Riding the crest of globalization and technology, English dominates the world as no language ever has, and some linguists are now saying it may never be dethroned as the king of languages.
Others see pitfalls, but the factors they cite only underscore the grip English has on the world: cataclysms like nuclear war or climate change or the eventual perfection of a translation machine that would make a common language unnecessary.
Some insist that linguistic evolution will continue to take its course over the centuries and that English could eventually die as a common language as Latin did, or Phoenician or Sanskrit or Sogdian before it.
"If you stay in the mind-set of 15th-century Europe, the future of Latin is extremely bright," said Nicholas Ostler, the author of a language history called "Empires of the Word" who is writing a history of Latin. "If you stay in the mind-set of the 20th-century world, the future of English is extremely bright."
English (Language) Imperialism
♠ Posted by Emmanuel in Hegemony
at 5/15/2007 02:45:00 AM
Let me get this out of the way: One of the prevailing claims to American hegemony is the widespread use of English. I offer two rejoinders: First, it seems to me that the English came up with English, not the Americans. Second, would the fact that we use Arabic numerals be proof of Arabic hegemony? You get the picture, though you are always free to correct me :-) Anyway, I was prompted to write that lead-in since the International Herald Tribune posits that globalization has been accompanied by the spread of English. See what you think: