English as a lingua franca

common public space requires a

common language, a lingua franca
↓
GLOBAL COMMUNICATION
LANGUAGE
• Latin - Roman Empire
• French - European diplomacy
• Russian – Cold War/Warsaw Pact
• American English - NATO
(Rose 2008)
 English
↓
language for international
communication and for many
specific purposes (academic,
business, leisure, etc.)
 why
ENGLISH as a lingua franca?

political, economic, technological,

cultural
power
• the Plymouth Pilgrims → America
• slave traders, spice merchants and
explorers → Africa, India and Australia
• 17th/18th centuries - colonial Britain
• 18th/19th centuries –Industrial
Revolution (Britain)
• 19th/early 20th centuries – leading
economic power (USA)
Technology “has been created” in English: the
first computers were American; the Internet is a
creation of the American military-industrial
complex. The second-largest export of the
United States is cultural products. Hollywood
consistently produces over 80% of the world's
top-grossing films internationally. The world's top
superstars of sports and entertainment speak
English
(http://www.writersblock.ca/fall1998/feature.htm)
 Different views on the role of
English
• Phillipson’s Linguistic Imperialism (1992) English
= means of oppressing the third world
• Crystal’s English as a Global Language (1997) =
neutral and beneficial tool for international
communication.
• Kachru (1986a: 1986b) = a tool to access social
and economic power and prestige in a given
society
• Graddol’s “The Future of English?” (1997) = the
world’s most important language, but future
oligarchy of other languages
 English as a global language
= politically charged topic

Key factors
= the unequal distribution of wealth, power
and information around the globe
 REFERENCES
• Crystal, D. 1997. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
• Graddol D. 1997. The Future of English? London: British Council.
• Huntington, S. P. 1996. The Clash of Civilization and the Remarking of
World Order. New York: Simon & Simon.
• Kachru, B.B. 1986a. The Alchemy of English: the Spread, Functions and
Models of non-native Englishes. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
• Kachru, B.B. 1986b. The Power and Politics of English. World Englishes, 5,
121-140. London: Blackwell.
• Leiper J., English: A Global Language?,
http://www.writersblock.ca/fall1998/feature.htm
• Phillipson, R. 1992. Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Rose R. 2008. Political Communication in a European Public Space:
Language, the Internet and Understanding as Soft Power, Journal of
Common Market Studies,. 46/2, 451–475.