QUO VADIS, ENGLISH? CURRENT OUTLOOK, PERSPECTIVES & VISIONS
QUO VADIS, ENGLISH? CURRENT OUTLOOK, PERSPECTIVES & VISIONS

Summary/Abstract: This paper pays heed to the transformation of the omnipresent English language into a lingua franca of the 21st century within the framework of on-going globalization. The paper investigates the spread of English in order to provide a backdrop for the present-day status of the English language in the world. In line with the English language’s impact factor, the most influential models of the spread of English, as propounded by Kachru, Modiano and Graddol, are outlined and interpreted with broader implicationsin manifold sociolinguistic situations and/or domains. In order to map out the proclivities in present-day English, current phonetic, lexical and grammatical trends are touched upon. Special attention is paid to the somewhat declining prestige of Received Pronunciation in favour of Estuary English, dialect mixing and levelling, innovations in lexis motivated by the digital revolution resulting in a large number of Net-speak based neologisms and ‘colloquialization’ of grammar. Drawing on the existence of so many varieties of English (including Euro-English), offshoots and outgrowths, the issue of the ownership of English, precluding native-speakers from clinging tenaciously to their ‘property’, is addressed. The last section of the paper deals with the possible scenarios and predictions about the English language revolving around World Standard English, fragmentation of English into many varieties, convergence and divergence of English and its (un-)intelligibility.

• Details
• Contents