What happens when you meet someone who does not speak your language?  Try gestures  Use a lingua franca  Acquire a second language  Develop a pidgin  Have kids who speak a creole 1/10

Lingua Francas of the World  Taiwan  Mainland China  Eastern Africa  Republics of the former Soviet Union  The world 2/10

Claims about English  English is the global language.  English is a global language. 3/10

English as a Global Language This, of course, is due not to any inherent superiority of the English language as a medium of international communication, but rather to the former world political, economic, educational and scientific dominance of Britain and the similar present dominance of the USA.” Trudgill, Peter Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p /10

Possible Advantages of a Global Language What advantages can you think of? 5/10

Crystal’s Possible Conflicts between Language Needs Crystal sees two opposing / conflicting goals / concepts: 1. Desire for identity  "fundamental value of multilingualism" 2. Desire for wider communication  "fundamental value of a common language" Trudgill, Peter Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books, p. xiii. 6/10

Crystal’s Book If you read Crystal’s book, he discusses: 1. What makes a world language? 2. Why is English the leading candidate? 3. Will it continue to hold this position? My additional questions: 4. What should we / YOU think about this? 5. What would YOU say about studying English as a second language to your fellow Taiwanese / Taiwanese parents? Trudgill, Peter Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th edition. London: Penguin Books. 7/10

Global or Regional Languages throughout History LanguageWhereWhen  Greek  Latin  Arabic  French  Spanish  Chinese  English 8/10

Possible Dangers of a Global Language  Linguistic Power 1. It might make monolingual speakers of the global language look down on others. 2. It might give an unfair advantage to the native speakers.  Linguistic Complacency 3. It might make people lazy about learning any other language or reduce their options for learning other languages.  Linguistic Death 4. It might make other languages (especially small language groups) seem obsolete and promote the death of languages. Crystal, David English as a Global Language, second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp /10

Pidgins and Creoles Simplification  Decreolization A kind of regularization: Absence of irregular verbs Fewer / no noun classes Avoidance of certain syntactic structures Reduction  Creolization Used in fewer contexts: Might only be used for business Trudgill, Peter Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, third edition. London: Penguin Books, pp , 160, /10