COLONIALIS

M
ENGLISH IN THE WORLD

DONE BY KIMBERLY CHAMBOKO

WHAT IS COLONIALISM ?
DEFINITION
 Colonialism is the pursuing, establishing and maintaining of control and exploitation of people
and of resources by a foreign group of people .
It occurs when one nation subjugates another , conquering its population and exploiting it .
In the process of colonization , colonizers may impose their religion, language, economics, and
other cultural practices .
 The purpose of colonialism included ; economics exploitation of the colony’s people and
natural resources , religion , prestige and extension of the colonizer’s way of life to
populations beyond its national borders.
 But how does colonialism link or connect to ENGLISH IN THE WORLD .
ENGLISH IN THE WORLD
This is Professor Robert Henry Lawrence Phillipson, author of
The book “ LINGUISTIC IMPERIALISM” .
What is the theory of linguistic imperialism ? Phillipson’s findings where
That “ linguistic imperialism is the imposition of one language on speakers
Of other languages
For example ; English-speaking settlers founded colonial America and
Australia,
among others, making them English-speaking nations from the beginning
KACHRU’S CIRCLE MODEL ( PUBLISHED IN 1985 )
ELABORATION
Braj B. Kachru came up with a circle model which
describes how
English has spread throughout the world, according to the
languages’ origins
And importance .
The inner circle of English is found in countries where the
language is the mother tongue.
These countries are the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand
and English speaking regions of Canada .
The outer circle is made up of countries where English was
introduces . This was mainly as a result of colonial
Expansion on the part of the UK and the USA and included
countries of Malaysia, India, Nigeria eg.
The third circle is the expanding circle where there is no
history of English in the culture and it is taught as a foreign
Language . Because it is taught, the countries in this group
receive the standards of English rather than creating them .
Countries in this group include China, Brazil, Brazil and
eastern Europe countries such as Poland .
 FURTHER ELABORATION
 The linguist David Crystal suggests that a language spreads because the people who speak it are
powerful and so others learn it believing that it will improve their lives .
 We can now link his findings to Colonialism , for example , ” Great Britain” , which was the biggest
empire during { 1815-1914} , it covered around a quarter of the earths land surface . It went on to
colonize countries , and by doing is , it took the English language with them . How so ? For example ,
through education, communication as well as spread of religion .
 When the British colonized Zimbabwe in 1890 , they inserted linguistic imperialism which we
discussed earlier , as a result Zimbabwe became a British colony , Today English is the main language
of Zimbabwe .
 SUMMARY
 As Kachru had mentioned before ”the traditional bases of English and examples were USA,
UK, Australia and a few more , from these countries English spread to other countries.
 I believe it was a cycle .
 As it started from the British spreading English to the countries it colonized
 For example the use of English in the Unites States is as a result of British colonization of the
Americas. And as people migrated to different areas the English language spread .
 Today it is the most commonly spoken language in the world .
THE END
 …….