This article is based primarily on a large-scale investigation into the sociopsychological mechanisms behind the influence of English on Danish. After refuting the commonly held set of beliefs holding that the influence of English can be controlled by the Danish educational institutions ("English from above"), the article first gives a brief presentation of Danish social domains on which English is having a particularly strong impact, and an overview of the linguistic manifestations of this influence on the Danish language. It then describes the sociolinguistic forces at work in the way English is introduced "from below," through the Anglo-American youth subcultures in Denmark.Codeswitching to English in these subcultures is seen to be a value symbol on a par with subcultural styles of clothing and music, being a marker of identity and group solidarity. Thus, through peer-group norm enforcement, codeswitching to English becomes an integrated aspect of youth language in Denmark. As a school subject, English is highly prestigious as a key to participation in the internationalization process. The importance of learning English is recognized even by those whose knowledge of English is limited or nonexistent (the English-have-nots), though the latter are made to experience some of the problems of the functionally illiterate by the increasing use of English words and passages in Danish texts.
This article argues that, even in a world of many different Englishes, the function of English äs an international lingua franca is a function of what Speakers of English have in common, not of their diversity. This view calls for a re-evaluation of concepts such äs 'common core' and 'Standard English', whose validity has been questioned in recent literature. 'Common core English' is defined äs those structural and cultural properties of the language which are shared by native Speakers regardless of geographical origin. 'Common core English' is not a variety in its own right, and is not to be confused with 'Standard English'. However, just äs the function of English äs an international lingua franca is based on the existence of a historically determined 'common core', the same function presupposes some degree of standardization -in terms of language policies -to ensure continued communicative effectiveness. In a discussion of standardization, we need to distinguish between two major, culturally distinct varieties, American and British English, which for historical reasons have an equal claim to the designation of Standard English. Sociolinguistic theory oifers a framework within which Standard English can be defined and described in terms of its inherent Variation. Rather than devaluing the concept with reference to its abuse in the Service of misguided prescriptivism, researchers ought to concentrate on an indepth analysis of positive and negative aspects of its cultural functions in society, and of its role in a culturally based language curriculum. Though problems regarding the definition and teaching of Standard English are different in Britain and the United States, such clarification would in both cases seem to constitute a precondition for bridging the gap between language policies and reality. In the teaching of English for cross-cultural purposes, Standard English -far from being an irrelevancy -is in fact the only realistic model, but to be effective äs Multilingua 14^4 (1995), 341-362 0167-8507/95/0014-0341 © Walter de Gruyter, Berlin Brought to you by | Michigan State Universit Authenticated Download Date | 6/28/15 3:51 AM 342 B. Preisleran international lingua franca it will have to function äs such at all levels of linguistic communication, including the level of pragmatics. This will involve systematic, culturally based comparison between American and British English äs well äs between the pragmatics of Standard English and the learner's mother tongue.
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