The following question is currently being asked by my linguistic professor. My class has an online portion that takes place on a discussion board and this is the newest topic. I thought that since the highest number of responses come from debated topics, this might be an interesting topic.
Who owns the English language? Since, English has become the number one global language, its foreign speakers overwhelming outnumber its native speakers. Who, then, should decide what is its standard and grammatical use?
I will post my response from the class here when I am done composing it.
7 comments:
I agree with Greg with regard to "ownership" of a language. In a sense, every one "owns" the language(s) they use to communicate.
Also true is that "English" has become something of the de facto international language. This is certainly the case in the sciences.
If one thinks about how the language is controlled in an official way, there's the Oxford English Dictionary.
If you want to get into English vs American that's another story.
My opinion is that every speaker of the language owns it. Even within a dialect every person has their own unique way of pronouncing words, common words patterns and individual utterances. This is because each speaker owns the language they know and has the ability to use and manipulate it any way they see necessary. The entire discussion board for this class can serve as an example; many times a lot of us had the same opinions, but express them in our language in very different ways and had the right to do so because of ownership of the language known to us. As far as who has the ability to decide the standard use of the language, that still lies with the people of power. There are times when standard English are to be used, but those times are becoming less and less. With the widespread use of the internet (great sites like facebook, twitter and even wikipedia) and text messaging, people have many more opportunities use their dialect(s) of English and have it accepted by those who are reading it. There are even many website dedicated to translating the dialect into standard English for those unfamiliar with the dialect. Who knows within the next hundred years or so the U.S. might have very distinct and separate forms of English, each with their own standard. A process that will be similar to the separating of US, Aussie, (insert many others here) and British English.
Well put Molly. You talk about in 100 years, I agree. We are starting to see forms of this now. Spanglish isn't just a movie anymore. I do not care who is in power when it comes to Language. It is like everything else in the world. Get as creative as you want but in order to get anything done you have to make it pallitable for the people reading it. Fall in live if you will. I am sure UD has a few stories he could tell about his use of language when dealing with writing and re-writng grants.
It should be "fall in line" and I do not care who controls language I agree we all own the when we get our point across.
All true, Molly EPG and middleman.
As with every human endeavor, a sub-group has taken it upon themselves to define a standard, otherwise known as the OED.
Standards are useful because they enhance the efficiency of communication. On the other hand, standards are somewhat exclusionary, so rub some the wrong way.
As for grant proposals, MM, that introduces a new aspect to the discussion: Jargon.
It took me some time, but I found a source. English is not the "number one" language in the world. It is number 4, based on how many people speak the world's languages.
Here's the source
Now, that accounting did not get into SECOND languages or list total number of languages spoken, which I suspect would push English to the top. But, even that assessment has another side: how many native-born Americans do you know that are fluent in any language other than English? Some of my fellow citizens aren't even completely fluent in English, in my humble opinion. A good number of my "foreign" friends have a larger vocabulary in English than some of my native born friends. Kind of puts your question in a different light. If Americans want to "own" the English language, maybe we should actually learn how to use it.
Just as an example: if you use "spell check" on the computer, how do you use it? Simply to correct your spelling, or as a tool to teach yourself how to spell? That is, are you passively accepting your inability to correctly use the words in your native (and likely only) language, or are you taking active steps to better understand and use the language you "own"?
Oops. Apparently the site I linked to in the last post DOES include an accounting of second languages. By my rough calculation, English comes in at #2.
PS: Greg, if you want folks to follow your links, try making them active.
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