Linguistic Imperialism : Globalization And The English Language

The English language began its climb to world dominance with the rise of the British Empire in the 16th century. During this time English began to spread as the worlds lingua franca for business and trade. With the support of the United States, which at the time was one of the most successful nations in history, english was able to overthrow all previous lingua francas. However, english should not be considered as the “gateway to the world”. Although the english language is widely- spoken around the world, making english language the official language of the world will lead to diminishing cultural diversity.

English has become the most widespread and powerful language on Earth. The imperial English Empire spread English across the globe; from America to Asia. English’s position in the world was cemented by US cultural and diplomatic dominance; evident in American movies, fast food, and clothing. English has proven it is not moving anywhere anytime soon, as English only grows in use over time. Thus a debate has arisen: Should English be the official Universal Language? On one hand, English can harm other cultures, international relations, and scientific development; however, English is very flexible and widely used, making it the perfect candidate for a global language.

The way in which our world functions today is a result of colonialization. Language death and linguistic endangerment is woven with colonialization and the history of oppression toward indigenous communities. We cannot speak of language death without first acknowledging the speakers and the systematic oppression that indigenous communities continue struggling to resist. In present time language shifts due to economic incentive of hegemony and the mediating role of language ideologies are two of the most important causes of language death. Language shift and language ideologies that ultimately cause language death are current consequences of colonialization. The death of a language has both of linguistic and cultural consequences to the particular community affected and to the world’s diversity as a whole. Languages serve as carries of cultural knowledge, as identity and verbal art, hence when a language is lost cultural resources, identity and verbal art are lost.

With the globalization, the English Language became the main language of the communication in the world. In this perspective, Dennis Baron discusses in his article Who Owns Global English” the omnipresence and the prevalence of the English in today’s society. For Dennis Baron, English has become the key success in the world platform.

Obviously, this topic is very detailed, and the article delved deeply into the subject. But, what I want to highlight is that, at least as far as the field of linguistics is concerned, that an approach to preserving language in such a way that each successive generation feels connected to their heritage and community is vital. However, this approach to language preservation and, by extension, the human rights issues connected to the losses does not eliminate a need for a common language in the wider international community.

Montopoli quotes Congressman Steve King when writing, “A common language is the most unifying force known throughout history.” English, the fourth most spoken language in the world (Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 15th ed.), is a language spoken from Rwanda in Africa, to Singapore in Asia and many other countries. With 340 million native English speakers, and 510 million total (Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 15th ed.), English becoming the official language would not hinder the rights of non-native speakers and be beneficial.

Profound negative consequences include deforestation, loss of ideology, etc. One of the most important outcomes was the loss of ideology of a community. Wade Davis discussed this revelation in his TED talk about culture endangerment. He states that many people of the world would enjoy having a universal language (Davis, 2003). The issue with having a sole language arises when nations must decide on the global language. What happens when the world gives up all its unique languages just to become one? Wade also explains that language is a peephole into ideologies, cultures, and beliefs of a person (Davis, 2003). When a language is lost, a piece history and the world’s identity are lost also. Unfortunately, globalization is to blame. As various parts of the world become alike and similar, it loses its spark. Globalization unites people; however, it can also destroy a community’s personality.

Globalization has also contributed to an increasing interest in English-language education worldwide. In response to the emergence of English as a world-linking, global language, an increasing number of schools have stepped up English–language requirements, even at undergraduate levels. The argument is that a universal teaching language is necessary as a natural consequence of globalization.

‘The history of language is often a story of possession and dispossession, territorial struggle and the establishment or imposition of a culture’ (Paulin 1987: 178).

In our society today, language plays a diverse role in human potential and captures individual unique human characteristics of expression. Likewise, if a universal language was adopted, these distinctive perspectives will be lost. In correlation, linguistic and phonological skills were created when people used language as a natural communication system. Consequently, one’s daily life is impacted by language through unique ways we can communicate to manifest problem-solving and cognitive skills. Above all, language plays a huge role in cooperation and sharing of ideas throughout the world. Undeniably, English is considered the dominant language spoken today. However, as time passed, cultural identities became corrupted and other native

In a public poll on debate.org the question ‘Should English Be The World Language’ was posed, as of the date of access (10.12.2014) the figures stood at 53% saying ‘yes’ and the remaining 47% voting ‘no’. The justification for voting ‘no’ all seems to stem from a lack of diversity, removal of culture and the difficulty of enforcing such a regulation. Those who placed a ‘yes’ vote went on to reason that English was already on its way and that it was an easy language to learn and gave shocking disregard for non-native speakers of the language. It seems to be that the vast majority of those in favour of making English a global language are already native speakers of it (http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-english-be-the-world-language).

     “In the world were over seven thousand languages have exisisted, one language had become dominate. This dominant language is English.” “In the majority of countries throughout the world speak English as their second or first language, no longer just America or England.” English has taken many forms, American English, the Queen’s English, Australian, Canadian English, and several others. Even American English has taken several types of English, Jersey English, East Coast English, West Coast English, Southern English, slang English, and Ebonics. All of these languages have major variants between them, but are all of them are still understood aboard. Without English the world couldn’t operate,

The initial spread of English and the beginning of its journey to becoming a global language can mainly be attributed to the British Empire and the impact that colonisation had. According to Levine (2016) prior to the mid-seventeenth century, the British Empire was “a highly localised affair”. Levine (2016) describes what we can see as the beginning of English spreading to Wales, Ireland, and Scotland as “internal colonialism” as England ruled them from the Westminster parliament. The spread of English as a global language truly starts towards the beginning of the 16th century, when the number of mother-tongue English speakers around the world only measured between 5 and 7 million (Mastin, 2011). This is a number that now seems minuscule compared to the 1.5 billion people who speak English today (Statista, 2016).

English is spoken in most parts of the world, for instance in Great Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and in many more countries. Moreover in African states English serves as main form of communication.

English is a balance with two scales and these two scales are never equal indeed. From my perspective, the scale of benefits of English is heavier than the scale of shortages. Admittedly, English can be a threat to developing countries. Firstly, English may cause culture invasion to developing countries. Culture, like language, is dynamic as it changes with time. There is no doubt that the effects of westernization have meant that many of the traditional cultural practices in Nigeria have been abolished while those which manage to survive have been greatly modified.( Akanda,2012). Also, English becomes the voice of the most powerful capitalist nations thus it helps them to impose their ideology on others and English is a implement that helps developed countries to achieve their economic dominance and political dominance to other developing countries. For example, international big political meetings and international trade agreements have to be expressed in English. Also, English-speaking countries impose restrictions on developing countries and intervene on internal matters. For example, the