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Jan 18, 2022 · Will Mandarin, with its 1.11 billion speakers, eventually replace English as the world’s lingua franca? Will Google or Microsoft Translate moot the issue?
- The Benefits of A Phonetic Alphabet
- Global English
- Resistance to English as A Lingua Franca
Moreover,English is based on a phonetic alphabet. That is, the written characters correspond to particular sounds. This is a great advantage and makes writing and pronouncing words simple, because there are only so many sounds that can be represented by the letters. It limits the number of characters that comprise the writing system. The same canno...
These features of English played a critical role in facilitating the spread of the language across every continent. While Mandarin Chinese certainly can boast more fluent speakers than English, its influence is far more constricted to a particular geographic area. The reach of English, meanwhile, is simply unmatched. It is an official language in 5...
While we English speakers may flatter ourselves by thinking that English has become the lingua franca because of some innate superiority of the language, this is hardly the case. Speakers of other languages have done so becauseit is convenient, advantageous, and expedient to have a working knowledge of English. The residual historical legacy of the...
English as a lingua franca (ELF) is the use of the English language "as a global means of inter-community communication" and can be understood as "any use of English among speakers of different first languages for whom English is the communicative medium of choice and often the only option".
Jun 20, 2017 · June 20, 2017. Illustrations by Teresa Bellón. According to linguist David Crystal, for a language to be considered a lingua franca it must be picked up by non-native countries, be made official in these countries and must be used in some important domains — like diplomacy, business or science.
Apr 22, 2020 · The phenomenon of English as a lingua franca (ELF), in other words English used among speakers who have different first language backgrounds, has existed since the British began to colonize parts of Asia and Africa in the late 16th century.
Nov 18, 2019 · Chapter. Get access. Cite. Summary. First language is defined and ELF is related to the definition. Then the intracultural–intercultural continuum is explained. After that variables that affect movement on the continuum are discussed.
Jan 22, 2015 · David Crystal argues that a variety he calls “world standard spoken English” (WSSE) will evolve and will be the variety, influenced mainly by British and American English, that people around the world will use for lingua franca purposes.
