The Future of Global English

Careful speculations  English seems alive and well and its future assured  it is wise to be cautious when making predictions about linguistic history Latin French  What kinds of development could impede the future growth of English?

The rejection of English  rejecting English as a privileged language  post-colonial era phenomenon  English = colonial power 1908: Gandhi ‘To give millions the knowledge of English is to enslave them […]’ p

Arundhati Roy  Speech in Ferrara Speech in Ferrara  “you crushed a whole civilisation and did not even hear the crunch, did not hear the sound of its breaking.”

Intelligibility and identity  Intelligibility = learning an international language  Identity = supporting ethnic language and culture > CONFLICT  bilingual policies: coexistence of intelligibility and identity

In Britain   s/magazine/ stm s/magazine/ stm

The US situation  the future of the USA = the future of English  the US contains nearly 4 times as many mother-tongue speakers of English as any other nation  language = power  a decrease in the US economic, political, and military power would have inevitable consequences for the status of global English

Immigration explosion  Obama Obama  english-as-the-official-language/ (not official) english-as-the-official-language/ 

Is US power at risk?  external threats (9/11) >if anything were to disestablish the military or economic power of the USA, there would be inevitable consequences for the status of global English  domestic debate >‘official English’ fostered by the US English movement >95% of Americans speak English

The US debate PRO-OFFICIAL  1995: Bill Emerson English Empowerment Act > English ‘enforcement’  languages other than English were allowed in public health, safety services, the teaching of foreign languages, international relation policies, international trade, and judicial proceedings

The US debate ANTI-OFFICIAL  a major Hispanic group  over 28 million Hispanics (Crystal, 2003)  a wide range of small ethnic groups  about 330 languages were used in the US in the early 90s

The political argument PRO-OFFICIAL  many languages = separatism  dissolution of unity  ‘E pluribus unum’ (the US motto)  the threat of ‘official Spanish’  English as a social adhesive  2010: more Hispanics than African American

The political argument ANTI-OFFICIAL English is not in danger an official English bill is unnecessary an official English bill is a self-intrusion act into self expression English is easily assimilated and learned by second-generation immigrants 95% of US citizens already speak English ‘official English’ is viewed as ‘elitist’, ‘racist’, ‘anti-immigrant’, and ‘anti- Hispanic’

The socio-economic argument  PRO-OFFICIAL a multilingual policy is expensive there are more than 300 languages in need of protection there is no clear mark on the threshold level needed to consider a language ‘important’ money should be spent to improve the English learning abilities of immigrants official status would safeguard English as the language of opportunity

The socio-economic argument ANTI-OFFICIAL a new ‘official English’ law is expensive a new ‘official English’ law is complicated overlap between public and private domains safety instructions should be multilingual interest in foreign language learning would diminish a multilingual policy would grant better chances to business development

Educational issues PRO-OFFICIAL students in bilingual education programs are taught English by low-proficiency English teachers a ‘ghetto dialect’ would mark individuals as socially inferior

Educational issues ANTI-OFFICIAL bilingualism as part of a child’s learning experience stress the potential of bilingual education an ‘official English’ bill would do nothing to enable fluency in English to be universally achieved

The ‘English Plus’ resolution  English as the primary language of the US >  the importance of other languages is also recognized  1995: 22 states enacting official English legislation  2002: 27 states enacting official English legislation  2001: English Language Unity Act  the linguistic community is against the debate is still unsettled