Guy Cook’s Applied Linguistics

Lecture 3
Chapter 3: LANGUAGES IN THE
CONTEMPORARY WORLD
Dina Bensureiti
.
 Languages in the Contemporary World
Although languages have common properties, it is
the differences that matter when it comes to using
them. Around the world, people speak different
.languages which are mutually incomprehensible
To solve the problem of how people can
communicate with each other, there are two
:possible solutions
Speakers of one language learn the other’s.1
.language
.A translator/translators are used.2
.
 What to Consider
We need to consider the following:
• How differences in languages are perceived by
linguists as well as non-specialists.
• The balance of languages in the contemporary
world and the factors that determine who
learns whose language and why.
.
Attitudes to Languages
•Native speakers of a language usually regard it as their
own property and do not resent other people acquiring it.
This is simply because they lose nothing in the process
and are flattered to share something so highly valued.
•However, it remains familiar and intrinsic to them,
whereas it remains foreign and something apart to those
who learn it as another language. They still believe they
have the right to say what is correct and what is not.
•Furthermore, there is a marked difference between
people’s general characterization of their language and
academic beliefs/linguists views.
•Linguists regard all languages as equal and arbitrary
systems capable of fulfilling the same functions. This view
is very different from how they are perceived by language
users.
•Some languages are popularly regarded as being less
complex than others, e.g. one reason often given to the
spread of international English is that it is easier to learn.
Some languages are considered to be more beautiful, and
some are believed to carry the “spirit” of a people.
On the same vein, Latin is widely believed to be more
logical, German more efficient, or French more romantic
than other languages.
These are all views which we must consider if we are to
mediate between the two perspectives.
In Africa it is common to switch between a local
language or a dominant regional language, and a
.former colonial language such as French, English
For immigrants to Europe there is switching
between the family language and that of their new
home, for example Turkish and German, or Arabic
.and French
Linguists are in a difficult position when comparing
their views- on what counts as a separate language
.and what does not- with that of language users
Although linguistics investigates languages in terms
of history and formal similarities, neither of these
perspectives determines the boundaries of
.languages
Although many believe it to be true, mutual
comprehensibility cannot be considered as a
.measure to find boundaries
The dialect of Sicily makes little sense in Venice,
.”while they are both described as “Italian
Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese are mutually
incomprehensible when spoken and they are both
referred to as “Chinese”.
On the other hand, there are pairs of languages, which are
mutually comprehensible but are regarded as different.
For example:
Russian can guess at the meaning of Ukrainian; Italian
may work for basic transactions in a Spanish-speaking
country; readers of Japanese can make some progress
with Chinese characters
Generally, if people decided that they speak a distinct
language, or conversely that what they speak is a dialect
of a larger language, then it is difficult to argue with them.
 :The Languages of Nations
Boundaries and Relationships
In addition to academic linguistic and popular approaches,
there are other two ways in which languages can be
compared, both of which are of particular importance to the
.contemporary world
These are by numbers of speakers and by geographical
.distribution
While the world’s largest languages, such as Arabic, English,
Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, have hundreds of millions of
speakers and are frequently used beyond
their homelands, populations of the majority of the world’s
languages are much smaller, some with only a few hundred
.speakers
.
.
•Smaller languages are limited to restricted areas and
specific ethnic groups, and are often vulnerable.
•Among the world’s estimated 6000 languages,
language death now occurs increasingly frequently,
and half of the world’s languages are likely to
disappear in the twenty-first century.
•Languages constantly change depending on historical
and political forces. Thus powerful nations have
frequently asserted their unity by promoting one
single majority language in a standard written form
while suppressing /ignoring minority languages.
.
Unfortunately, the successful promotion of one
language and its spread beyond its homeland led to
a state of multilingualism rather than
.monolingualism
A survey of London primary schools in 2000 revealed
that a total of 350 home languages are used by
.London schoolchildren
Meanwhile independence movements, such Scottish
one, associate their cause with the promotion of
one of the indigenous languages which the state has
pushed aside.{Scottish Gaelic, championed by
Scottish National Party, is the official language}
.
Despite the efforts of nation builders, the
monolingual state remains a myth, because all
nations have large linguistic groups within their
borders, making cross-linguistic communication an
intranational as well international affair.
On a personal level, many individuals of the world
are bilingual or multilingual. They must change
tongue to go to work or school, to speak to elderly
relatives, or deal with bureaucracy, making this
code-switching a significant part of their daily
experience.
.
 THE GROWTH OF ENGLISH
• Feelings of ownership, stereotyping, unequal distribution and
power, individual and societal multilingualism- these are- and
have been throughout history- all the issues at the heart of
encounters between different languages.
• Applied linguistics must focus on these issues to resolve
problems related to rights and relationships between languages
to promote communication and understanding while preserving
cultural and linguistic identity.
• English has approximately 400 million native speakers. It is the
main language used internationally for business, education and
information access. It has drastically diminished the role of other
languages.
 -
• In recent years the growth of English has been
further accelerated by a startling expansion in the
quantity and speed of international communication.
• This new situation means that, for a large proportion
of the world´s population, the learning and use of
English as an additional language is both a major
language need and a salient experience.
• Additionally , TEFL and TESOL now include native
and non-native speaker teachers.
.
 English and Englishes
• The growth of English raises important concerns about the dangers
of linguistic and cultural homogeneity. In the case of smaller and
less powerful languages, limited to a particular community in a
particular place, this is unexceptional and unremarkable.
• Once, however a language begins to spread beyond its original
homeland the situation changes and conflicts of opinion begin to
emerge. Thus, even until surprisingly recently, many British English
speakers regarded American English as an impure deviation, as
they might have regarded non standard forms within the UK. While
such feeling of ownership are to be expected, users of the
“deviations” quickly become, as they are in the USA, more
numerous and more internationally powerful than users of the
parent language.
 English and Englishes (cont.)
• There is a similar relationship between South America and Castilian
Spanish, and the Portugueses of Brazil and Portugal. Yet despite the
inevitability of this process, there is still possessiveness and attempts to stop
it. Few people nowadays would question the legitimacy of different standard
Englishes for countries where it is the majority language. We talk of
standard American English, standard Australian English, and so on.
• Still contested by some, however, is the validity of standard for countries
where, although English may be a substantial or official language, it is not
that of the majority. Thus there is still opposition, even within the countries
themselves, to the idea of Indian English, Singapore English, and so on.
• Far more contentious, however, is the possibility that, as English becomes
more and more widely used, recognized varieties might emerge even in
places where there is no national native speaker population or official
status.
 NATIVE SPEAKERS
• Are considered to be people who acquired the language
naturally and effortlessly in childhood, through a
combination of exposure, the child´s innate talent of
language learning and the need to communicate. In many
cases this definition is relatively unproblematic,
particularity of small languages spoken mostly in one
particular place.
• But in the case of larger and more widely distributed
languages however, and most especially in the case of
English, serious problem with the usual definitions of
native speaker begin to emerge.
 Things to consider

• Firstly, there is the question of personal history.

Native speakers are considered to be people who acquired the
language naturally and effortlessly in childhood.
• Secondly, there is a question of expertise.
Native speakers are seen as people who use the language, or
a variety of it, correctly, and have insight into what is or is not
acceptable.
• Thirdly, there is a question of knowledge and loyalty.
Being a native speaker, it is assumed, entails knowledge of, and
loyalty to, a community which uses the language.
 However, there are some aspects of language
proficiency that this traditional definition of the native
.speaker does not include

• Firstly, it says nothing about proficiency in writing, but only

about proficiency in speech.

• Secondly, the native speaker’s knowledge of the language is

implicit rather than explicit. (Using the rules correctly without
being able to explain them).

• Lastly, traditional native speakerness implies nothing about

size of vocabulary, range of style, or ability to communicate
across diverse communities
 ENGLISH AS LINGUA FRANCA
• Speaking a new variety of English which depends neither on childhood
acquisition nor on cultural identity, and is often used in communication
in which no native speaker is involved. (She go) (you re very busy today,
isn ‘t it?)

• The spread of English has generated intense interest in the study of

language pedagogy and of Second-Language Acquisition (SLA).
Historically, the most active of applied linguistic enquiry has been in
these areas.

• Indeed, in the early days of the discipline, applied linguistics and the
study of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) were
considered to be one and the same.