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The document discusses the emergence and significance of English as a global language, highlighting its historical development, the factors contributing to its dominance, and the implications of its widespread use. It presents the Three Circles Model by Kachru, categorizing English speakers into Inner, Outer, and Expanding circles, and addresses the potential dangers of a global language, including linguistic power dynamics and language death. Various perspectives on the future of English are also explored, suggesting it may continue to evolve or fragment into distinct varieties.

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8 views19 pages

English & the World_2 upload

The document discusses the emergence and significance of English as a global language, highlighting its historical development, the factors contributing to its dominance, and the implications of its widespread use. It presents the Three Circles Model by Kachru, categorizing English speakers into Inner, Outer, and Expanding circles, and addresses the potential dangers of a global language, including linguistic power dynamics and language death. Various perspectives on the future of English are also explored, suggesting it may continue to evolve or fragment into distinct varieties.

Uploaded by

Gavkhar
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English & the World

Fall 2022
English as a Global Language

Prof. Byong-Kwon Kim


English & the World

❖ Some issues related to this topic


Colonial
power &
Imperialism Ecomonic
Language power
policy relation

English
as a global
language Political
Language power
change relation

Military
Diversity power
relation
An English-speaking world
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7FtSUPAM-uA
English emerging: Its origin and development
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7UG6vHXArlk
▪ The first English speakers

• Europeans
• Anglo-Saxon
• Viking
English is the global language.

▪ Population of English
English is the global language.

• English almost all over the world


• English population

1.5 billion in 1995 (mother-tongue speakers: 400 million)


2 billion in 2003
2.3 billion in 2018

• different views with this phenomenon: feel comfortable or not


Intelligibity vs. identity
The 3 Circles Model (Kachru 1988)

• Inner circle
• The tradidional bases of
English
• UK, USA, Canada, Australia,
New Zealand

• Outer circle
• The intitutionalized non-
native 2nd language (ESL)
• India, Singapore, Malaysia,
Philippines, Sri
Lanka,Pakistan,
Banggladesh, Ghana,
Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania,
Zambia

• Expanding circle
• EFL settings
• China, Korea, Japan,
Indonesia, Nepal, Russia,
Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
Zimbabwe
What is a global language?

• Spread widely across the boundaries & get official or second or foreign
language status.

- English as an official languages in over 70 countries


- Taught in school as a foreign language in over 100
cf) Spanish, Portuguese in Latin America

• Population of speakers is not a criterion


cf) Chinese in the user population
What makes a global language?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vtOkcGoN0Js
What Made English a Global Language? (with David Crystal)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WZI1EjxxXKw
What makes a global language?

• Linguistic dominance is based on POWER


economic, political, cultural, technological, etc
economic development on a global scale,
explosive growth of industry, international marketing, advertising
• English was in the right place at the right time.

▪ Turning points of English as a global language

Norman Industrial
Birth Conquest explosion
Int’l Org

5C 1066 17C 1800 1900 1950s 2000s

Colonial Emergence of Tech &


expansion Am. economy media
Why do we need a global language?

• The goal of a common language is to bring about mutual understanding,


mutual intelligibility. Given that we are living on a global stage, a
common language needs to emerge. That is English now.
• Up to 1950s, the notion of a world language was but a dim, theoretical,
logical conjecture.

UN 1945, World Bank 1945, UNESCO & UNICEF 1946, WHO 1948
In academic & business communities in lecture and meeting
Speed-up on online communication
Dangers of a global language?

• Linguistic power: Advantages for English speakers (ex. in academic, trading,


social success)
• Linguistic complacency: Losing motivation to learn other languages (ex. in
business, industry, tourism)
• Language death
Minority languages declines in a dominance relation among languages
Intellectual, cultural, loss in human societies
Languages coexist with human properties
Movements for language rights have been arising (ex. Maori of New
Zealand, Aboriginal languages of Australia, Indian languguages in Americas)
Intelligibility vs. Identity: can coexist (ex. bilingualism)
Could anything stop a global language?

• English is so widely established that it cannot be seen as ‘owned’ by any


single nation.
• The position of English as a global language is going to become stronger.
• Now, the language, English as a global language, is recognized as a reality,
fact.
• The trend is a ‘adopt & adapt’ pattern, leading to distinctive varieties of
English.
David Crystal - Will English Always Be the Global Language? Its future
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5Kvs8SxN8mc
The future of English:

Some different perspectives:

1. Continue to be a global lingua franca, producing varieties


- David Crystal

2. English holding a less global position


• “The current global wave of English may lose momentum.”
• Predicts the real possibility of new language hierarchies emerging in
the next century, with English holding a less global position.
• David Graddol (1998) The future of Egnlsih
3. English as a family of languages with lots of variation
• Global spreading of English would create lots of variation.
• English is undergoing a process of radical change which would
eventually lead to fragmentation into a ‘family of languages’.
• Tom McArthur (1998)
Thank you.

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