Jezički imperijalizam, ugroženost manjinskih jezika i engleski kao globalna lingua franca
Language Imperialism, the vulnerability of minority languages and English as a global lingua franca

Summary/Abstract: When fighting against linguistic imperialism, linguicism and linguistic genocide, modern linguists and language ecologists insist on maintenance of endangered languages. They emphasize the necessity of acknowledging the fact that more than 90% of languages in the world are likely to become extinct in the following 100 years. The socio-political reasons that have led to this situation resulted in emergence of English as a global lingua franca, cultural and linguistic assimilation to the dominant society. As the only effective solution to this problem, linguists point to the need of organizing bilingual education and finding various other ways of endangered language maintenance and revitalization. Linguistic and cultural diversities alongside with biodiversity are essential for planet’s survival. Many have referred to English as the language of imperialism and they frequently used the Trojan horse metaphor to describe it. Thus, English is considered the main obstacle to maintaining the linguistic balance and the key cause to linguistic genocide. However, beside many linguists’ claims which have considered him responsible for the death of many languages, the very English can be considered an endangered language. Though often said to have changed other languages, approximately 350 languages have previously changed English.

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