A Brief Analysis of the Development of English as a Global Language - Essay Example

Changes, Attitudes and Implications: A Brief Analysis of the Development of English as a Global Language The medium of English as it concerns this study—standard English, ELFE, RP, the “Queen’s English,” “Oxford English,” and “BBC English” (Bowen 2005) included—has achieved major status. It is spoken as a primary language in over 70 countries (Crystal 2003, pg. 4), by around 1.5 billion who are fluent or competent in English (Crystal 2003, pg. 6). For 380 million, it is a first language, for 150 to 1,000 million a second (Wikipedia 2005). With hundreds of dialects--32 in the UK alone—(Gordon 2005) and ranking between 3 and 4 as a native language and 2 overall, as a native and second-language speakers’ medium (Wikipedia 2005), then, English has taken on official and even global status. OFFICIAL versus GLOBAL STATUS But how does one language achieve such major status? First, in general, language-using is paradigmatically a social act (Cameron 1995), language the medium of communication. So it follows that social change will contribute to change in status of a language, as Gerry Knowles implies in a study of the history of language (Knowles 1997). Next, that medium can become the official language (s distinguished from global, that is) of a country when it is adopted (and adapted) as the mother tongue and used by “such domains as government, the law courts, media, and the educational system [of that country] (Crystal 2003, pg. 4). Finally, that language achieves a genuinely global status as it “develops a specific role that is recognized in every country (Crystal 2003, pg. 3). English did not achieve global status by way of one or two variables: several factors contributed to the process and arrival, factors which are part of a slowly evolving phenomenon that parallels the social changes experienced by numerous cultures over many eras. SOCIAL CHANGES as INFLUENCES Political and military, economic, cultural, and scientific and technological changes of society have ushered the English language toward historical and epic status: Immigration and Invasion Old Saxon language and related dialects influence Germanic populations, who in turn immigrate to Britain, impacting the country with Old English. Scandinavian and Norman invasions result in grafting of words as well as in English and French being marginalised as vernaculars, while Latin is kept as the official language (Knowles 1997). The church’s power shifts. Poll taxes bring social unrest; religion is prohibited from using the English language (Knowles 1997). Latin prevails. The church is challenged; English is reinstated and gains in prestige (Knowles 1997). Economy and Growth The culture of nationalism and the revolutions lead to worldwide expansion, as does the Industrial Revolution: electricity, roads, railroads, and airways introduce and facilitate transportation, commerce, migration. The farmer, no longer isolated in rural domains, picks up the local dialect or brings his own to the towns. Tradesmen, needing a common medium, trade (or borrow or coin) words. Media and Messages With the printing press, administrations, and the London-based dialect passing to greater reaches, the shifts and adaptations make English both localized and “normalised”. With education, standardised English is formalised. With film, television, and satellite technology, a trend is clearly toward the globalised. And with language change facilitated by the development of new technology that leads to improved communications (Knowles 1997), with the Internet, for example, societies become society, worlds become world, with language contact the major influence and a major language—English—the medium most used. ATTITUDES TOWARDS CHANGE(S) “Humans do not just use language,” writes Deborah Cameron, “they comment on the language they use” (Cameron 1995, pg. 1). And comment they do on the changes leading to the globalisation of English. David Crystal sums up a general attitude wherein English is the first language: British resent Americans’ erosion of English…. Native English speakers resent non-native Cultures changing the language they have adopted; and] non-native English speakers resent invasion of English as a first language (Crystal 2003, pg. 3). Those in opposition argue that such prescriptivism (Cameron 1995) is surely more negative than positive. First, some say, it is “anti-immigrant” (ProEnglish 1994). Others challenge the trend as threatening to civil liberties; still others claim it will exacerbate ethic separatism. Proponents of English as a global language (and those pointing to global changes as contributing positively, then) are concerned that in countries where English is the official language, that “linguistic unity” (ProEnglish 1994) will be destroyed, thereby perpetuating the segregation and “wall[ing] off of a newly created underclass in “linguistic ghettos” (ProEnglish 1994). Such advocates believe that with the evolution and inevitable adoption of English as the global language, immigrants will be encouraged to learn the language of the country in which they live: they will be able to find good jobs, as they will not lack abilities to speak English to employers, co-workers, clients, and customers. And they will assimilate as immigrants have for thousands of years. IMPLICATIONS of CHANGE(S) While “all attitudes to language and linguistic change are fundamentally ideological…[with] the relationship between popular and expert ideologies…closer than one might think” (Cameron 1995, pg. 4), implications still exist, impacting learners and teachers of English. Where English is the official language, now, proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing is a condition of employment, education, and socialisation. This is directed especially at learners, who need to acknowledge that to get on in these societies, it is essential to master the official language as early in life as possible (Crystal 2003). For learners, this might mean where English is the global language that assimilation support and lack of native-language (Non-English) provisions will encourage rather than discourage learning English. For teachers, globalisation of English points to disparate measures. Estuary English—that which learners are exposed to by media, technology, and culture outside of the class—will clash with the forms of English teachers aim to teach (Knowles 1997). As well, for teachers of English as a foreign language, even when “chosen”, the “presence” of the language can vary greatly—depending upon the extent to which a government or foreign-aid agency is prepared to give adequate financial support to a language-teaching policy (Crystal 2003). Further, the TEFL or TESOL teacher will need to attend more rigorously to awareness and study of “what is involved when we attempt to transfer skills to another language” (Arndt et. al. 2000)—taking into account differences of acquisition, difficulties of acquisition, and varieties in socio-cultural expectations between first and second language users, and, avoiding prejudices and presuppositions, continuing to refrain from interpreting such differences as differences in fluency or ability (Crystal 2003). As with the impact of most if not all contributing factors leading to the trend of the globalisation of English, the impact on English has depended upon who has the power over such a factor (as technology, politics, economics, etc.). So while the anti-prescriptivists say we should leave the language alone (which is not possible), we do have to be accountable for what we do with the language. References Arndt, Valerie, Harvey Paul, Nuttall John, & Williams Marion. 2000, Alive to Language: Perspectives on Language Awareness for English Language Teachers. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Bowen, Tim. 2005, What is Standard English? [Online], Methodology Challenge. Available from: [19 Dec. 2005]. Cameron, Deborah. 1995, Verbal Hygiene (Politics of Language). Routledge, Oxford. Crawford, James. (1997), The Official English Question, [Online], Issues in U. S. Language Policy. Available from: [20 Dec. 2005]. Crystal, David. 2003, English as a Global Language. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Freeborn, Dennis, French Peter, & Langford David. 1993, Varieties of English (Studies of English Language). Palgrave Macmillan, New York. Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.). 2005, Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Available from: [20 Dec. 2005]. Knowles, Gerry. 1997, A Cultural History of the English Language. Hodder Arnold, London. ProEnglish. 1994, Why English? [Online], English as Our Official Language. Available from: [20 Dec. 2005]. Raley, Rita. n.d., What is Global English? [Online], in Global English in the Academy, Dissertation. Available from: [19 Dec. 2005]. Wikipedia. 2005, English Language, [Online]. Available from: [20 Dec. 2005]. Read More