English Language as a World Language

BASIC CHARACTERISTICS

SIMPLICITY OF FORM. Old English, like modern German, French, Russian and Greek, had many inflections to show singular and plural, tense,

person, etc., but over the centuries words have been simplified. Verbs now have very few inflections, and adjectives do not change according to the noun.

FLEXIBILITY. As a result of the loss of inflections, English has become, over the past five centuries, a very flexible language. Without inflections, the same word can operate as many different parts of speech. Many nouns and verbs have the same form, for example swim, drink, walk, kiss, look, and smile. We can talk about water to drink and to water the flowers; time to go and to time a race;

A paper to read andto paper a bedroom. Adjectives can be used as verbs. Wewarm our hands in front of a fire; if clothes arcdirtied,they need to becleaned anddried. Prep­ositions too are flexible. A sixty-year old man is nearing retirement; we can talk about around of golf, cards, or drinks.

OPENNESS OF VOCABULARY. This involves the free admissions of words from other languages and the easy creation of compounds and derivatives. Most world languages have contributed some words to English at some time, and the process is now being reversed. Purists of the French, Russian, and Japanese languages are resisting the arrival of English in their vocabulary.

THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH. Geo­graphically, English is the most widespread language on Earth, second only to Mandarin Chinese in the number of people who speak it. It is the language of business, technology, sport, and aviation. This will no doubt continue, although the proposition that all other languages will die out is absurd.

English Language as a World Language

Guide

DISCUSSION

I. Answer the questions using the list below.

l Which language in the world is spoken by most people?

2 Which language has the largest vocabulary?

3 Which is the oldest written language?

4 Which sub-continent has the largest number of languages?

5 Which language has no irregular verbs?

б Which language has the most letters in its alphabet?

7 In which language is the largest encyclopaedia printed?

Is it... Spanish/Cambodian/ English/Egyptian/Esperanto/ Mandarin Chinese/Indian?

 

PRE-READING

II. Work in pairs.

Do you think the following statements are true or false?

1 English was already an important world language four hundred years ago.

2 It is mainly because of the United States that English has become a world language.

3 One person out of seven in the world speaks perfect English.

4 There arc few inflections in, modern English.

5 In English, many verbs can be used as nouns.

6 English has borrowed words from many other languages.

7 In the future, all other languages will probably die out.

SKIM READING

III. Read the article on English as a world language. Find out the answers to the true/false statements.

There is one statement for each paragraph. Discuss your answers in pairs. Then read the article in more depth.

WORD STUDY

IV. Using the dictionary check the pronunciation of the following words:

Shakespeare bilingual absurd

 

 

V. Form derivatives to the words in the table:			VI. Write the correct combination of the verb and the particle.
Noun	Verb			1) fall	a) out
derivative				2) die	b) to
inflect				3) contribute	с) into
contribution				Highlight these phrasal verbs in the article, comment on their meaning.
simplify

 

VII. Show the difference between:

a. establishment — settlement

b. proposition — preposition

c. monolingual — bilingual — multilingual

VIII. Compile a list of words and word-combinations which characterise the status of the English language

in the world. e.g....one of the major languages in the world

COMPREHENSION

IX. Explain the meaning of the following:

mother tongue	to give the English language its present standing
purist	to involve the free admission of words
to resist the arrival of the English language

 

FOLLOW-UP

X. Do a mini-research:

1. Consult the dictionary and find the examples to illustrate the basic characteristics of the English language.

2. Compile a scheme, according to which the English language, in your opinion, is going to develop in future.

THE TRANSATLANTIC CONNECTION

Do Americans and Englishmen really speak the same language? It isn't only a question of accents. Spelling and vocabulary are different on either side of the Atlantic, too. Some people would say that the differences are getting fewer. The now 'language' we call 'Transatlantic English' is helping to bridge the gap between our two countries. It's a mixture of British and American characteristics in accent and vocabulary, invented by the increasing number of tourists and businessmen who cross the Atlantic frequently.

But wouldn't it be a pity if we all started talking English in exactly the same way? Variety is the spice of life and it's impossible to say that British or American English is wrong or right. Let's hope that we can go on being inventive in our own individual ways on both sides of the At­lantic.

The differences in spelling are well known — for"instance, words like 'colour', 'honour' and 'neighbour' are spelt without the 'u' in the United States. While the British have kept the original spellings of many foreign words now used in the English language, Americans have made a point of simplifying spellings and often change them in ways that seem curious to their more conservative British cousins. 'Catalogue' becomes 'catalog', and even 'cigaret' has been seen for 'cigarette'.

Some of the differences in vocabulary could load to amusing situations. Did you know that American buildings have no ground floor? This does not mean you have to jump up ten feet to get into them, simply that what the British call the 'ground floor' is what Americans call the 'first floor' and so on — useful to remember in a department store!

If an American says he is wearing his new 'pants' and 'vest' to a party — do not be alarmed. He is not going in his underwear, but 'pants' and 'vest' are the American words for 'trousers' and 'waistcoat'. On the other hand, if a British person wears his 'mackintosh' and 'Wellingtons' on a rainy day, he will have to explain to his American cousin that these are his 'raincoat' and 'galoshes' or 'rubbers'. In the USA a raincoat is even called a 'London fog', something which no longer exists in London.

When an Englishman goes on his 'holidays', an American will go 'on vacation'. And whereas an Englishman will be 'ill in hospital', an American will be 'sick in the hospital'.

Americans are more ready to accept new ideas and new customs than their British cousins, and the same goes for new words.

In some cases the British seem more modern in their use of English than the Americans — some American English dates back to the language of the Pilgrim Fathers and hasn't been used in Britain since the seventeenth century. The word 'fall' is considered archaic, in Britain, where we use 'autumn' instead. In the USA people use the old-fashioned past participle of 'get' and say 'He has gotten, thin' or 'I could have gotten here sooner' when in Britain we would always use 'got'.

How American or English is either of our languages anyway? We both owe lot to languages from other countries and words that have been absorbed into English tell us much about the histories of Britain and America. Many 'English' words used in Britain actually come from countries of the British Em­pire, such as 'dinghy' (a small boat) and 'bungalow' (a house on one level), both from India. American English has words taken from all the different na­tions which have contributed to the formation of North America: 'hooch' meaning 'whisky', is an American Indian word; 'cockroach' (the insect) and 'stampede' (when a herd of cattle runs in panic) come from the original Spanish; the Dutch contributed words such as 'dumb' (stupid) and 'boss' (chief); and it is to the Germans that Americans owe that vital word 'hamburger'.

Laura MILLER

From ВВС "Modern English";