Who says English is going to dominate forever? Last I checked, India and China are ascendant and the US is in decline … – Brian Bailey
Hindi (the most spoken language in India) and Mandarin Chinese might replace English as dominant languages some day. But two reasons at least lead one to think that the process could be long:
(i) Hindi is not widespread outside Asia, and there is presently no special effort to promote it worldwide. As for Mandarin Chinese, it is true that a great number of Confucius Institutes are scheduled to be built by China in various countries, but we cannot know today the result of this decision;
(ii) The publications (books, internet, etc.) in English cover all domains of knowledge, let alone the presence of English in all other activities. These traces of the worldwide spread of English will not disappear.
What’s your take on whether distinct dialects (say, of widely-used languages such as Chinese or Arabic) will survive increasing globalization and a limited number of dialects of those languages being taught to nonnative speakers? Also, what languages native to the Americas still survive today, and in what capacities? Do these tongues have a future? – Allison.
Increasing globalization concerns international commercial relationships rather than private communication. It is unlikely that Arabian dialects, which are constantly used in oral exchange, will be ousted by literary Arabic, which is not spoken as a common conversation language in any Arabian country. The same can be said of Chinese dialects, let alone Chinese languages other than Mandarin, like Cantonese. Despite the spread of standard Chinese, which is taught in schools, languages and dialects spoken in China are not threatened by globalization. The forms which are taught to nonnative speakers are not dialects whose number would be dwindling, but standard forms. Furthermore, nonnatives are a minority if compared to the masses which use a variety of dialects.
As far as languages native to the Americas are concerned, the pressure of Spanish in Central and South America and English in North America has certainly brought about, from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, a decrease in the number of languages (the problem, here, is different from that of dialects of widespread languages like Arabic or Chinese mentioned above). However a number of Indian communities are striving to revive their vernacular languages, or to foster its widest possible use, and to preserve it against the perspective of extinction. In the US and Canada Athabaskan languages such as Chipewyan and, especially, Navaho are strongly supported by teaching and maintenance in everyday life, and the same is true of some Algonquian languages. In Mexico, Nahuatl (Aztecan) and Quiche (Mayan) are also backed by maintenance efforts, and widely used. In Peru and Bolivia, the same applies to Quechua. In Chile the Mapuches have so far resisted the pressure of Spanish, and succeeded in preserving a wide use of their language. Paraguay has even gone as far as making Guarani an official language on the same level as Spanish.
The future of these tongues depends on the will of their speakers to maintain their use. Judging by the strength of their identity feeling, which commands this will, it seems that some, at least, of the languages that coexist with widespread international languages might survive for some time.
I am an American studying Arabic and often ask myself this question: How can we reconcile (1) preserving world languages, their beauty and history, with (2) the increasing need for foreign language speakers to know English if they plan to succeed in many cases? I’ve had many debates on the importance of Arabic in the Arab world but some have responded to my support of fusha by saying “are you going to make them study that in the classroom when English could give someone a better life?” It is a huge question which has numerous subquestions but I would like to hear your thoughts. – Dot
Teaching English as a language which can more easily provide a better life and a profession does not prevent foreign language speakers from remaining faithful to their vernacular language as the only one able to express their most personal thoughts and feelings. It does not seem that the two are difficult to reconcile, since the domains of use of the two languages, say Arabic fusha (Classical or “pure” language) and English, are quite different, as are the circumstances, in peoples’ lives, in which one or the other is used
My guess is the languages most likely to go into disuse are those in localities where a prominent language of commerce is taking over extensively and few people feel the need to continue using the “old” language. As when a language in a jungle or mountain hinterland gives way to Spanish or Portugese in Latin America, e.g. Languages that are spoken only, and not written, which have no national function, but more of a tribal local function, yet are still surviving, I’m thinking, are likely to remain extant if in a remote enough region that it’s not so much influenced by commerce and the power of a nation. Are these at least some of the factors that send a language into disuse? – Michael Dennis Mooney, Albany, NY
So, the reason I picked these questions, out of the multiple ones on syntax and vocabulary and translatable concepts, is that I think these questions, along with Mr. Hagege's insightful answers, give us a glimpse into a constant and subconscious war. Language's naturally divide, it is their nature. The existence of an Indo-European language thousands of thousands of years ago, mother to languages from Sanskrit, to all the Romances, to Yiddish, to Lithuanian, is proof of this.
It is quite true that languages that are exposed to the pressure of prominent languages of commerce are most likely to go into disuse, and even more so when they are spoken only and not written, and have a tribal local, rather than national, function. Nevertheless, those, among them, that are spoken in a remote enough region, far from the influence of commerce and power, are much better preserved. Other factors also prevent a language from falling into disuse, especially the following two: (i) an identity feeling rooted in deep ethnic consciousness and (ii) a culture rooted in an old, and constantly recalled, tradition. Examples are Kamsra, Andoke, and several Cariban and Arawak languages spoken in north-western Brazil and south-eastern Colombia, where Spanish and Portuguese are dominant, or Hinukh, spoken in north-eastern Caucasus, where Russian is strongly present.
And in the blue corner, the fighting inevitability of globalization! Globalization and Language Diversity seem to be two inevitable forces in struggle against one another. The language barrier is inherently an obstacle in globalization. Communication is key. As Mr. Hagege notes in the article, China views English as its way onto the global scene. A country with a rich and proud history is now one of the largest producers of English second language speakers. English has become increasingly a global language simply by U.S political and economic hegemony. Frankly, is it that easy? Not to sound coy, but if your country is the number one super-power, hundreds of millions of people will spend countless hours learning your language for a step-up in society? The last time I can think of a language spread on this scale would be the spread of Islam through North Africa and the Middle EAst and the establishment of the Islamic Empire, centered around Arabic. Even that is globalism.
Mr. Hege seems to be a little more optimistic to the cause of language, mostly on its intrinsic value to culture. Also, as a linguist, he is most likely a little more than biased. However, this is a major complaint against globalization. One things for sure, both forces will keep acting on each other. My personal thought is that nobody "wins." My case is, one could argue globalization has facilitated immigration into the U.S. In the southwestern United States, it is expected that within the next two-hundred years a hybrid language of Spanish and English could exist. Spanglish anyone?
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