The Linguistic Empire: the Current Status of English in the World The objective of this undertaking is twofold: firstly,

I try to establish the present day expanse of the Anglophone sphere; secondly, I attempt a brief examination of the effects of this case of linguistic expansionism. In the 1992 edition of the Encyclopedia of Language, David Crystal expressed his opinion regarding the possibility to develop a global system of verbal communication: Many people feel that the only realistic chance of breaking the foreign-language barrier is to use a natural language as a world lingua franca. And he added that he saw English as the main contender to that position. Nowadays, at the beginning of the 21st century, many people argue that English has already become a world language. A vocal supporter of this view is Lord Alan Watson, Chairman of the English Speaking Union, who described English as the working language of the global village. Statistical data supporting the prominent position of English in the world The position of English as a potential global lingua franca is supported by a large amount of statistical data. In approximate figures, 380 million people speak it as their first language and perhaps 1.5 billion as their second. A billion are learning it, about a third of the worlds population are in some sense exposed to it and by 2050, it is predicted, half the world will be more or less proficient in it. English is used as an official or semi-official language in over 60 countries, and has a prominent place in a further 20. It is either dominant or well established in all 6 continents. Over two-thirds of the worlds scientists write in English. Three-quarters of the worlds mail is written in English. Of all the information in the worlds electronic retrieval systems, 80% is stored in English. Before Britain joined the European common market (now the European Union) in 1973, French was the club's sole official language. Now that its members also include Denmark, Finland and Sweden, whose people have a fairly good command of English, the latter is the EU's dominant tongue. Indeed, over 85% of all international organizations use English as one of their official languages. Other significant data reflecting the dominant position of English as lingua franca So, the presence of English seems strong enough to describe it as the language of globalization of international business, politics and diplomacy. It is the language of computers and the Internet. It is the main language of books, newspapers, air-ports and air-traffic control, academic conferences, science, technology, medicine, sports, pop music, and advertising. In France, Alcatel, the formerly state-owned telecoms giant, uses English as its internal language. Scientists know that they must either publish in English or perish in French. A minister of education, Claude Allgre, declared in 1998 that English should no longer be considered a foreign language... In future it will be as basic [in France] as reading, writing and arithmetic. You see it on posters in Cote dIvoire, you hear it in pop songs in Tokyo, you read it in official documents in Phnom Penh. Deutsche Welle broadcasts in it, Bjork, an Icelander, sings in it, French business schools teach in it. It is the medium of expression in cabinet meetings in Bolivia.

The causes of linguistic success The success or failure of a language has little to do with its inherent qualities and everything to do with the power of the people who speak it. And that, as Professor Jean Aitchison of Oxford University points out, is particularly true of English. The current prominence of the tongue spoken back in the 1300s only by the low people of England, as Robert of Gloucester put it at the time, cannot be explained in terms of accessibility, but in terms of political, economic, military, and cultural power. The evolution of English toward the status of global language began with the creation of the British Empire fallowed by the triumph of the English-speaking United States as a world power. Effects of linguistic success The existence of a global lingua franca is expected to generate a series of consequences which are set forth by David Crystal in his Encycolpedia: - such a language gives its originating culture an unprecedented influence in world affairs and scientific research; - it erodes the status of minority languages and poses a threat to the identity of nations; - it begins to develop new spoken varieties used by local people; in time these varieties might become mutually unintelligible; - the appearance of the varieties generates the trend towards unity supported by increased contacts through travel and communication; - the existence of varieties raises the questions: which one should be used as the international medium?; and what should the teachers teach? Effects of English becoming a global lingua franca The situation of English perceived as an impending global lingua franca has triggered various reactions, ranging from reluctant acceptance to linguistic protectionism. The Brits have had to adapt to the presence of American lexical elements such as hopefully at the start of every sentence, the wholesale disappearance of the perfect tense, and the mutation of the meaning of presently from soon to now. But few minded or even noticed that their old railway station became a train station, the car park turned into a parking lot and people live on, not in, a street. In France and Quebec the English invaders were given the third degree : the Toubon Law of 1994, banned, under penalty of fines or prison, foreign words in business documents, advertising, government publications, and broadcasting - if suitably equivalent French words existed. A commission was established to identify or create those French equivalents. So walkman, software, and e-mail became baladeur, logiciel, and courielle. In Quebec the language police fight franglais, ensuring that all contracts are written in French and patrolling shops and offices to make sure that any English signs are of regulation size. French-speakers are far from alone. A law went into effect in Poland 5 years ago, obliging all companies selling or advertising foreign products to use Polish in their advertisements, labelling and instructions. Even Germany, now the pre-eminent economic and political power in Europe, feels it necessary to resist the spread of Denglisch. Three years ago the Institute for the German Language wrote to Deutsche Telekom to protest at its adoption of grotesque terms such as CityCall, HolidayPlusTarif and GermanCall. A year earlier, an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in which a designer had been quoted using expressions like giving story, coordinated concepts and effortless magic so infuriated Professor Wolfgang Kramer that he founded

the Society for the Protection of the German Language, which now awards a prize for the Sprachpanscher (language debaser) of the year. In Hong Kong, the new Chinese masters are promoting Cantonese, to the concern of local business. And in India some people see English as an oppressive legacy of colonialism that should be exterminated. As long ago as 1908 Mohandas / Mahatma Gandhi was arguing that to give millions a knowledge of English is to enslave them. Ninety years later the struggle was still being fought, with India's defence minister of the day, Mulayam Singh Yadav, vowing that he would not rest until English is driven out of the country. Others, however, believe that it binds a nation of 800 tongues and dialects together, and connects it to the outside world. Other tendencies include the upholding of the purity of English and the support given to the indigenization of English For some countries, the problem with English is not that it is spoken, but that it is not spoken well enough. The widespread use of Singlish, a local version of Shakepeare's tongue, is a perpetual worry to the authorities in Singapore, who fear that their people might lose their command of the proper kind and with it a big commercial advantage over their rivals. Contrary to this view, other local politicians support the process of indigenization; here is a quotation from a speech by George Yeo: If the English language restricts...our mental images and emotional references to those of Anglo-Saxon societies, its use elsewhere may be resented and resisted. Other global trends The increase in the popularity of English is accompanied by other phenomena. Of the world's 6,000 or 7,000 languages, a couple go out of business each week. Most are in the jungles of Papua New Guinea or in Indonesia. Though many languages may die, more people may also be able to speak several languages: multilingualism, a commonplace among the least educated peoples of Africa, is now the norm among Dutch, Scandinavians and, increasingly, almost everyone else. Native Englishspeakers, however, are becoming less competent at other languages: in 2000 only nine students graduated in Arabic from universities in the United States, and the British are the most monoglot of all the peoples of the EU. Thus the triumph of English not only destroys the tongues of others; it also isolates native English-speakers from the literature, history and ideas of other peoples.