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Cross Cultural Communication Theory and Practice PDFDrive (1)
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- Rivals to English as an international language
- American English English
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Standard English
Standard English, or BBC English (also sometimes referred to as Oxford English), attempts to shape and refine the wide variety of the UK dialects and their accompanying vocabularies into a form of Received Pronunciation, a way of speaking that is not just national, but educated and correct. However, many dialect variations have resisted such a move. This is, for example, apparent in the development of the so- called ‘Estuary English’, which is Southern, urban, glottal and apparently classless. Rivals to English as an international language However, the perceived dominance of English may be facing competition. We mentioned earlier that the power of a lingua franca depends on the com- mercial power and political influence of the dominant native- speaker nation. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, first Britain and then the USA were the dominant powers, but in the early years of the twenty- first century, there are strong indications that this may be changing, especially with the increased influence of the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China). The dominance of English as the aspiring world language is, perhaps, only likely to be challenged in the near future by Spanish or Chinese. Spanish American English English Bad tempered Mean Yard Garden Elevator Lift Wrench Spanner Parking lot Car park Vacation Holiday Closet Cupboard Drapes Curtains Duplex Semi-detached Bathroom Toilet Trunk Boot of a car Figure 4.7 Examples of American English The International Use of English 73 is already well established in all of South America, with the exception of Brazil, and most of Central America. With over 500 million Spanish speakers worldwide, it is now the third most widely spoken world language and, with English, is one of the world’s fastest growing languages. The use of Spanish is certain to increase in North America, particularly in the USA, with many Southern states, especially Florida, Texas and California, becoming increas- ingly bilingual in Spanish and English. This trend has already been the subject of concern expressed by the Harvard Professor Samuel Huntington in Who Are We? The Challenge to America’s National Identity (2004). This caused much controversy over his claim that Mexican immigration in Download 1.51 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
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