2015-08-21
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l USA 280,000,000
l India 100,000,000
l UK 55,000,000
l Canada 17,000,000
l Australia 15,682,000
l South Africa 3,500,000
l New Zealand 3,312,000
The USA 2007 – 5 years and older
l 267,444,149 - 95,19%
l 225,505,963 - Mother tongue
l 41,938,196 - additional language - do not speak English at home but know it ‘very well’ or ‘well’
l Great Britain (David Crystal) 2003 - 97,74%
1,500,000 - additional language
l Canada 85,91%
7,551,390 - additional language
l Australia (2001) – 97,03%
l New Zealand – 97,82%
l Ireland – 96,3%
| l Germany 56%, 272,504-L1 l France 39% no L1 l Italy 34% no L1 l Spain 22% no L1 l The Netherlands – 90% (2012), no L1 l Austria – 73% l Israel - 84,97% l Denmark - 86% l Switzerland – 61,28% l Norway – 89% l Singapore – 80% | l China –0.83% - 10,000,000 l Russia 4,9% 6,963,511 l Kazakhstan - 15,4% l Bulgaria 25% l Slovakia 26% l Slovenia 59% l Lithuania 38% l Latvia 46% l Estonia 50% |
l 2/3 world scientists write in English
l ¾ world mail in English
l 80% electronic information
l In 1997 81% of Internet users used English, in September 2002 only 36,5%
n World companies adopt English as a working language:
n In Germany 98% specialists in Physics and 93% in Chemistry communicate in English
n Besides economic and political factors, vogue for English computers & electronic produce made their contribution→ communicative shift (Lotman)
or semiotic revolution (Kabakchi): Computers (IT) + English
Semiotic revolution has changed the nature of communication making it
n Electronically/ digitally-based, computer-mediated, in virtual world with focus on audio and video
In Europe:
n $ 600 mln for translation papers into the languages of member-states
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n 47% residents of EU claim English as their second foreign language
n Language policy in different countries aimed at protection their mother-tongue, for example, in 1992 Academy of France published the Dictionary of French with 6000 borrowings from other languages despite all criticism of purists. Among the words forbidden to use are: baby-sitter, boss, camping, cheeseburger, cocktail, copyright, drugstore, fast-food, know-how, marketing, parking, pickpocketing, sandwich, self-made man, sponsor, supermarket etc.
n One of the reasons English words squeeze out French equivalents is that English ones are much shorter:
French VS English
n Téléscopie fax
n Courriel e-mail
n Imprimante printer
n Latin America complains about English invasion, about exposure to English but 57% young Spanish-speaking people claim their native language is Spanish but give preference to English in numerous situations,
Some sociolinguists claim that English becomes endangered in the USA as the Chinese increased 98%, Vietnamese 150%, Korean by 127% during the last decade, the number of native English speaking population (WASP) in the USA decreases as a result of graying and browning of America. After President Obama’s inauguration the newspapers published photos with caption “ Will America paint the White House Black?”
Ø In comparison with other languages English is presented as
English VS other languages
n World localized
n Link confining
n Window closed
n Neutral biased
