英语全球化的影响

1ImpactofEnglishGlobalizationonVernaculars’Survival英語全球化對當地語言存續之影響二水國中教師蕭建峻1.Introduction:EnglishGlobalization1.緒論：英語全球化BecauseoftheinfluencesofformerBritishEmpireandtheUSA’spolitical/economicpower,Englishnowadaysisusedinalotofareasaroundtheworld.Oncecalledasthe“sun-neversetcountry”inthe19thcentury,theBritishEmpireownedabout1/4landoftheworld.Atthattime,thelanguageoftheruler,theEnglish,wasthelanguagechosenforcommunicationbetweendifferentcoloniesandwithintheBritishEmpire.However,thepowerstartedshiftingfromtheBritishEmpiretotheUSAduringWWIIastheUSAbecamethearmoryofthewholefreeworld.AfterWWII,theUSAsuccessfullygrabbedtheopportunitytobecomethesuperpoweroftheworldinpoliticandeconomicstagesastheEuropeancountriesworkedhardtorecoverfromthewar.WhiletheBritishEmpireandtheUSAstretchedtheirpowertotheworld,bothcountriesalsobroughtthelanguage,English,tothewholeworldsimultaneously.Englishnowistheofficiallanguageformorethan80countries()andbecomesthemostfavoritelanguageforinternationalcommunication.WiththeglobalizationofEnglish,Englishispopularinmanyfields,suchasacademy,internationalpoliticalmeetings,entertainment,business,andevenpersonalsocialinteraction.(Buck,2005)Inthefieldofmassmedia,Englishisthemostfavoritelanguage.TaketheTVnewsasanexample.CNNandBBCaregoodchoicestogetinformationaboutthecurrentinternationalnews.ThepossiblereasonsarenotonlythegiantorganizationofthesetwonewsagenciesbutalsothelanguageCNNandBBCuseforspreadingnews,2i.e.,English.Intheentertainmentindustry,Englishhasanunparalleledposition.Inthemoviefield,Hollywoodplaysanimportantroleandproduceslotsofmovieseveryyear.AmongthemoviesfromHollywood,mostareinEnglishorcomewithEnglishsubtitles.Inthemusicfield,havingEnglishcommunicationabilityseemstobethebasicrequirementfortheartiststocompeteintheglobalmarket.ThereasonofchoosingEnglishismainlyduetoitswideacceptabilityintheworld.Accordingtotheestimation(Swales,1987),amongalltheacademicpaperspublishedeachyear,morethan50%werewritteninEnglish.ThemoreamazingfactisthatthepercentageofEnglishwrittenpapersisstillrisingyearafteryear.Englishispreferredtoanyotherlanguageinthefieldofscienceandtechnology.(Crystal,1997).Besidesbeingusedinbooks,newspaper,academicconferences,andsciencetechnology,Englishisalsothemainlanguageemployedininternationalsettings,e.g.,internationalairports,advertising,andorganizations.Ininternationalairports,Englishsignalsarealmosteverywhere.Withinmostinternationalorganizations,suchasUN,GATT,andNATO,Englishisusuallythefirstlanguagepeopleemploywheninteractingwithotherswhohavedifferentlanguages.Inalltheabovecases,EnglishglobalizationmakesEnglishbecometheinternationallingualfrancaforcommunication.Alinguafrancaisusedasatoolforcommunication.Whentwospeakerswithdifferentfirstlanguageswanttocommunicatewitheachother,eachspeakerhastochooseacommonlanguagetomakehimself/herselfunderstood.Thechosencommonlanguageisthelinguafranca.Currently,thelanguagechosenmostoftenaroundtheworldisEnglish(House,2003).TothesepeoplewhochooseEnglishasthelinguafranca,Englishisusedasatooltoachievesomethingbeneficialtotheirlives,e.g.,formakingmoney,jobpromotion…etc(Mufwene,2006).However,somepeoplethinkthatsuchwideusesof3Englishbringsomenegativeimpactstotheworld.Asalingualfranca,Englishinfluencessomepeople’slanguagechoices.AccordingtoMelitz(2007),Englishglobalizationbringsthreatstotheexistenceoflocallanguages.Somelanguagesthushavelimitedspacefordevelopmentwhichlatermightresultintheextinction.Followingtheextinctionisthelossofculturalidentityandintegrity(Zealand,2006).Nevertheless,somelanguagesstillsuccessfullykeeptheirpositionsinspecificareas.Toexplorethesituation,tworesearchquestionsareproposedtodiscusstheimpactsofEnglishglobalizationonvernacular’ssurvival.1.WhydoesEnglishputsomevernacularsintoextinctioninsomeareasbutnotinotherareas?2.IfEnglishisnotthekillerofsomevernaculars,howandwhydosomevernacularsbecomeextinctwithoutclearpersonalintervention?2.NegativeimpactsofEnglishglobalization:Englishasavernacularkiller2.英語全球化負面的影響：英語成為本土語言的兇手Insomecontexts,Englishglobalizationmayposeagreatthreattotheexistenceofthevernaculars.AccordingtoSwaans’“Q-value”(2001),peopleusuallydecidetospeakonelanguagethatisthemosthelpfultothemtoachievetheirgoals.AsthespeakerschooseEnglishfordailycommunication,theirnativelanguageswouldberestrictedintheirdevelopmentandthenwouldpossiblybeabandoned.Inthisway,Englishcouldputseverallanguagesintoextinction.Takethesituationinthesettlementcoloniesasanexample(Mufwene,2006).ThesettlementcoloniesaretheplaceswheretheEuropeancolonistsplannedtostayashomes,suchasAmerica,Australia,andNewZealand.Intheseareas,newimmigrantsbroughttheirownlanguagesandthenthelanguagescompetedwitheachotherinthenewworld.Usually,thewinnerwenttothesocio-economicallydominantlanguage,i.e.,English.Thereasonsareoftenattributedtonewimmigrants’minorityinnumber4andbeingweakinsocio-economicpower.Loseinthecompetitionoftenledtolimitedspaceandfewoccasionsforthedevelopmentofthenewimmigrants’languages