English has become the most spoken language in the world because of the economical and political importance of the countries that have it as first language. With the World War I and the Treaty of Versailles that was written in English and in French (the language of diplomacy at that time), and after the organization of the United Nations the members happened to have, economically and politically, a crucial role worldwide, in this context English started to be spread all over the world.
The reasons why English became the most spoken language in the world are inscribed in a logic of formation of an Empire and in the concept of linguistic authority and prevalence of dominance. The experiences of the colonies helps to understand how, countries have tried to protect their cultural idiosyncrasies in order to diminish the prevalence of domination over the submitted cultures. To succeed, the colonization project needed certain methods among which one of the most effective was the insertion of the dominant culture into the conquered one.
The shortening of contact between two completely different cultures however makes people of both places gradually infuse into the other, firstly for material reasons and secondly due to the insertion of cultural ideologies. In this sense, the domination leads to the need of coexistence, consequently arising forms of cultural hybridism.
This hybridization is derived from this contact through intercultural exchange, as much as from the inclusion of communities within communities (which occurs through massive migration), naturally people of different nationalities and traditions interconnects at the same space, making necessary an alternative of communication between them, therefore arising a language that mixes linguistic aspects and lexicon of the different cultures and nations in contact, this language is called pidgin. A pidgin is a kind of lingua franca, since it allows people to communicate.
The difference of the pidgin, as the creole for example, and the English is that the later is a language whose structure has undergone few changes during its existence, moreover it suffered no hybridization process, i.e., it is an autonomous language, while the former had its formation with the contact between different languages, its structure is mixed with elements of several languages and it has no historicity, i.e., it is the product of an immediate need for communication. This is different also of the artificial language that is constructed consciously by a group and developed for specific purposes, for example: Esperanto and computer language.
When an autonomous language is come to be a lingua franca it is supposed that this language has more virtuosity than the other languages, this belief in the superiority of one language over the other is ideological and emerges concepts such as prestige in which a language is considered a standard, while the other variant is considered less prestigious. This process emerges also another concept the one of dialect that is considered a variation of geographical origin but can also signifies a degree in social position.
The difference can be taken both as a way to understand the other, and as a way to stigmatize the other, this last aspect is therefore aligned with the need to reduce the gap, and for this to occur, the one that determines itself the possessor of the best features tries to impose its culture to the ones that he considers disqualified. Stuart Hall (Hall, 1997:240) gives us a good example of it by describing how Henry Stanley, a journalist who became famous by the role he played in the creation of the Congo Free State trying to attach Uganda and open countryside to the East Africa Company, believed that Africans could be civilized, by the insertion of commodities in the countries of the continent.
An advertisement for Pears’ Soap, from the 1890s, instructing whites to promote cleanliness among other races.
We realize, therefore, that one way of inserting the "civilization" in a particular culture considered "primitive" is to bombard it with products, goods, tastes, trends, etc. in order for the latter become saturated and influenced by the culture of the former.
Further, one might think that the attitude of certain countries trying to protect their languages with laws that prohibit the use of foreign languages in national documents, advertisements, etc., can somehow be considered legitimate, although somewhat ineffective. As spoke above this is based on the idea that the culture can be homogenized, this somehow contradicts the multiplicity that is emerging from a new era of communication and spread of concepts, triggered by globalization.
Jay Walker on the world's English Mania
Journal of English as an international language
Global English: The European Lessons
