Source: Robert Phillipson (1992) Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford University Press

English, the dominant language

English is now entrenched worldwide because of

1. British colonialism
2. International interdependence
3. “Revolutions” in technology, communications and commerce
4. Dominance of United States as a major economic, political and military power

A. Core English-speaking countries:

• Britain

Fate of Celtic languages:

Death of Cornish

Colonial policy of imposing English on Irish

Re-emergence of Welsh, Scottish Gaelic

                        Immigrant minority languages

• United States

1960 census: 11 percent did not use English as mother tongue

1980 census: 23 million spoke another language at home

Native Americans consider English a foreign language

• Canada

French in Quebec has challenged the supremacy of English

• Australia

Hegemony of English disputed

• New Zealand

Right of access to both English and Maori—the official languages

            The number of native speakers of English is about 315 million.

B. Periphery-English countries

Countries that require English as an international link language, e.g.

·        Japan

·        Scandinavian countries

Major corporations increasingly use English as the in-company language

Countries on which English was imposed in colonial times, e.g.

·        India

-- Students learn at least three languages, including English

--Although only 2-to-3 percent is literate in English, 42 percent of books published in India (1982) was in English

-- English language press is highly influential

·        Nigeria

C. Language Promotion

Major international languages today are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The distribution of these languages in the world reflects evidence of conquest and occupation, followed by adoption of invader’s language.

French was unchallenged as the international language of diplomacy until the peace talks at the conclusion of the 1914-1918 war when parity between English and French was agreed. These became the official languages of the League of Nations.

European Community: Nominally, all EC languages have equal rights as official languages of all member countries. French was de facto dominant language until 1972, when Britain, Denmark and Ireland joined EC. English and French are the primary working languages today. In 1984, Germany insisted that EC should use German as an equal language. The British, however, wanted to compete on (unequal) terms that favored English.

D. Opposition to the dominance of English

            Those protesting (linguistic imperialism) include:

·        Colonized people

·        European parliamentarians

·        Political enemies of core-English nations

·        Guardians of the purity of languages

·        Intellectuals from core and periphery-English countries