Searching for a Global language: A Debate in the Global English Era

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Portuguese and English. Because of their political, economic and cultural 
power, all these languages influenced many other idioms with which they 
came into contact. Greek, Latin, French, Spanish and Portuguese have all 
worked as Lingua Francas in the past. They all provided the possibilities for 
people living in different territories to communicate efficiently, and were 
used extensively across very widespread regions of the world. English is 
today the most widely used language of international communication. 
Indeed, thanks to the fact that technological advances, travels and 
exchanges of people and information across the globe have become 
possible at reduced times and expenses, English has become the most used 
idiom on a global scale. However, it is likely that the list of languages, 
which will affect the linguistic scenario outside their geographic borders, 
will continue in the future by including idioms such as Chinese, Arabic and 
Russian. 
However, not only natural idioms have been seen as possible solutions to 
the problem of global communication. Many linguists have tried to invent 
artificial languages to provide a means for international interactions which 
could be free of the linguistic and cultural associations of any particular 
natural language. But no one of these languages has proved to be really 
effective as it had been hoped. This work begins by examining exactly 
some of these constructed languages: their aims, their structures and the 
goals they have achieved. The first chapter reviews the major artificial 
projects starting from the ones created during the Middle Ages and ending 
with contemporary simplified versions of the English language. The 
description includes languages like Volapük and Esperanto, which have 
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been the most successful idioms created by scholars, but cannot be 
considered world languages in any case. 
The focus of this research, however, is the English idiom and its current 
undeniable achievement as the world language. This dissertation is in fact a 
study of its status, the reasons why English has been able to achieve such a 
great success and its possible future scenarios. The second chapter is aimed 
at outlining the current condition of English as a global language by 
providing an analysis of its uses and the ways in which it is affecting other 
languages. “Euro-English”, for instance, will be part of the investigation as 
one of the recent outcomes of present English within the European 
mainland.  
The last part of the second chapter is focused on English Language 
Teaching; the way in which it has developed over time since and the debate 
which has affected the educational industry after the linguistic triumph of 
English. What is debated by linguists is the way in which English should be 
taught across the world. On the one hand, there are traditionalists who still 
believe that the language should be taught, as it has always been, by 
providing a model of standard phonology, grammar and vocabulary mainly 
based on British or American English. On the other hand, many other 
linguists call for innovations. They believe that it is not possible to hide the 
fact that English, as a world language, has produced many different 
varieties across the world and that this phenomenon should be taken into 
consideration while teaching the language to non native speakers. The fact 
that it is necessary for teachers to be aware of the contemporary 
multilingualism and linguistic pluralism is emphasized several times in this 
chapter, because this lack of awareness is often the cause of many 
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deficiencies in the ELT industry such as the avoidance of an effective 
learning of English by non native speakers around the world. 
The third chapter discusses research about the possible future of English 
and some other major idioms which may be increasingly used as Lingua 
Francas in a near future. The first part of the chapter reviews, through 
different linguistic and cultural studies, how World English may be a cause 
for the disappearance of other languages and the origin of many social 
inequalities, especially in developing countries. This part is followed by a 
discussion of the consequences of the contemporary status of English on 
native speakers of the language. On the one side are the attitudes of British 
people towards the need to learn foreign languages, and on the other side, 
the American speakers’ approaches, which seem to be different from those 
of U.K. people as far as linguistic diversity is concerned. Finally, the 
chapter ends with an overview of the world top languages that may be seen 
as ‘competitors’ to the English linguistic supremacy: Chinese, Spanish, 
Arabic and Russian. Each of these idioms shows some positive features 
which may lead them to replace English as the world language in the future, 
such as the huge number of speakers and the great influence in some fields 
of economy and politics or certain areas of the world. However, they still 
present some limits that actually prevent them for spreading on a global 
scale today.    
Trying to foresee which is going to be the world future linguistic 
scenario is very difficult. It is not possible to say whether or not English 
will continue to be the world lingua franca or if it will be replaced by 
another language. What is important is that linguists should not give up 
working for enabling international comprehension so that people all over 
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the world can find a way to communicate without efforts and achieve 
international cooperation. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Chapter 1 
ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGES: FROM VOLAPÜK 
TO GLOBISH 
 
1.1 INTRODUCTION 
A constructed or artificial language is a language whose phonology, 
grammar and vocabulary have been devised by an individual or group, 
instead of having evolved naturally. Constructed languages have been 
created throughout the history of humanity and there are many reasons that 
led scholars to try create the perfect international language: to convert 
infidels; to restore the relations between Catholics and Protestants; to 
facilitate the communication of scientific discoveries; to interact with 
peoples discovered during voyages, to increase commercial relationships, to 
unify scientific taxonomies (Pellerey 1992: ix). 
Nowadays too, there are several reasons why people are still trying to 
invent artificial languages; the most important one is to achieve mutual 
comprehension among different peoples around the world. In addition they 
do it to ease human communication; to bring fictional worlds to life (in 
books and movies); for linguistic experimentation and language games. 
An artificial language should provide a medium which is culturally and 
politically correct and against nationalistic competitions. Other 
considerations should be taken into account while preferring a constructed 
language instead of a natural one as the global medium of communication. 
An example may be the attitude of people toward the spread or imposition 
of a national language which is not their own. On the one hand they will 
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show some resistance thus leading to huge difficulty in its learning. On the 
other hand one learns a constructed language because it is his/ her choice 
and in this way, he/she feels less pressure in learning and speaking it. 
“Whether or not some national language, say, English, or a constructed 
language, say, Esperanto, is to win out in the immediate future, does not 
depend primarily on conscious forces that can be manipulated, but on many 
obscure and impersonal, personal, economic and social determinants”(Sapir 
1925). What all people need right now is a language as simple, as regular 
and as rich as possible. In our global village nationalism must leave its way 
to internationalism and languages must follow the same path as well. 
Differently from now, the search for linguistic simplicity and clarity were 
not the primary goals of the languages created during the past centuries. 
They were created with different purposes as it is shown by their history. 
 
1.1.1  History of constructed languages or the search for the 
perfect language. 
Many of the philosophers and scholars, who have tried to invent a global 
language, usually cite some passages from the Holy Bible: 
“1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 
 2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled 
there.  
3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them 
thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.  
4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that 
reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not 
be scattered over the face of the whole earth."  
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5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men 
were building. 
 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they 
have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for 
them. 
 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not 
understand each other."
1
  
These sentences are seen as the origin of multilingualism, that is, the 
passing from a common language to several different ones. It was the 
punishment that God gave to men who tried to challenge His power. 
Despite the myth, the need for a common language has really some ancient 
origins. The first traces of a global language are found in Greece after 
Alexander The Great’s conquest of the world that corresponded to the areas 
next to the Mediterranean Sea and some regions of Asia. He was the first 
man who understood the importance of a common language to 
communicate with all the different peoples who were governed by him. 
This was the reason why a koinè, a simplified and common version of 
Greek, became the leading language of the Empire. At the beginning this 
koinè was used for communication among people who did not speak the 
same language, but then, it turned out to become the language used for 
science, culture, education and even religion. As soon as the Roman Empire 
became the major power on earth, a new language became the global one. It 
was Latin. Originally it had to share its position with the still-existing 
Greek koinè, but then it reached its supremacy in all the European areas 
                                                 
1 Genesis, 11.1995-2007 Gospel Communication International 
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2011&version=31 
 
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under the Roman influence. Afterwards Latin shared the same fate of the 
Greek language and, as years went by, it lost its influence and split into 
different national languages.  
During the Middle Ages, some attempts to identify a common language 
were carried out: Cabbalistic scholars believed that it may coincide with 
Hebrew or better, the language spoken by Abram; Dante Alighieri in his De 
Vulgari Eloquentia stated that the Italian vernacular language should be the 
common and most suitable language in worldwide literature; Ramón Lull 
created a common philosophical language (Ars Magna) which was 
supposed to be understood by everyone since it was based on a 
mathematical system and was expressed throughout letters and images. 
During the Renaissance the situation changed slightly. The search for a 
perfect language turned out to be something dealing with esotericism and 
magic. The decline of Latin had brought huge problems concerning mutual 
comprehension that became even greater with the coming up of linguistic 
nationalism. In the meanwhile, both intellectual and economic relations 
were developing at an international level thus requiring accurate 
communication. The overall amount of 17
th
 century scientific discoveries 
needed new and universal taxonomies so that science could be understood 
in every part of the world. These were some of the reasons why the search 
for a global language restarted after a dark period. At that moment a new 
interlingua had to be invented aimed at solving many different problems. 
There was the need of an international auxiliary language, as Latin had 
been, to speed up and enlarge all scientific, political and commercial 
exchanges. In addition it might bring advantages in the expression of 
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knowledge thus letting people share different discoveries and cultural 
differences (Steiner 1975-1992: 245-246).  
The turning point in the life of artificial languages coincided with 
Bacon’s theory of idola during the 1500s and continued in the 17
th
 and 18
th
 
centuries. In that period new artificial languages were created that dealt 
with a specific subject such as science or philosophy; the most important 
ones are those created by Dalgarno, Wilkins, Lodwick and Leibniz. They 
were all called a priori languages. This definition means that they were all 
created by assigning a meaning to a symbol or a sound and this 
combination might have nothing in common with natural languages. They 
were simply “creations”. Sometimes they were not even pronounced but 
aimed to represent concepts and the relations among ideas and symbols. 
They did not succeed as global languages but had certain fame in those 
subjects for which they had been invented (Mioni 2007).  
George Dalgarno wrote Ars Signorum in 1661, in which he theorized a 
universal language that included a classification of the human knowledge 
together with a grammar that was supposed to express it. He aimed at 
construing a language that could be both written and oral. That was why he 
started his book by writing a phonetic analysis in which he described the 
sounds he considered more suitable to the human phonatory apparatus. In 
his artificial language everything must be taken into consideration: natural 
elements, man-made objects, facts and concepts. He invented a language 
based on short words that are modified by adding different linguistic units. 
As for example the letter R which stands for “opposition”: if pon means 
love, then pron will stand for hate. Another example is provided by the 
letter V that makes words be read as numbers (Eco 1993: 248-249). Indeed 
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the word “vama” means 111 because “a” and “m” stand for number 1 and 
are preceded by “v” (Cram, Matt 2003). 
 Dalgarno’s linguistic theory was preceded by Francis Lodwick's A 
Common Writing (1647) and The Groundwork or Foundation laid (or So 
Intended) for the Framing of a New Perfect Language and a Universal 
Common Writing (1652) and Sir Thomas Urquhart’s Logopandecteision 
(1652). All three authors produced systems of hierarchical classification 
that were intended to result both in spoken and written expression. 
The most complete example of artificial philosophical language created 
in 17
th
 century was designed by John Wilkins and published in his Essay 
towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language (1668). He 
pointed out that most of the previous works tried to derive their lists of 
characters and concepts from the linguistic dictionary of a certain language 
instead of referring directly to the nature of the elements and ideas which 
were common to every human being (Eco 1993: 255, 258). This was the 
reason why he started his project by making a sort of huge critical revision 
of all the general concepts shared by mankind. Unfortunately his research 
was not really universal. His knowledge was limited and influenced by the 
world in which he lived, that was academic Oxford. He did not really take 
into account the fact that his culture might seem incomprehensible to all 
those who did not share his background. He finally divided his artificial 
language into forty different categories which showed 251 differences that 
led to the definition of 2030 species of concepts and objects. He was not 
luckier than all those who preceded him and his language was soon 
forgotten by scholars who found it impossible to use it but were inspired by 
its main ideas.