Учебное пособие для специальностей «Переводческое дело» и«Иностранный язык: два иностранных языка»
§ 2. English as a global language
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| § 2. English as a global language
Modern English is often described as the first global lingua franca of today. It is the dominant international language in communication, science, diplomacy, aviation, entertainment, business and commerce. The spread of English beyond the British Isles began with the growth of the British Empire. By the late 19 th century its reach was really global. After the British colonized North America, it became the dominant language in the United States, whose economic, political and cultural influence growing since World War II has significantly accelerated the spread and adoption of the English language across the planet. World War II gave a great impetus to the use of English, since the American and British troops were deployed and stationed in all parts of the world, and after the war they still stayed on in various places. Besides, Britain and America play today an increasingly significant role in world affairs, thus making their language increasingly important. 9 Nowadays knowledge of English is becoming a requirement in a number of fields and professions such as aviation, medicine and computing; as a result, more than a billion people speak English to at least a basic level. English is the official language in 53 countries. It is also one of six official languages of the United Nations. Such rise of the English language worries some linguists. Some of them are afraid that in the course of time other languages will gradually decrease in use and even die; while others are worried that such universal necessity to know English will negatively affect the English language which may take a lot of distinctive features typical for the languages of the people speaking English as their second (third) or foreign language. Among the possible changes there are often named pronunciation peculiarities. Thus, there are some suppositions that the English voiced and voiceless dental sounds denoted by the digraph „th‟ in writing will disappear in less than a century, since these sounds do not exist in many languages of those speaking English as a foreign language. Linguists such as David Crystal recognize that this massive growth of English, in common with other global languages, has already reduced native linguistic diversity in many parts of the world, most particularly in North America and Australia, and its huge influence continues to play an important role in language attrition. Historical linguists, aware of the complex and fluid dynamics of language change, predict that the vast size and spread of the communities speaking English can produce a new family of distinct languages over time. жүктеу/скачать 1,38 Mb. Достарыңызбен бөлісу:
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