THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH AS A WORLD LANGUAGE

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND

Language is a very powerful tool for communication in the world. It is something that
can never take away from you. Without you even telling your race or what country you are
from, at the time you open your mouth and start speaking, you are telling your identity to the
person you talk to. When people from a different country move or travel to another country,
they introduce their language through communication. And if people stay to a place other than
their native land, it is inevitable that they will adapt the language present in that place. At the
same time, in the same manner, people from their native land may adapt the language of the
immigrants or tourists visiting their place.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Learning a language is not an overnight achievement. To be able to acquire language

takes a lot of time and effort especially if the language you are learning is not your mother
tongue. As you try to speak your second language or any other language that you are learning,
it is inevitable that your way in uttering the words, phrases or sentences of the language is not
appropriate to its standard. Just like in the case of learning the English language, many speakers
from abroad or foreign countries greatly influence it in many ways. One factor is the use of
creole and pidgin. Creole are varieties of language based on French while pidgin, according to
dictionary is a grammatically simplified form of a language, used for communication between
people not sharing a common language. As it was stated in the book of David Crystal entitled
English as a Global Language, it is not only the native bearer of a language who has the power
to modify, change or replace the language but the second or foreign speaker as well.

There is an emergence of different varieties of English language. The emergence of

these new languages cannot be stopped and really happening so quickly. New words are being
used and gradually were accepted and adopted by a lot of people. The involvement of
influential people like the politicians, musicians, religious leaders and even idols and artists
really help normalizing new words or local words. According to the book of Crystal, local words
even appear to be cool rather than be seen as ignorance. Furthermore, when these influential
people started to travel to different country, they travel with them their language. And because
they are influential, a lot of people look up to them so the chance of adapting or imitating them
is expected. The result is that the words, phrases and or sentences they use become
acceptable. However, despite of the increasing New Englishes, there are people whose point of
view is their preference of the use of Standard English. In line with this, Prime Minister Goh
Chok Tong of Singapore plea for the cut down of the use of Singlish (an English-based creole
language in Singapore) by Singaporeans.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In an internet-based research method, according to a research conducted by David

Graddol in “The Future of Language”, it is said that “the world’s language system is undergoing
rapid change because of demographic trends, new technology, and international
communication. These changes will affect both written and spoken communication”. In
addition, though there are languages that were extinct and going to extinct, new languages are
emerging and will emerge in the future caused by many factors. In “The Future of English”
which was published in the year 1997, written by the same author, it was stated that “…the
world is in transition, so the English language is itself taking new forms… English has changed
substantially in 1500 years…”.

DATA ANALYSIS

According to Ofer Tirosh, English is the fastest growing language. The increased of
English speakers between 2011 and 2021 is from 1, 054,696,408, to 1, 300,569,350. That is a
total of 245, 872, 942 increased in the span of one decade. Moreover, in an article entitled
‘Understanding Extinct Languages: When and Why They Die Off’ there are 573 known extinct
languages. These languages are no longer spoken or studied. It is also stated that reasons of
local dialects extinction are no records of alphabet or wording and behind the extinction of
other languages is because of changing cultures. “Between 1950 and 2010, the world added
230 extinct languages”.
RESULTS

Indeed, the evolution of the English language is can be traced from its broad history. As
the time goes by, other varieties of the English language were forever lost as New Englishes
arise. It is possible that the language we speak today may be extinct as well in the future.

CONCLUSION

Language is a kind of institution that is ever changing. We can never put its definition in
a single box for its system is complicated as ever. The abundance of the history of English
language makes it clear that a language can change and continuously change over time. From
Old English to Middle English to Modern English, there are other English variants in between.
Today, we have a lot of languages that were already extinct and there are also in the process of
extinction. Nevertheless, there are also new languages that are emerging in the present time
and there is a possibility that a lot more languages will emerge in the future. The speaker of a
certain language gives life to it. And the role of these people in the society greatly influence the
language. At last, to be fluent in a certain language is a continuous process. People who are
native speakers of a language and even the foreign speakers of it can inevitably use the
language not suited to its standard.

REFERENCES

- English as a global language, Second edition By DAVID CRYSTAL Year: 2007

URL:http://culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/pdf/research/books/nation_branding/
English_As_A_Global_Language_-_David_Crystal.pdf
- The Fastest Growing Languages in the World By Anon Container: www.tomedes.com
URL: https://www.tomedes.com/translator-hub/fastest-growing-languages
- The Future of Language By D. Graddol Year: 2004 Container: Science Volume: 303 Issue:
5662
Page: 1329-1331 DOI: 10. 1126/science.1096546
- Extinct Languages: When and Why They Die Off | ILS By Barb Sichel Year: 2019
Container: ILS
Translations URL: https://www.ilstranslations.com/blog/understanding-extinct-languages-when-and-
why-they-die-off/