English as a Global

Language
by Don L. F. Nilsen
and Alleen Pace Nilsen

International Road Signs:

But there are still problems!

English, ESL or EFL is Spoken by about of the

People in the World ( about 2 Billion People) (McCrum
24/50)

English as a Global Language

of the Worlds Mail

of the Worlds technical & scientific journals
of all newspapers
80 % of the information in computers
All International Air Pilots
All International Sea Captains
Many movies, songs, and much business
of European business deals
7 of the Largest TV Broadcasters (CBS, NBC, ABC,
BBC, CBC, CNN, C-Span)
TV Televangelism of Christianity (McCrum 10)
6

Varieties of Global English, each

with its Own Peculiar Flavor

Deutschlish
Franglish (la langue du Coca-Cola)
Indian English
Japlish (man-shon vs. mai-homu,
basaburo, aisu-kurimu, mai-com [my
computer])
Russlish
Spanglish (McNeal 10, 38-39)
7

La Langue du Coca-Cola
In France,
hot money capitaux fbariles
Jumbo jet gros porteur
Fast food prt--manger

In Canada, Loi 101 :

English billboards, posters and storefronts
are banned. Many students are not
allowed to attend English-language
schools. (McCrum 39-40)
8

Competing Global Languages

Arabic
Russian (before the breakup of the
Soviet Union in Eastern Europe)
Mandarin
Spanish
French

Education Act of 1870: RP

Cockney (Cocks Egg)
RP (Received Pronunciation)
Posh (Portside Out Starboard Home)
(McCrum 13-21)

10

World War II (McCrum 23)

GI Bases in
England, Italy,
France, Germany
GI Language was
vivid, profane &
abbreviated:

Black
Market
Blitz
Flak

Nylons
Pin-Up
R&R
Snafu
Yank

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Pin-Ups and Yank Magazine

Every issue of Yank Magazine featured
a pin-up to remind soldiers of the girls
back home.
A pin-up of Rita Hayworth is said to
have been taped to Fat Boy, the atomic
bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
Compare this with the movie Dr.
Strangelove: How I Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love the Bomb.
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Atomic-Bomb Words (McCrum

24)
Atomic Holocaust
Chain Reaction (cf.
Vonneguts Ice Nine)
Fallout
Fireball
Fission
Fusion

Mushroom Cloud
Test Site
(NOTE: The possibility
of nuclear proliferation
was one of the causes
of Postmodernism &
Deconstructionism)

13

Coca-Colonialism (McCrum
24)
Budweiser
Coca Cola
Gillette
Kelloggs Cornflakes
Kelloggs Rice
Krispies
(Snap Crackle and
Pop has to be
translated into various
languages)

Kodak
Maxwell House Coffee
Schlitz
Lucky Strike
Marlboro

14

Korean and Vietnam Wars (McCrum 2526)

Korean:
Brainwashing
Chopper
(Helicopter)

Vietnam:
Defoliate
Domino
Theory
Escalation
Firefight
Friendly Fire
Hawks &
Doves

Vietnam:
Moratorium
Napalm
Pacification
Search and
Destroy
The Silent
Majority (ct.
the Vocal
Minority)
15

David Ofgor, Attach to the US

Embassy in Phnom Penh:
Talking to journalists:
You always write its bombing,
bombing, bombing. Its not bombing.
Its air support. (McCrum 27)

16

Regional Dialects (McCrum 2729)

Franklin D. Roosevelt (Eastern Money)
Harry Truman (Twangy Missouran)
Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon & Gerald
Ford (American Midwest)
Lyndon Johnson (Southern)
Ronald Reagan & Dan Rather (Network
Standard)
Kennedy Family (New England)
George W. Bush (Texas)
17

Valley-Girl/Surfer-Dude:
Bitchin
Dude
For sure
Goady
Rad
To the max
Totally
Tubular

Gay Speech:
Gay
Out of the closet
Queer
Queen
Womens Speech:
Ms.
Letter carrier
JOKE: Mannheim Germany
Personheim Gerpersony

18

Silicon Valley Words (California) (McCrum 30)

Artificial Intelligence
CD (Compact Disk)
DVD (Digital Video
Disk)
Data Processing
Disk(ette)
Flash Drive
Hacker
Input

Interface
Jump Drive
Modem
On-Line
ROM (Read-Only
Memory)
Software, Hardware,
Wetware
Word Processor
19

British vs. American Global

English
bird, bobby, bonnet, boot, drawing pins, flat,
lift, lorry, mate, nappy, petrol, pram, sweets,
torch, trunk call
girl, cop, hood, trunk, thumb tacks, apartment,
elevator, truck, buddy, diaper, gas, stroller,
candy, flashlight, long-distance call
colour/color, theater/theatre, tyre/tire
advertisement, laboratory, secretary
(McCrum 32)
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Disadvantages of English as a Global

Language

// shoe, sugar, issue, mansion, mission, nation, suspicion, ocean,

conscious, chaperon, schist, fuchsia, pshaw (spelled 13 ways).

<sh> <ch> <ph> <th> <gh>

Full, reduced, zero grades of consonants

Long, Short, -r, schwa, and zero grades of vowels

15 different vowel phonemes

<c> <g> <q> <s> (/s/ // /z/ //) <x>

(McCrum 42)

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Advantages of English as a Global

Language
Natural Gender, not Grammatical Gender
Simplified Word Endings resulting in greater
flexibility (N V, etc.)
Teeming Vocabulary (80 % is not Anglo-Saxon) but
rather: Arabic, Celtic, Chinese, Dutch, French,
German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Latin,
Scandinavian, Spanish, etc. (McCrum 43)

22

*21 Accents by Amy Walker:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k
*American Dialect Society:
http://americandialect.org/
*Global Engrish:
http://www.funnyordie.com/lists/71bd760bbe/31-brilliant-examples-of-engrish-fails

*Lost Baggage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvo9-UA1HD8
*Yankee-Dixie Quiz:
http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/yankee_dixie_quiz.html

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