Preface 1. Why a global language? 2. Why English? The historical context 3. Why English? The cultural foundation 4. Why English? The cultural legacy 5. The future of global English References Index List of tables.

English as a Global Language

A textbook of translation , A textbook of translation , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی

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A textbook of translation

‘English is the global language.’ A headline of this kind must have appeared in a thousand news-papers and magazines in recent years. ‘English Rules’ is an actual example, presenting to the world an uncomplicated scenario suggesting the universality of the language's spread and the likelihood of its continuation. A statement prominently displayed in the body of the associated article, memorable chiefly for its alliterative ingenuity, reinforces the initial impression: ‘The British Empire may be in full retreat with the handover of Hong Kong. But from Bengal to Belize and Las Vegas to Lahore, the language of the sceptred isle is rapidly becoming the first global lingua franca.’ Millennial retrospectives and prognostications continued in the same vein, with several major newspapers and magazines finding in the subject of the English language an apt symbol for the themes of globalization, diversification, progress and identity addressed in their special editions. Television programmes and series, too, addressed the issue, and achieved world-wide audiences. Certainly, by the turn of the century, the topic must have made contact with millions of popular intuitions at a level which had simply not existed a decade before. These are the kinds of statement which seem so obvious that most people would give them hardly a second thought. Of course English is a global language, they would say. You hear it on television spoken by politicians from all over the world. Wherever you travel, you see English signs and advertisements.

English as a global language: Why a global language?

There has been much discussion of intra-lingual varieties in recent years. Catford has pertinently stated the problem which has prompted this discussion and justified the need to solve it (1965:83): ‘The concept of a “whole language” is so vast and heterogeneous that it is not operationally useful for many linguistic purposes, descriptive, comparative and pedagogical. It is therefore desirable to have a framework of categories for the classification of “sub-languages” or varieties within a total language.’

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022226700016601

Aspects of varieties differentiation

In the first half of the twentieth century, English grammar disappeared from the curriculum of most schools in England, but since the 1960s it has gradually been reconceptualised, under the influence of linguistics, and now once again has a central place in the official curriculum. Our aim is not only to document these changes, but also to explain them. We suggest that the decline of grammar in schools was linked to a similar gap in English universities, where there was virtually no serious research or teaching on English grammar. Conversely, the upsurge of academic research since the 1960s has provided a healthy foundation for school-level work and has prevented a simple return to old-fashioned grammar-teaching now that grammar is once again fashionable. We argue that linguists should be more aware of the links between their research and the school curriculum.

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A. C. Gimson

Papers

The use of English

The use of English