EL1102: Studying English in
Context
English as a World Language
Organisation
1. English and the Modern World Order
2. The global position of English: 4 Criteria
3. Pragmatic and Mathetic functions of
English
4. English in its mathetic function: equal
global participation or hegemony and cultural imperialism?
5. The paradox facing ex-colonial countries
The Global Village: the demands of
modernisation, technological change, international finance – still largely
controlled by Anglo-American corporations
- provide the main reason for global
English.
- global structures of economics, commerce,
industry, trade, technology, agriculture, transport, communication, media,
diplomacy travel, health, entertainment, etc.
- these define a RADICAL NEW REALITY within
which ALL nations and people find their existence and work out their destinies.
1. Development of INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM and
EMPIRE
2. Simultaneous assignment of a PRE-EMINENT
STATUS to the English language within the Modern world Order.
‘English is the world’s most important
language’ (Quirk et al)
The power of English not confined to the
invention & manufacture of new technology – as new inventions in
English-invaded countries throughout the world show:
Japan: man-shon (mansion for
condominium), (Japlish) aisu-kurim (ice cream), mai-com (my
computer)
jumbo-jet à
le gros porteur, fast food à
prêt-à-manger, hot money à
capitaux fébriles
Le Monde:
1 word out of 166 in English . One-twentieth of day-to-day French vocabulary is
composed of anglicisms.
The global position of English Four
Criteria: i. Numbers, ii. Spread and distribution, iii. ‘vehicular Load’ , iv.
Political and economic influence
Languages : 6700 (spoken in 228 countries)
About 100 of these langs. : 1 to 10 million users.
13 of them have over 50 million users:
Chinese, English, Spanish, Bengali, Hindi/Urdu Russian, Arabic, Portuguese,
Malay, Japanese, French, German, Italian. 
Picture on the right: UN WELCOMES SIX
BILLIONTH BABY
2.Spread and distribution
Chinese: over 1 billion users
- But it includes several dialects
(Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew, etc.)
- is confined by ethnicity and area
ii. as a second language (L2) for the
minorities
‘necessary for certain official, social,
commercial, or educational activities within their own country’ (Fishman et
al)
These include the Welsh, the Irish, the
Quebecois, and the Afrikaners
The estimated number of people who are
learning Eng. as a foreign language in countries where English has no official
status is 1 billion.
iv. as an international language world-wide.
International institutions ( The British Council, FAO, ILO, IMF, UNESCO, USIS,
etc. ) guarantee its maintenance and spread.
3.
‘Vehicular load’ / Pragmatic functions
English carries the heaviest global load of
functions among all the languages of the world.
- Japanese businessmen negotiating deals
with Kuwaitis, Swedes speaking to Mexicans, Hong Kong bankers in Singapore.
- Employment at all levels: executive,
technological, educational, labour, domestic, . . .
- the multinational ARAMCO in 1982 taught
English to 12, 000 employees in West Asia.
- even in non-EMT countries, ‘English is a
top requirement of those seeking good jobs – and is often the language in which
good jobs are conducted’ (Quirk et al)
Diplomacy
Before WW I, the official language was
French; by end of WW II, English had become the equal of French.
UNO: 6 official languages - Arabic, Chinese,
English, French, Russian, Spanish: but English has a pre-eminent position.
The Iraq War (1990) was conducted and
reported predominantly in English. More recently, Kosovo, E. Timor
With nationalism and self-determination,
growing awareness of the need for universal literacy, etc. in many former
colonial countries. English – the language of higher education.
Secondary level - growing bilingual
education with English as the other language.
In many non-EMT countries, university level
education, particularly in the technological field, is in the English medium.
German and Italian have been replaced by
English as the primary language in Physics journals.
- the language of scientific papers in the
world 80% estimated to be first published in English
- Book production dominated by English
- Newspapers 22 Asian and 25 African
countries 80% of Newsweek International’s 325,000 circulation is in the
Atlantic/Pacific region
- Radio, TV dominated by English 60%
broadcasts in English (BBC, ITN, CNN, cable networks, multi- media corridors,
the Internet)
- Mail 70% of the world’s mail estimated to
be addressed in English
Literature
Advertising
- Coca/Pepsi Cola, Nike, etc.
- the Olympic Games, the Miss Universe /
World pageants, Trade Fairs
- pop music and mass entertainment
4. Political and economic influence
The GNP of the USA, Canada and Britain is
higher than that of the other countries of OECD (Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development - Europe and Japan) taken together.
- foreign technical experts, business
representatives, expatriate students/teachers, etc.
‘By any of the criteria, it is prominent; by
some it is pre-eminent and by a combination of the four it is superlatively
outstanding.’ (Quirk et al)
OFFICIAL POSITION in many countries,
including non-EMT countries, and is used for records, laws, parliamentary
debates, etc.
- English is the sole designated official
language of 21 countries.
- It is the designated co-official language
of 16 countries Fiji, Ghana, India, Malta, Mauritius, Nigeria, The Philippines,
Singapore, South Africa, Tonga, Western Samoa, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka.
- It often has an official role even when it
is not designated. Israel, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sudan
Pragmatic vs. Mathetic functions
English in its pragmatic function
the focus generally falls on the PRACTICAL
or UTILITARIAN value of English, its role in modernisation, economic and social
development and so on, as these countries endeavour to recover from the
stagnation, etc. of the colonial interlude.
The concern here is with its PRAGMATIC
FUNCTION – ‘language as action’, as ‘a resource for doing with’ (M.A.K.
Halliday)
English in its mathetic function
English in its MATHETIC FUNCTION: ‘language
as reflection’, as ‘a resource for thinking with’, an instrument for ‘the
construction of reality’. (M.A.K. Halliday)
- The positive dimension
English in its mathetic function can serve,
like any language, ‘to make sense of the world one lives in, to develop a
conceptual model of causes and consequences, to construct a world-view in which
one can locate oneself’. (Prabhu, The Mathetic Function of English)
But globally, it has certain advantages over
other languages in this respect, as ‘the medium of a KNOWLEDGE PARADIGM which
has spread itself across the present-day world’.
- ‘the concepts of what constitutes knowledge’
originates ‘in particular cultures’.
- the ideas of Newton, Darwin, Einstein,
etc., which provide the ‘knowledge base’ of science, technology and
industrialisation, concepts of democracy, notions of the individual and
individual rights, the possibility of progress, the value of rational enquiry,
etc.
- i.e., such ideas ‘have the power to influence minds in all parts of the
world’ and have had ‘a world wide influence on people’s modes of thought’.
- it is such ideas that go to make up what
is regarded as the current knowledge paradigm
- within this community, ALL ALIKE
PARTICIPATE EQUALLY in ‘the knowledge-generating process’.
This opens out ‘AN UNPRECEDENTED PROSPECT OF
WORLD-WIDE INTELLECTUAL PARTICIPATION & PARITY’
This approach brings about an imp.
SHIFT OF FOCUS
Currently, most third world countries are
concerned with simply the transfer of technology and science from more
developed countries in an effort to reduce economic and material disparities.
- Such a focus divides the world
‘between knowledge generators and knowledge receivers, the future course
of the knowledge paradigm being shaped in one part of the world while the other
part continues to depend on its future products’.
- This WILL reduce technological and
economic disparity, BUT AT THE COST OF ‘the perpetuation of intellectual
non-parity’
- The approach developed above, however,
places emphasis on the potential of English to help achieve equal participation.
The mathetic function of English – the
negative dimension
The HOMOGENISATION OF THOUGHT through the
language and the MARGINALISATION of traditions of thought and views of reality
not associated with this powerful instrument.
Associated with this is the HEGEMONY of the
world view that this language and the discourse associated with it help create,
that of the dominant groups in the English-serviced global endeavour.
Language is NOT a NEUTRAL CODE, it
constructs views of reality associated with characteristic habits of mind,
modes of understanding, ways of making meaning, and kinds of knowledge. These
habits, modes, etc. have a clear IDEOLOGICAL aspect, which cannot be ignored.
‘Language is a guide to social reality. . .
. the “real” world is to a large extent unconsciously built upon the language
habits of the group. No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be
considered as representing the same social reality. The world in which
different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with
different labels attached . . . We see and hear and otherwise experience as we
do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of
interpretation’. (Sapir, Selected Writings)
The implication of all this is that
languages have ‘a unique extension over the minds of men’. (Goad, Language
in History)
- The knowledge paradigm affirms THEIR view,
sidelining alternative ways of seeing
reality
The result is the ‘triumph of the West’
Evidence of the entrapment within such dominant
perspectives and views of the world:
- ‘the middle east’
The far
east from the Singaporean perspective?
- ‘the continent’
- ‘summer vacation’
- ‘autumn/winter sales’
- ‘the mystical strains of the Orient’
- ‘the magic and mystery of darkest Africa’
- ‘the mysterious harmonies of ancient
civilisations’
The nature of the WORLD INFORMATION ORDER
aggravates the situation
- information-poor Third World countries
depend on on an information-rich Euro-America
- In the 1980s, the big four press agencies
accounted for 80% of the flow of information - ITN, BBC, VOA, CNN - ¼ of
world’s newspapers printed in the USA - no two-way flow - no balance in
reporting
A paradox for ex-colonial countries
From the point of view of especially
developing, ex-colonial countries, the situation raises a MAJOR PARADOX:
- On the one hand, they desperately need the
advantages English brings though its pragmatic and mathetic functions (no place
for ‘adolescent nationalism’), if they are to take their rightful place among
the community of nations.
- At the same time, to accept the language
is to run the risk of cooption, and subversion by the dominant groups, and the
homogenisation of their thoughts accompanied by the marginalisation of their
own views. Can NVEs point towards a solution?
- Since they represent a transformation of
this shared medium by their users to enable it to express their own messages,
views of reality, understandings, which would allow them to use it for their
own purposes and to participate meaningfully in the global endeavour.
© 2001 R. Rubdy