DAVID CRYSTAL, ‘’ENGLISH AS A GLOBAL LANGUAGE’’.
David Crystal focuses on the historical reasons and context in which and through
which English has developed and is still developing as a global language.
We usually tend to speak about English as one language, but there actually are many
more varieties of English spoken around the world.
According to Crystal, a global language is a language which develops a special role
that is recognized in every country; and it doesn’t depend on the number of
speakers, but it depends on economic, technological and cultural power.
In the case of English, we tend to classify it with three different terminology:
- ENL-English as a Native Language
- ESL-English as a Second Language
- EFL-English as a Foreign Language
There are several factors which have contributed to make English a global language,
for example:
CINEMA: because in 1920s sound was added to film, so there’s the
passage from the silent films to the talkies. Obviously, first films were
created in Hollywood, so English became the language of cinema.
MUSIC: Edison invented the phonograph, the ‘’vinile’’ was created and the
exportation of the music begins all over the world, and Pop Music in
English dominated the charts.
LITERATURE: cause if you write your book in English, you know your book
can be sold everywhere without translation
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL: cause English is considered as lingua franca of
tourism.
Talking about LINGUA FRANCA, it is a language used for communication between
groups who have no other language in common, and we can divide it in different
types:
PIDGINS: that are simplified languages with specific purposes,
usually for economic and trading reasons;
