A Global, Community Building Language?

Abstract

Although long championed, a global language has not come to fruition despite considerable efforts. Many fear that such a language would undermine the particularistic, identity-constituting primary languages of local and national communities. These concerns can be addressed at least in part by utilizing a two-tiered approach in which efforts to protect primary languages are intensified at the same time that a global language is adopted as an additional language and not as a substitutive one. Although the U.N. or some other such global organization could, theoretically, choose a language to serve as the global language, English is already (and increasingly) occupying this position as a result of the colonial period and post-colonial developments. In this respect, English is compared to the development of the railroad system in the United States, which although introduced at considerable human costs by overpowering corporations, later became an integral part of the economy and society. Whether English should be adopted as a second language, or as a third or fourth one, is heavily influenced by the level of difficulty involved-the labor to fluency ratio-in acquiring a new language.

A National Language Policy for Zimbabwe in the Twenty-first Century: Myth or Reality?

“…English is fast becoming a global language but the idea of a global language was suggested first in Europe in the 17 th century (Etzioni, 2008); second by Comenius in 1938 (Etzioni, 2008); thirdly by Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of US English (Kayman, 2004) and later emphasized by Crystal (1997), who advocated for and pointed out that English is already a global language. These ideas may have been triggered by the idea of a single language that is understood by all the people in the bible in Genesis 11vs 1-9 on issues about the tower of Babel.…”

“…English has occupied a superior position in Africa because of colonial history. Etzioni (2008) points out that "Although the U.N. or some other such global organization could, theoretically, choose a language to serve as the global language, English is already (and increasingly) occupying this position as a result of the colonial period and postcolonial developments" (p.113). In Zimbabwe, during the colonial period when the country was Southern Rhodesia, the black people who could speak English had access to many opportunities of developing their lives socially and economically and politically.…”

“Gandhiji, I Have no Homeland”: Cosmopolitan Insights from BR Ambedkar, India’s Anti-Caste Campaigner and Constitutional Architect

“…Furthermore, it would direct current theorists to the potential importance of developing more fluid social and political boundaries, including possibilities for freer movement of individuals across them, within developing projects of trans-state democracy. While Ambedkar’s requirement that all official business be conducted in the same language within all political sub-units may appear too demanding for trans-state democracy, a similar version focused on the promotion of a shared second language for administration and political affairs beyond the state could achieve some of the same aims (see Etzioni, 2008), though concerns would remain about achieving fair participation for monolinguistic non-elites (Ives, 2010).…”

Language, Media and Community in the Information Age

“…But what kind of language would best serve as a global language in the network of mediated communities? Amitai Etzioni (2008), for example, argues for adopting English as a shared, secondary global language in the information age. As Etzioni (2008: 124) points out: "a key element of building a global community atop local communities requires that the various nations involved choose the same second language".…”