IndexWhat is the future of English as a world language? (essay)Factors influencing languageConclusionWhat is the future of English as a world language? (essay) In considering the future of the English language, this essay takes into account the likelihood of it becoming a lingua franca with blurred boundaries between formal and informal use, resulting in the proliferation of Englishes. While it is possible that the English language could evolve into various regional varieties, it is unlikely that these varieties would fragment into completely unintelligible languages. This essay will delve into these two issues in more depth. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay First, in terms of historical aspect, due to two diasporas, English initially spread to North America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. It later spread to Africa and many parts of Asia, such as Hong Kong and Singapore. In these countries or cities, after the colonial periods, English became the official or semi-official language for various reasons (Crystal, 2002). In terms of economic aspect, as the economic power of the United States has developed rapidly, surpassing the United Kingdom and reaching the dominant economic position in the world (Jenkins, 2015). As a result, American culture became much more influential throughout the world. For example, Disneyland and related films are extremely popular with children around the world. Non-native English speakers, as a result, learn American English when they watch Disney movies and listen to related English songs. There are some other factors related to globalization that make English achieve global status. To be more precise, it is the main language of the world's books, newspapers and advertising. It is the official international language of airports and air traffic control. It is the language of international business, of diplomacy, of sport. Over two-thirds of the world's scientists write in English. Three-quarters of the world's mail is written in English (Crystal, 2002). As a result, English is considered a lingua franca. However, in the future, it is very likely that it will not become the only lingua franca in the world due to increased regional communication, informal market interaction, immigration, religion, and the efforts of government organizations and committees. Both Mandarin and Arabic are good illustrations. Mandarin is spreading across China and some of its southern neighbors due to a population explosion in native Mandarin-speaking communities, the growth of Mandarin-speaking migrants, and the rapid development of international trade, business and of communication between China and other countries. . Arabic is spreading into North Africa and South Asia both as the language of Islam and as an important language of regional trade (Fishman, 1998). Since English is no longer the only lingua franca in the world, as a result, in the near future, people are likely to learn more than one foreign language except their native language. In other words, the majority of people are likely to become multilingual. Instead of using languages separately, they are likely to code-switch between languages to be associated with each language or “keep one foot in each camp” (Swann & Sinka, 2007). Just as mentioned above, due to various aspects of factors such as two diasporas, the rapid growth of the economic power of the United States, and globalization, compared to other languages, English has a greater cultural influence in the world and has been widely spread more widely. . As a result, English is more commonly used by speakers around the world rather than byother global languages. This is why it is predicted that English is likely to become the matrix language of all types of code-switching such as English-Spanish code-switching and English-Cantonese.code-switching. Second, it is expected that there will be no clear distinction between formal and informal English languages. With the rapid development of computer technology, more and more people use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Whatsapp in their lives. They are not just for everyday purposes between friends and family, nowadays social media is applied to workplace contexts. For example, Google and Cisco rely on video media (e.g., YouTube) to share recruiting videos, keynote speeches, and press releases with their employees and investors (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Furthermore, Savitha (nd) stated that these social media are originally considered informal networking and communication spaces. Emojis, abstractions, simple shapes and incomplete sentences can always be found in the various formats of texts published on social media. Sometimes, in informal texts, it is acceptable to make mistakes. Traditionally, all these problems are not allowed in formal texts. However, recently, these informal formats are being accepted. A good example is that Bill Marriott, President and CEO of the Marriott International Hotel chain, uses his blog to post regular updates on Marriott properties around the world, just as a co-worker would when describing his calling (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010 ). Based on the previous discussion, it is assumed that instead of the traditional landline telephone and sending written correspondence through the postal service in quite formal formats, it is extremely likely that people form various online communities to perform various social functions. In these online communities, they possibly communicate and exchange information, also fusing formal languages with informal languages. In other words, in the future, people will likely pay more attention to the content of communication rather than the formality of language use, which is likely to create an increasingly ambiguous line between formal and informal English languages. Finally, it is expected that perhaps there are more and more varieties of English. Due to the growth of information technology, some online communities exist. Furthermore, as globalization leads to greater mobility, communities are likely to be more fluid with people migrating towards and even for. As a result, new cultural practices emerge along with these new communities. Factors Affecting Language Considering that language is a part of culture and that culture is embedded in language, several new varieties of English emerge as the English language itself alters to adapt to new communities. emerging cultures of the different communities that use it (Li, 2015; Crystal, 2012). For example, if a British lawyer has lived and worked in Singapore for a long period of time, his accent, vocabulary and British English grammar may be influenced by Singlish (e.g. John kena struck by elephant) so that a new variety can be formed. This process is also called glocalization. Since both globalization and glocalization are seen as processes, their forces will continue to change people's lives and English languages, leading to new Englishes except existing new Englishes formed by historical factors and local identities such as English American and Singlish. Some argue that the varieties of English used in different parts of the world will fragment into various unintelligible languages. However, it is overly simplified. First of all, language is linked to political factors. To ensure that adialect becomes a language, people must reflect whether the community has a unity in promoting its code as a language and whether this community has enough political and economic power to influence the decision and gain respect from outsiders. However, in most countries, the establishment's attitude towards the new English is still generally negative. It is believed that if New Englishes are applied to official contexts such as schools, social media and governments, there will be a negative impact on national reputations and their goals for greater international roles. For example, in Singapore, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong appealed to Singaporeans to reduce the use of Singlish and maintain the use of Standard English in 1999 and has launched the Speak Good English movement since 2003 (Crystal, 2012 ). Simply put, new varieties of English are more likely to be regarded as dialects rather than languages and limited to casual discourse between people only at a basic level, as Standard English still plays a significant role in all official functions . towards the new English also contribute to this problem. The relationship between language and identity is linked to the promotion of a language. According to Joseph (2004), language and identity are “ultimately inseparable”. In Hong Kong English, for example, Hongkongers like to add an extra vowel to the end of a word. Instead of pronouncing "bus" as [bʌs], Hongkongers often pronounce it as [bʌsi:] to show their local identity. However, Standard English is still more popular with most schools. For both non-native speaking (NNS) and native speaking (NS) teachers, a firm belief in the primacy of NS English is deeply ingrained in their minds. The legitimacy of NNS regional accents is not yet acceptable to teachers, who come as close as possible to the standard ones (Jenkins, 2007). In other words, on the one hand, the push imposed by the need for social identity, leading to the growth of several new Englishes, could be balanced by the push imposed by the consistency of the standard English accent. At the formal level, there may be increasing mutual unintelligibility while at the latter level there may not be (Crystal, 2012). These two phenomena can be neutralized by each other. On the other hand, although some new varieties of English are likely to become a language, due to the existence of LFC, these languages are probably still intelligible. For linguistic characteristics, firstly, it is expected that the standardization process can eventually prevent the English language from being unintelligible. During the standardization period, one variety will be selected as the standard. Depending on the grammar and vocabulary of the standard variety, linguists establish norms. They also extend the standard variety to a wider range of functions. So norms are imposed and variability suppressed. This process is continuous because English is descriptive. According to Johnson (1755), there is no dictionary of a language that can be perfect because when rushed to publication, some words sprout and others fade away. This means that every language is unstable and will change along with the development of a country or society. As soon as the English language has changed, it should be standardized again. During the standardization process, a variety of references such as dictionaries and grammar books are produced by both grammarians and lexicographers. NNS and NS speak English following the standards mentioned in these references. Furthermore, according to Jenkins (2007), Lingua Franca Core (LFC) has been fairly proven to maintain the intelligibility of New English. As long as the NNSs of English follow.
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