Internet - the Flagship of Global English?
Essay by review • November 17, 2010 • Research Paper • 4,994 Words (20 Pages) • 2,444 Views
Abstract
The study is concerned with two contemporary phenomena: - the first is the advanced computer technology which enables the transmission of data of various kinds from one part of the world to another in a few seconds; - the second is English, a language that because of its large number of non-native speakers has come close to the status of universal language. These two phenomena - the advanced computer technology and English with its status as a world language - are brought together in one whole and form something that is really exceptional and unique, something that is multinational and the most global thing ever in the whole of human history: they form the Network-of-networks, the Internet, and English as its lingua franca appears to be the network's inseparable part. The study attempts to show the most important aspects and implications of the status of English as the lingua franca of the Internet, a status which reflects the dominant position of English as the most used language worldwide.
INTRODUCTION
The advent and spread of the Internet probably constitute
the most important event of the end of the 20th century and the
beginning of the new millenium.
Indeed, nowadays, the whole humanity has at its
disposal an exceptional, very powerful medium. The new
communications technology is causing a revolution in many
aspects of our lives, and its future effects are still
unforeseeable. The Internet is changing our way of working,
studying, shopping, carrying out business and financial
transactions, but principally it is causing a revolution in the
way we communicate with other people.
Communication through the Globe has never been so
easy, cheap and full of contents and, above all, within
everyone's grasp. In the cyberspace1, the virtual space of the
1 Expression invented by Gibson (1984). It derives from the Greek word "kubernao", which means
"government", "use of the helm", "control". The word is currently used to describe the whole range of
information resources available through computer networks. "Cyber" as a prefix is now used as a
description of a range of activities. A cybernaut is a person who cruises through online services and
Internet, there is no difference between sending an e-mail2,
participating in a video conference, chatting3 with the nextdoor
friend or with our 'cyber' friend from New Zealand. On
the Internet, the distance concept loses most of its
significance. We all are increasingly becoming citizens of the
'global village' described by McLuhan4 a few decades ago
(prehistory, considering Internet's high speed evolution),
which is becoming reality. We are almost forced to correct
some habits of our lives, to think and see things from a global
and planetary new perspective.
In this new global context, it is essential for everybody
to be able to make himself understood to a potentially
worldwide audience; in other words, it is necessary to be able
to use a universal language, or, at least, a language which can
be understood by as many people as possible.
networks; a cyberlibrarian is someone who uses the Internet for research; a cyberpunk is an anarchic
presence living from their wits; etc.
2 Electronic mail (see Section 2.3). Messages, usually text, sent from one person to another via
computer. E- mail can also be sent automatically to a large number of addresses - Mailing List (see
Section 2.7) (Matisse's Glossary of Internet Terms).
3
To communicate in real-time through the Internet (see Section 2.4). When we chat with someone, the
typed words appear on a "shared" screen (The Language of the Internet).
4 McLuhan (1964).
Today, English seems to be the only language which can
be considered both a global language, and the real lingua
franca of the Internet. When we say 'English' we do not refer
only to the Standard language spoken in England and other
native English-speaking countries, but rather to "a number of
distinct and highly diversified varieties of English"
(Burchfield, 1994b, p. 1), including a range of
institutionalized and increasingly autonomous non-native
varieties, frequently referred to as 'New Englishes'. Roughly
speaking, we can say we refer to the so-called Global English,
whose main standard varieties are British English and
American English.
The Internet has always spoken English, since it was
created. It is speaking it today, while it is still 'a child'.
Certainly it will speak English when 'adult' too, even if it is
extremely difficult to predict in what way, measure and,
principally, what kind of English it will be.
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