Sacre bleu! English as a global lingua franca? Why English is rapidly achieving worldwide status

Communication World, June-July, 1999 by Cynthia L. Kemper

Why English is rapidly achieving worldwide status

Most of us take language for granted. We use it every day - in spoken, written, auditory and electronic forms - while forgetting that it's what makes human communication possible. Indeed, our ability to communicate - personally or professionally - is primarily based on the existence of language.

"From the point of view of the speakers, language is a symbolic system that they use to communicate," explains Michael Agar, author of "Language Shock - Understanding the Culture of Conversation." "Speakers don't know or care that when they throw a word out in public it signals a relationship with an ancient language of India...they care about communicating with each other."

In countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia and the U.S., where English is the primary language, it's even easier to dismiss the advantage of speaking a language that the rest of the world is now being forced to learn out of necessity.

More than two-thirds of the world's population still does not use English. Yet, as the need to communicate globally increases, English is fast becoming the No. 1 choice for cross-border communication worldwide.

While increasing the ease of communication across borders, choosing a single global language also puts enormous pressure on those who do not speak the chosen language. Encouraging one particular tongue as a primary or secondary mode of communication in all countries also requires a serious.commitment, along with extensive resources and funding. This issue also raises critical questions around the importance of global intelligibility vs. a country's identity, as there is no more sensitive symbol of individual and national identity than one's language.

Still, to date, no official lingua franca has been chosen. And much can happen in the coming years to affect the final outcome. In the meantime, some very important questions continue to be discussed around the world today. Questions such as:

What makes a language a world language? Why is English the leading candidate and the one most often noted in this respect? And how did this state of affairs come to be?

What Makes for a World Language?

"A language achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized in every country," states David Crystal, British linguist and world authority on English in his book "English as a Global Language." "But mother tongue use by itself cannot give a language global status... a language must be taken up by different countries around the world. They must decide to give it a special place within their communities, even though they may have few [or no] mother tongue speakers."

Historically, a language can accomplish special status through being a country's first language or being identified as an official language, or via its importance to foreign language speakers.

According to Crystal, English now has some kind of special status in more than 70 countries - far more than any other language. In addition, English is the language most widely taught as a foreign language - in more than 100 countries worldwide. Nearly a quarter of the world's population - from 1.2 to 1.5 billion people - is already fluent or competent in English and the number is growing rapidly. No other language - Chinese included even comes close to this level of growth.

Crystal's research also shows that there are several ways a language can be afforded "official status." It may be the sole official language of a country [this may or may not be formally noted in their constitution]. It may share this status with other languages. Or it may be given a "semi-official" status for use only in certain.settings, or take second place to other languages while still performing certain official roles.

But there are many reasons for favoring a particular language over another. Historical tradition, politics, and commercial, cultural or technological incentives are a few.

But Crystal cautions that in reality, a language's official status or "its perceived aesthetic qualities, clarity of expression, literary power, or religious standing" have little to do with its legitimacy as a world language. "Why a language becomes a world language has little to do with the number of people who speak it. It has much more to do with who the people are," he explains.

For example, even though a quarter of the world's population speaks Chinese, it has not attained the status of a world language.

Nor do a language's intrinsic structural properties, size of vocabulary, literary status or association with religion or culture attain this level of status of their own accord. Rather, linguistic domination usually correlates with cultural power. Without the strength afforded by a strong political, military or economic power base, no language can become a truly international mode of communication.

"A language becomes an international language for one chief reason: the political power of its people - especially their military power," observes Crystal. "The history of a global language can be traced through the successful expeditions of its soldier/sailor speakers."