Words: Maya Statham (She/Her)
Language is a crucial thread in the tapestry of culture, and mass assimilation toward a homogenous global lingua franca threatens the survival of traditions that tie us to generations past.
Despite the shame many of us feel each time we approach a cashier or server to ask, ‘Sprechen Sie Englisch?’ or ‘Você fala inglês?’, it is rare for English speakers to ever face the necessity of delving beyond the basics of a foreign language. We possess a unique privilege: being understood almost anywhere we go. Although this is immensely convenient, the widespread dominance of English has come with devastating costs for others – colonialism, oppression, and marginalisation. The status of English as a global “lingua franca” was established through linguistic imperialism; English wove itself into its colonies and altered their cultural fabric forever.
The spread of English was guided by beliefs of cultural supremacy, often instilled through missionary-led colonial education. Nowhere is this clearer than in the Bengal region, where Christian missionaries forcibly imposed the language on the education system. Politician and chairman of the British East India Company Charles Grant claimed that Western knowledge instructed in English would help to eradicate the ‘superstitious beliefs’ of ‘uncivilised’ Indians. Despite official decolonisation, English still maintains significant space in the consciousness of many nations and serves to uphold global attitudes of Western superiority. For India today, English has become a bridge language, vital in communication between differing linguistic regions. Although attitudes toward indigenous languages have become more positive across the globe, English continues to be prized as a language of opportunity. It is English that is the language of business, and English that is used to break through barriers of communication.
In the Philippines, a former United States colony, unequal treatment of English and indigenous languages remains stark. Greater job opportunities are available for those with higher competency in English, alongside universities favouring English-speaking applicants. This significantly limits social mobility for non-English-speaking Filipinos. Major cities in the country are teeming with signs written only in English, despite Filipino supposedly possessing equal linguistic status. Although Philippine independence has long been achieved, the legacy of colonialism ensures that English still reigns superior. The language also remains a signifier of status for many colonised groups. Scholars note that positive attitudes toward colonial ties with the United States and a proclivity for Western ideals persists – all associated with the coloniser’s language. English is aspirational, transient, and, most importantly, considered to be above native languages.
Closer to home, the overwhelming dominance of English has facilitated the creation of an Anglo-centric United Kingdom, in spite of significant linguistic diversity. Welsh is the official “de jure” language in Wales, Irish in Northern Ireland, and Scots and Gaelic here in Scotland. Beyond this, the use of minority languages, including Cornish and Manx, remains minimal. Though reconstruction and preservation efforts have sought to remedy this, their impact is negligible. Government initiatives have done nothing to change the marginalised position of local languages in the UK. Instead, Westminster perpetuates Anglo-centrism through English language-based citizenship requirements and consistently deprioritises native linguistic communities. The effort to promote minority languages always falls upon communities themselves. There is only so much these communities can do, as they are often small and geographically concentrated. To this day, Gaelic remains an endangered language in Scotland, with academics worried that native-speaking communities could be lost within the decade.
As Frantz Fanon has put it, ‘To speak a language is to take on a world, a culture.’ Language is a crucial thread in the tapestry of culture, and mass assimilation toward a homogenous global lingua franca threatens the survival of traditions that tie us to generations past. In the Netherlands, the spread of English has become so extensive within Dutch universities that academics are in fear of impending ‘linguicide’. Virtually, no courses are taught in Dutch at the highest honours level of Utrecht University, with one domestic student telling the BBC that learning in English gave him ‘a bit of a disadvantage’. Education is the key to cultural production; it is how we mould each generation, who in turn shape our cultural landscapes. With so many examples of education systems across the world favouring English before indigenous languages, it is no wonder that it maintains its dominance.
English may be a language of global communication, but it is also a language of violence. Against this background, it is difficult to see the ubiquity of English as a solely positive phenomenon. We exist in a globalised world where having a means of communication so widely understood brings many benefits: cultural exchange and dialogue between communities are only a few. Despite this, it is vital that we as a global community guarantee the rights of indigenous languages, and as Anglophones, that we remain conscious of why and how our language has come to occupy the role it does today. Perhaps next time you travel, you’ll make a little bit more effort to meet others in their language.
