Is Linguistic Democracy Possible? English and Chinese at the Heart of the Subject
Is Linguistic Democracy Possible? English and Chinese at the Heart of the Subject

Author(s): Zoubida Sebane, Minouna Zitouni
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Scientia Moralitas Research Institute
Keywords: Language; dominating; dominated; power; hegemony
Summary/Abstract: Does linguistic democracy exist or is it only a lull? Linguists and politicians believe that it has never existed, not even in countries where political democracy is a tribute to preserve. They rather believe there are only dominating and dominated languages.The dominating languages are explained by the number of people who speak a language. Presently, the US and China are respectively illustrative examples of dominance and dominating languages in the world. English ranks first in the top ten world’s most important languages and Chinese is gaining supremacy over many other languages. The dominating languages are hegemonic that means their use covers indoor and offshore territories. The dominated languages, therefore, are considered second-class languages, they are disregarded. This linguistic attitude has always prevailed in the world. The transfer of a dominant language to other people is considered to be a demonstration of power, traditionally, military power but also, in the modern world, economic power, and aspects of the dominant culture are usually transferred implicitly. The power of a country explains the extension of its language. English, Spanish, and Portuguese are the dominant languages of the Americas. In Africa, the languages of some of the colonizing powers like Great Britain, France and Portugal are more firmly entrenched than ever, as English is in several Asian countries. This study will concentrate on highlighting issues related to linguistic dominance which could help to clarify whether the winning of independence can lead to language recovery or not.

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