As
English Spreads, Speakers Morph it into World Tongue.
In India, people created the
word “pre-pone” as the obvious opposite of postpone. On the Internet, a form of
cyber-English has sprouted with such words as “net surfing.” On MTV Latino, the
word coolismo defines hip for a continent.
Meanwhile in Britain, editors
of the Oxford English Dictionary are struggling to keep up with this “morphing”
of the mother tongue. What centuries of British colonialism and decades of
Esperanto couldn’t do, a few years of free trade, MTV, and the Internet has.
“English is probably changing faster than any other language,” says Alan Firth,
a linguist at the University of Aalborg in Denmark, “because so many people are
using it.”
It is believed that English is
merging with native languages to create hybrid Englishes worldwide. But this
uncontrolled, global germination of so many “Englishes” has some worried.
English purists, led by Britain’s Prince Charles, bemoan the degradation of the
language as they see it, lashing out at Americans for cheapening it
with bad grammar.
However, those who seek to
preserve native cultures warn that in many parts of the world, English is
taking more than it is giving. Multiculturalists say the blitzkrieg-like spread
of English effectively commits “linguistic genocide” by killing off dozens
other languages. Education, mass media, and religion stigmatize many non-white
native languages, even if they are an offshoot of English, as backward
and primitive, tribal and traditional, as … dialects rather than languages.
These differing views lead to
the question: Is the world taking English by storm or is English taking the
world by storm?
Danish Professor Firth, who
studies conversations between non-native speakers when they conduct
business, says businessmen tend to be blunt, humorless, use simplified grammar,
and develop and use their own English terms to cut a deal. “People
develop their own ways of doing business with each other, of talking and even
writing … that native speakers might not understand,” Firth says.
“Surprisingly, the latter join in and start to speak that way also.”
Oxford Companion editor
McArthur says the spread of English can’t be halted. The globalization of the
world, mostly driven by economics, is inevitable. “It’s the [world’s] need for
a unified language of trade, politics, and culture,” he says. “We’re going to
lose a lot of languages around the world, but if it’s not English, it’s
something else.”
Choose the correct option to
complete the following sentences.
1.1. The aim of the first
paragraph of the text is to show
(A) how fast the English language is spreading around the
world.
(B) that the English language is changing.
(C) that as a world language English influences other
languages.
1.2. Some people believe that
“hybrid Englishes”
(A) enrich the English language.
(B) eradicate other native languages.
(C) destroy the true essence of the English language.
1.3. Many non-white native
languages
(A) are disapproved of because they are an offshoot of
English.
(B) are often dismissed as simple dialects.
(C) are considered languages in their own right.
1.4. English will probably
keep its status as a global
language because
(A) it’s an important tool for international
communication.
(B) of the economic power of the nations that speak it.
(C) we are going to lose a lot of languages around the
world.
2. Finding evidence - quote
from the text one sentence for each of the statements below.
a. a variety of English has emerged from technology.
b. the expansion of the English language has a deadly
effect on other languages.
3. For items a – j, decide
which word on the right best fits each gap.
Is English a ‘Killer Language’?
|
Two different theories have been constructed
concerning the role English can play as a world language. It can either act
in an –a– manner (exploitation
theory) or it can take on a neutral role enabling –b– communication (grass roots theory).
Languages are merely –c–, functioning only according to the social, political,
cultural and historical factors of their current society. Consequently, other
than the historical circumstances which promoted the English speaking culture
to a world power, there is no –d–
reason why any other language could not have acted in the same way as
English. Several case studies show that on the one hand English acts as a
killer language. On the other hand English can be considered to be –e–, enabling different societies to
communicate with each other without –f
– the second language.
Finally it must be taken into account that English
itself is actually –g–,
continually evolving and changing. The English language does not only –h– its vocabulary on other
languages, but is also constantly –i– expressions
from other languages and cultures as well. Therefore English cannot be said
to be a killer language in such general term. English acts according to the
situation at hand, this can be in a neutral or in a –j– way.
|
1.
justifiable
2.
impose
3.
neutral
4.
imperialistic
5.
dominant
6.
threatened
7.
instrumental
8.
adopting
9.
cross-border
10.
assimilating
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