Language is the medium by which a person
communicates his thoughts and feelings to his fellow men. It is the tool, with
which he conducts his business in the society. It is a vehicle, by which
different subject matters are transmitted. A person must know something of the
structure of his language, its position in the world and its relation to other
tongues. A language lives in a society so long as people speak it and use it as
their native tongue. A language is important because the people who speak it
are important -- politically, socially, commercially, economically and
culturally. Importance of English language is doubtlessly great.
According to A. C. Baugh, “In the
number who speaks it (English Language), is the largest of the Occidental
language.” English speaking people constitute merely one tenth of the
population of the world. The number is increasing day by day. The English language
holds a very prominent position in the world today. It is not merely the
language of the English people but it is extensive in different country in
Asia, Africa and Oceania and it is the language of the U.S.A, the most powerful
nation today. In fact over 350 million speak in this language. If we consider
spoken variety of language in terms of comparison we can formulate the
following table:
|
Languages
|
Speaker
|
|
Chinese
(Mandarin)
|
1113
million
|
|
English
|
350
million
|
|
Russian
|
150
million
|
|
Spanish
|
140
million
|
|
German
|
95 million
|
|
Portuguese
|
65 million
|
|
French
|
65 million
|
|
Italian
|
50 million
|
This
data is taken form Christopher Harris's The Global Tongue.
The cosmopolitan character of the
English language is an undoubted asset for it to attain international uses. It
holds a very important position in the world for more than one reason. It is
not merely the language of English people but spoken daily by several hundreds
of millions in four continents. As a matter of fact English language is being
used in all the spheres of life, geographically from a tiny island of folk land
to the vast land of Australia.
According
to Cohen (2000, p.2), the dominance of American popular culture has influenced
many young Europeans who aspire to the "unfettered, dynamic, creative
culture of California" rather than the "rigidity" of many
European societies. Volkwagon in Germany called their car the "new
beetle" rather than the German equivalent neuer Kafer because
advertisers believed it sounded more "hip". Similarly in Asia,
English is associated with the glamour of block-buster movies and the pop
industry.
English language is used
internationally as “a library language”- through which journals and magazines are
written for the purpose of research and higher learning study. The popular
print media is infested with the English language as the “lingua franca.”
The English language possesses a
rare vitality and there is not the least doubt about its further popularity. It
is hoped that English language someday becomes the only language of the world
or at least to the highly civilised portion. The vitality of English language
is the mark of growth. Prof R. E Zachrison of the University of Uppsala declares
“Among national languages English has the strongest claim. It is spoken
regularly by several hundreds of millions in four continents, and is the
official governing language of many more. It is taught as a compulsory subject
in most of the higher schools in Europe and in numerous schools in Asia. For
simplicity of grammar and a cosmopolitan vocabulary, it has no rival among
living language.” Its other related virtues like flexibility are highly
commendable.
Although English language is
classified as a Teutonic language, more than half of its vocabulary is derived
from Latin. Some of the borrowing of the language have been directed a great
many through French, Greek, Italian, Scandinavian, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese
and other prominent languages in the world. The remarkable thing is the assimilation
of these heterogeneous elements. Otto Jespersen in his book Growth
and Development of English Language put emphasis on the
omnivorousness of English language. John Galsworthy, the famous dramatist has
remarked, “Any impartial scrutiny made at this moment of time must place
English at the head of all language...”
According
to Crystal, (1987, cited in Pennycook, 1994, p.8) "English is used as an
official or semi-official language in over 60 countries…it is the main language
of books, newspapers, airports and air traffic control, international business
and academic conferences, science, technology, medicine, internet, sports, international competitions,
pop music and advertising…". It is the working language of ASEAN, the
Asian trade group, and the official language of the European Central Bank, even
though none of the member countries has English as its first language (Wallraff
2000, p.3). The extensive economic power of the United States has also
influenced many countries to view English as the "key to economic
empowerment" (Guardian weekly 2000, p2).
Finally,
in a world of rapid technological change and increasing political instability
it is difficult to predict what the future may hold. Even today, it is
in full vague in the world by its territorial controls, and in near future, let
us hope so, it will be the language of the world, since “wish is father to the
thought.”
