Филологические науки / 3.Теоретические и методологические проблемы

исследования языка

К. філол. н. Полонська І. П.

Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка, Україна

Linguistic Aspect of Globalization

Globalization has become one of the most debated subjects all over the world. It is really a buzzword nowadays. Globalization has a lot of different aspects. That is why this word is so difficult to define. In business English globalization means the tendency for the world economy to work as one unit, led by large international companies doing business all over the world. Some of the things that have led to globalization are the ending of trade barriers, the free movement of capital, cheap transport, and the increased use of electronic systems of communication such as the Internet. [Longman Business English Dictionary 2000] In general, globalization refers not only to the trend towards countries joining together economically but also through society, education, politics and raising themselves not only through their national identity but also as a part of the world as a whole. Globalization has been hailed as one of the best things to happen to the world by its proponents, whereas opponents have labeled it as neo imperialism. Despite its challenges, globalization brings people of all nations together, a positive role it has played in changing the lives of millions of people around the world is commendable.

It is essential to study the impact of globalization on the most important possession of human beings – languages. The linguistic aspect of globalization includes answers to the following questions: What is a global language? Is globalization creating opportunities? What is happening to local languages?

What is a global language?

Neither economic globalization nor language spread is new in the history of mankind. What is especially striking today is both the scale and the speed at which these processes are evolving. [Salikoko S. Mufwene 2010, 31]

The most spoken first language in the world is Mandarin Chinese followed by Spanish and English. However, the most popular second language is undoubtedly English. Because the English language is so widely spoken, it has been referred to as a global language, the lingua franca of globalization.

Why has no other language (not even Chinese) spread around the globe so extensively? There is a very close link between language dominance and cultural power. Without a strong power base – political, military or economic – no language can make progress as an international medium of communication. Language has no independent existence. When the users succeed on the international stage, their language succeeds. When they fail, their language fails. [Crystal 2003, 7, 9]

There are numerous arguments for and against English as a global language. On the one hand, having a global language aids in communication and in pooling information. International English is a gift to mankind when it comes to science and technology, civil aviation and the postal service. Everybody knows what the other fellow is talking about during travels on the Information Superhighway. [Dovring 1997, 11] On the other hand, it leaves out those who, for one reason or another, do not have a good command of the global language. It can also lead to a cultural hegemony of the population speaking the global language as a first language.

Is globalization creating opportunities?

English is associated with potential personal benefits: travelling abroad, jobs that require competence in this second language. If we take such a densely populated country as the Philippines, we can see that the market is still very limited, already saturated and accessible to those people who have already invested in learning the English language anyway.

India, for instance, has an additional comparative advantage because many of its citizens speak English, which is taught at many Indian schools and universities. India has unmatchable supply of English-speaking graduates – roughly 2.5 m a year graduate in India, most of them with some level of English. As Internet and cellular telephone communications continue to become less expensive, India is increasingly using English speaking pool of labour to export such services as software engineering, customer service, telemarketing, reviews of credit or mortgage applications etc. English is a key to the outside world. In India, where there are over 350 different languages, people also often use English to communicate with each other.

What is happening to local languages?

Languages are dying at an alarming rate all over the world. How do languages die? Obviously a language dies if all of its speakers die as the result of genocide or natural disaster, or are scattered in such a way as to break up the language community. More commonly languages die through cultural change and language replacement, by assimilation to a ‘dominant’ culture and language. This process is broad and complex.

Today the world has been homogenizing by convergence, at the expense of cultural diversity. No language is culturally neutral. So the impact of English and the Anglo-Saxon and American culture on the national language and culture in a target country is a crucial issue. “English belongs to the world, but the world does not belong to English. The world that is English might destroy any other language”. [S.Ter-Minasova 2002, 5] As a result of globalization, all modern languages accumulate unprecedented numbers of English borrowings. This process is so fast and spontaneous that it often takes the form of barbarization of the national language. What is more important, new words are often borrowed in their original graphic form (DVD, CD,PC, e-mail) or transliteration as in клінінговий, девелопмент, боду-білдінг, ліфтінг, піар,тату, ремікс, кастинг, etc. No reliable statistics can be kept because of the speed and instability of the process. Could it be controlled and restricted? Should it be controlled and restricted? What is clear and disturbing is that together with new words new concepts, ideas, attitudes and behavior, often alien to the national mentality, invade the target country. Irresponsible use of foreign borrowings has always been a threat to the national language and culture, but today the problem is graver than ever before.

Because English is increasingly being used as the lingua franca, it is endangering the vitality of other languages and driving the world toward monolingualism.[Crystal 2002] Languages are going extinct at a rapid rate and this is predicted to continue and is attributed to globalization. Every two weeks the world loses another indigenous language. Evolving over hundreds or even thousands of years, distinct languages are highly complex and extremely adaptable, but they are also more fragile and endangered than we might expect. Of the approximately 5,000 languages spoken around the globe today, Andrew Dalby predicts that half will be lost during this century. [Dalby 2003]

References

1. Dalby Andrew Language in Danger. – New York: Columbia University Press, 2003. – 356 p.

2. Dovring Karin English as Lingua Franca: Double Talk in Global Persuasion. – Westport: Praeger Publishers, 1997. - 153 p.

3. Crystal David English as a Global Language. – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. – 229 p.

4. Crystal David Language Death . – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. – 208 p.

5. The Handbook of Language and Globalization (edited by N. Coupland). - Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2010. – 672 p.

6. Longman Dictionary of Business English, 2000.

7. Salicoco S. Mufwene Globalization, Global English, and World English(es): Myths and Facts // The Handbook of Language and Globalization, 2010. – P. 31.

8. S.Ter-Minasova Global English – Global Problem //Global English for Global Understanding. Summaries of the International Conference. – Moscow, 2001. – P.5.