Can English Ever Be a Truly Neutral Means of Communication - Essay Example

Can A Variety Of English Ever Be A Truly Neutral Means Of Communication? and Can A Variety Of English Ever Be A Truly Neutral Means Of Communication? Generally English speaking has become the universal language since the old time dream, which never materialized, of a global language has vanished. Its global range is much superior to anything accomplished archaeologically by Greek, French or Latin, and there is no language that has ever been widely spoken as English. Presently, it has become progressively evident that the world is undergoing globalization. Most people would sensibly ascertain that, in the business field, science, education, and politics English is by now established as the de facto lingua Franca (effective dialect). A number of customs, as well as criteria is being put together and shared among different cultures on a global level. Therefore, in many multilingual nations, English has turned out to be the language of communication since it has been a dominant language for a long period. A major strategy in opposing the threat to linguistic diversity triggered and instigated by the spread of English is the idea of linguistic rights. Therefore, it can be said that it was the British influence, authority, and industrial supremacy that directed English across the world between the seventeenth and the twentieth Era. The heritage of British imperialism has left numerous nations with the language comprehensively institutionalized in their court of law, assembly, civil service, faculties and higher learning institutions. In other regions, English offers a neutral way of communication amid diverse ethnic groups. According to the politics of English by Ann Hewings and Caroline Tagg, all language use can be said to be political in nature (HEWINGS, & TAGG, 2012: 13).Language cannot be said to be a neutral medium of communication, but it plays a major role during power relations negotiation. These involve relations of competition, conflict, as well as cooperation amid individuals and the community (HEWINGS, & TAGG, 2012: 13). Language is the main means through which power relations are reinforced and organized.Therefore, the management of diplomatic, social, as well as political relations employs languages. Politics can be about language regulation whereby regulations are employed according to what a person can say, and how well individuals can express themselves. Every language, within certain contexts as well as settings plays a major role in power relation. However, in the present day English has a global reach like no other language, owing to its history during colonialism, its multiple forms as well as varieties, its association with global capitalism, and enormous numbers of English learners. English language plays a role as a global lingua Franca by being able to form a part besides other peoples ‘languages, practices, and implicit in their language significance system. Most people tend to distinguish between English varieties with greater forms of prestige and attractiveness, than others. These ideas about English thus shape and outlines people’s language practices as well as their behavior towards others, and on an official level, then feed into the policies that regulate language and the society (HEWINGS, & TAGG,2012: 14). The United Nations, the adjacent entity people from different nations have, or have ever known, to an international community, presently employs five approved dialects. However, an estimated eighty five percent of international organizations use English in any case as one of their official languages as compared to other languages (NORTH, 2012: 6). American supremacy and influence internationally brands English crucially significant for developing global markets, particularly in the fields of leisure industry and marketing, mastery, and marketing of English similarly offers right of entry to technological, academic, and scientific funds, which would otherwise be rejected developing nations (HEWINGS, & TAGG,2012: 18). According to Deborah Schaffer, English is proving to become quite better and improved with time. In the current digital era, it is only anticipated that grammar assistance, just like any other personal opinion finds its true home on the internet, especially now that there are numerous blogs emerging devoted to language topics, especially grammar (SCHAFFER, 2010: 23). English writing as well as grammar is currently found online in various forms such as e-magazines this helps English to become easily reached and accessible to many people. English is proving to have a good future where the internet is concerned since most people use it when writing blogs. These blogs gain audiences based on people’s judgments mainly due to the reach and power of the internet, and they might have a major impact on the future of the English language. Based on the article, blogs were found to address the same range of prescriptive interests a lot as a mass-market grammar and covers of writing books, from classic rules grammar application to style and entomology (SCHAFFER, 2010: 24). However, this often happens in less structure as well as more personal way when trying to keep up with the nature of blogs, whose entries are ongoing and often interactive with other voices besides the blogger’s voice (SCHAFFER,2010: 25). Varieties of English can be a truly neutral means of communication since English is quite a flexible language. One instance of this is in reverence of word command and the aptitude as well as the ability to express sentences as passive or active or passive for instance; I locked the door, or the door was locked by me. An additional point is in the capacity to employ similar words as equally a verb and a noun, for example, fight, silence and many more. Innovative words can effortlessly be fashioned by the adding suffixes or prefixes such as brightness, unintelligible, and fixation, or else by combining, compounding, or fusing standing words together, for instance, seashore, railway, footwear and many more. The part of language that expresses and reinforces power relations within the community is vast. The role of language within the legal system of any nation, for instance, when a judge utters a word of sentencing an offender to a hundred hours of community service, a whole institution of power, which can physically enforce a punishment (HEWINGS, & TAGG, 2012: 6), usually backs the speech. However, it is the expression of the words that legally resolves the matter, speech acts of this sort are responsible for the organization of all relations amid the state and individuals, and they bind the society together (HEWINGS, & TAGG,) 2012: 7. Politics today can be about English because it does not employ the language only; it can be the language itself. In many nations, the idea of free speech is a central tenet of the country’s political identity. Citizens’ right to speak freely is allowed and protected by law; this is thus a form of political sanction for a particular aspect of language employment. Many language policies are based on general beliefs as well as options concerning the use of language. The spread of English is the product of bare linguistic superpower. If anyone wishes to get ahead current, an ability to speak English is obligatory since most of the places such as airport, businesses, and even on the adverts, English is the language used. English is seen as a prerequisite for finding stable work and decent wages; especially for the people who emigrate to an English speaking country is often viewed as the only solution to severe economic deprivation. English acts as a currency for geographical as well as social mobility in today’s world. According to Sarah North’s article “English: A Linguistic Toolkit” human beings are able to exchange numerous of different messages when employing limited resources because language contains meaningless sounds, which are put together to come up with meaningful words (NORTH, 2009: 8). If people would have to communicate using various sounds for each meaning, they would probably have enough speech sound to communicate about forty meanings, however, the number depends on the variety of English someone speaks (NORTH, 2009: 14). Sense of words being identical does not mean they those words are similar in every aspect. For instance, in the case of tap and faucet, there is the dialect difference, whereby one word is commonly used in Britain while the other one is employed in the United States. There is also always the opposite of antonyms, such as alive and dead are binary antonyms (NORTH, 2009: 62). There has been a basic ideological association linking English and economic advancement, this association can have different meanings as well as results based on the context in which it is encountered. In certain settings, this association can lead to the basis of language policy. Knowledge of English is known to facilitate economic advancement, which is a mutual or common rationale for international development projects that promote education of English as poverty eradication and reduction means (HEWINGS, & TAGG, 2012: 30). For example, in Sri Lanka and India English teachers explains that high proficiency in English is known to be essential for development in both countries. The impact of globalization and economic development has made English the language of opportunities as well as a vital means of improving prospects for well-paid employment (HEWINGS, & TAGG, 2012: 32). On the other hand, promoting English as a universal language only causes more problems. To start with, many places across the world would be unwilling to venture in linguistic homogenization. The chief threat would be giving up the diversity of language that has advanced and existed over many years. People of assorted languages may be reluctant to adapt a different native tongue, since they may be forced to submit to cultural homogenization (HEWINGS, & TAGG, 2012: 34). It is highly improbable that many groups would be so willing to give up their heritage, culture, as well as history in order to support the creation a global language. The richness as well as complexity of Englishs lexis and vocabulary sets it away from other different languages. The revised Oxford English Dictionary of 1989 tilts six hundred and fifteen thousand words in twenty volumes, and it is formally the world’s leading dictionary. If practical, technical, and scientific words were to be encompassed, the aggregate word count would upsurge to more than a million (NORTH, 2012: 12). By some assessments, the English lexicon is presently growing by more than eight thousand five hundred words a year, while the other assessments place this as high as fifteen to twenty thousand words per annum. The accessibility of large amounts of synonyms permits shades of dissimilarity that is not accessible to non-English speakers, although other languages have synonym books; English has proven to be the highest scale. In addition to this, affluence of English phrases as well as idioms, and the existing factual with which to express its meaning and significance is really impressive, whether the aim is business, poetry, industry or just ordinary conversation (NORTH, 2012: 36). Learners who employ a critical approach to the study of English and society contemplate the modes in which the language has a particular influence on societies across the world. After investigating the on the power that lies behind this influence, Hewings and Tagg (2012) argue that the global spread of English has in greater part been orchestrated by countries such as Britain and United States as a way of furthering their own economic as well as political interests, which can be referred as linguistic imperialism (HEWINGS, & TAGG, 2012: 34). This is a process whereby politics of language has a major contribution to the ways in which specific focus nations, such as UK exercise their power of the countries in the periphery. According to this impression of dispute, process of forcefully promotion of the English language to communities across the world only spreads the ideological as well as the cultural values of the focus nation, thus enabling them to uphold a dominant position in the world. For instance, the World Bank as well as the International Monetary Fund has stressed on English education in developing nations, as a means of upholding and furthering developments (HEWINGS, & TAGG, 2012: 35). According to Allington (2012: 18), the syntactic guidelines of a linguistic non-automation can cause an undesirable outcome upon the writers aptitude to handle its discourse purpose, since a person’s mental property will be exceedingly preoccupied with realizing linguistic accuracy. Likewise, North (2012) established that the automation of definite facets of writing, for instance syntax and entree to lexis could radically lessen the encumbrance upon the writers short-term reminiscence, and consequently permit more space for contending higher-level intellectual events that occur through the writing. English as a universal language can lead to the societal cost of the changeover. This can be explained through the European Union attempt to come up with a common economic currency and zone across the world. Just like language, currency is also viewed as a vital and central part of the culture, and altering it can create objections and uproar. One of the major solution would be to enlighten people across the world that; having English skills can help one have access to the world. It creates new opportunities, and provides access to education, and to new types of employment as well as mobility. It is important to understand that English is necessary but not sufficient, and there is need to come up with strategies of creating multilingual groups. However, the attempt to change the entire course of human development and history of language by making English the only global language would be hard to acclimate. According to “Communicating in English” by Daniel Allington and Barbara Mayor, it can be said that language and communication have been altered in the digital age. New communications do not force people in specific ways, but they just provide the users with possibilities they may be able or not able to adopt, and that is precisely what leads to change or continuity of English language (ALLINGTON, &2012: 13). When acquiring a new language most are the times an individual or a learner hunts for similarities from the First Language to make connections with Second Language. The transfer is not usually restricted or limited to a second language acquisition; however, second language acquisition can be as a product or outcome of other different languages that a person has had contact (HEWINGS, & TAGG, 2012: 37). A contemporary trend in linguistics has been employed to study the language transfer effect on the acquisition English language. However, learning English in a third language acquisition does not only integrate second language acquisition variables such as motivation, memory, age, and educational perspective, but also take into an explanation of the degree of experience in that language. According to Allington (26) learners, tend to transfer more elements and features from the first language when it is typologically close to the language targeted than when it is a distance language. However, in an instance whereby second and third language learners are quite similar to each other than to first language learners, there is a high possibility of less influence of first language while there would be observation of more influence of second language (ALLINGTON, &MAYOR 2012: 26). Learners tend to transfer more elements from the first language to the second language. In cases where languages are typologically comparable and having been in contact synchronically and diachronically, and etymologically, they have virtually three-quarters of the entire vocabulary shared, they tend to be quite easy to learn (ALLINGTON, &MAYOR 2012: 33). Although cognates can be orthographically alike or comparable languages, through both the semantic and syntactic inconsistencies exist, frequently instigating learners with understanding as well as experience in both languages to have hitches in making discrepancies in these words amid languages. While in the beginning semantic integration of vocabulary may be expedited by an acknowledgement of cognates, consciousness of fabricated cognates may be a stumbling block for first learners, and obstructs mastery as well as the expertise of phonological refinements concerning words having the same semantic connotation for all altitudes of the language study (ALLINGTON, &MAYOR 2012: 49). Through motivation theory, it can be said that even for the most successful learners, learning a new language is usually a long and demanding process whereby motivation may vary with time, and in reaction to the proceedings. For any learner, the learning motivation is highly likely to fluctuate greatly through the learning experience. The most influential contemporary exemplars of second language motivation are on the self-system. This seeks to incorporate emotional as well as affective factors with cognition (ALLINGTON, & MAYOR 2012: 26). It also helps in opening ways to better and newer social-dynamic perspectives that are valuable in applied linguistics in general, as well as within the framework of social psychological roots of second language motivation. This is whereby a learner represents an ideal future self-depiction of a user of second language aspirations and goals toward attaining the desirable images as a proficient second language user (NORTH, 2012: 90). The learner also develops a must to attain second language, which transpires from a student’s perceived obligations as well as responsibilities towards others (ALLINGTON, & MAYOR 2012: 26). Therefore, when one has a self-motivational drive, then learning a different language becomes quite easy and simple. Some people claim that in terms of spelling as well as pronunciation, English is a relatively simple language. However, the claim could be highly contentious. While English does not necessarily need a mastery of the refined tonal variations of Cantonese, or the puzzling constant clusters of Gaelic, it does not contain or entail more that if just segment of apparently random silent letters, spellings, as well as phonetic inconsistencies (NORTH, 2012: 97).Borrowing of foreign words in English tends to preserve the language internationally, when words are borrowed, they tend to preserve the original spelling instead of attempting to spell words phonetically. It has been estimated that more than seventy percent of English spelling conforms to its rules and pattern, while three percent employed is huge vocabulary. In conclusion, despite a tendency towards jargon, English is generally reasonably concise compared to many languages, as can be perceived in the length of interpretations. It is also less predisposed to misunderstandings owing to its cultural intricacies than, for instance, Chinese, which is virtually impossible to concurrently translate for that cause. On stability, however, the ultimate appeal of English, as a global language is perhaps exaggerated and specious, and mainly based on jingoism or naïveté. It is quite unlikely that linguistic aspects are of much prominence in a languages growth to the eminence of world dialect, and Englishs position now is practically due to the said political as well as economic factors. References ALLINGTON, D., &MAYOR, B. M. (2012).Communicating in English: Talk, text, technology. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. HEWINGS, A., & TAGG, C. (eds.) (2012). The Politics of English: Conflict, Competition, Co- existence. Abingdon: Routledge. NORTH, S. (2012) English: A Linguistic Toolkit. Milton Keynes: The Open University Walton Hall. SCHAFFER, D. (2010) Old whine online: prescriptive grammar blogs on the Internet, English Today, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 23-28 [Online]. Available at Cambridge Journals Online (Accessed 11 December 2012) doi:10.1017/s0266078410000398 Read More