable competition for limited funds, an expensive multilingual support policy is undesirable.
The problem of selection is thought to be particularly serious. Pro-official supporters draw attention to the difficulty of saying that a language can receive official recognition only after it reaches a certain point of growth.
Official status, its is asserted, would help to safeguard English as the language of opportunity.
Salman Rushdie comments: ‘the English language ceased to be the sole possession of the English some time ago’.
The loss of ownership is of course uncomfortable to those, especially in Britain, who feel that the language is theirs by historical right; but they have no alternative.
An inevitable consequence of these developments is that the language will become open to the winds of linguistic change in totally unpredictable ways
In the USA, a concern to develop a distinctive ‘American standard’ was prominent in Webster’s thinking.
New English
International varieties thus express national identities, and are a way of reducing the conflict between intelligibility and identity. Because a speaker from country A is using English, there is an intelligibility bond with an English speaker of country B – and this is reinforced by the existence of a common written language
Most adaptation in a New English relates to vocabulary, in the form of new words (borrowings – from several hundred language sources, in such areas as Nigeria), word-formations, word meanings, collocations and idiomatic phrases
When a community adopts a new language, and starts to use it in relation to all areas of life, there is inevitably going to be a great deal of lexical creation.
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