Language is human’s primary source of communication, and throughout history mankind has developed over 6000 languages. However, in this moment I am writing and you are reading in English. Certainly, it would be compatible if I was born in an English speaking country, yet I am not. Many of us are from countries that do not have English as their primary language. Nonetheless, why is it that not only me but the majority of the individuals in this world understands and speaks English? How did this “single” language come to such authoritative power? To find out I have arranged an interview with the well-known British linguist, author and lecturer David Crystal. With “A little book of language” alongside 100 other books to his name, we will try to find out more about how and why the English language is the number one Lingua franca.
The interview commences with a pleasant mood inside a
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E.g. Fela Kuti, a Nigerian artist and activist used pidgin English to express his own identity.
Is this the reason why English is such an authoritative language?
According to Crystal it is indisputable. However, this was not the only element that made English so influential. “Other stages of global spread of the English language included; political and economic power, media coverage alongside globalization.”
He notes that; during the process of the British Empire’s prevalence, they conjointly harvested political and economic power. The primary priority in schools became tuition of the English language, because financial and academic success were closely linked to one’s ability in English. The language thereupon received a privileged and successful denotation. Thereafter, the US “empire” started. After becoming an independent state, they gradually grew to become the economic superpower. Additionally, a lot of immigrants migrated to the US and English as a lingua franca
o Although technically North America belonged to the Spanish, the English went around the borders of North America in search of profitable goods. o They became successful in defended a Spanish Armada which led to the grant of the Virginia Company. The English hoped to find an empire that would improve and support their country.
America started to imperialize Latin America and small islands surrounding or near the US. American expansionism, imperialism, was not justified.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the United States was becoming an increasingly powerful nation and world power. The country was competing with other nations also expanding. Their motives for expanding were to gain land and resources. While there was a slight departure from past expansionism, the United States mostly continued as it had been in the previous years. In order to accomplish expansionism, the United States needed to acquire foreign territories to increase their global presence.
The United States was not interested in having people with different cultures, languages, and religions where an older generation of moralists thought it violate a core principle of republicanism, while a younger generation believed that the United States had a role to uplift backward societies. When the foreign policy changed after 1890, the US became an imperialist nation. After the United States bought Alaska from Russia the US quickly decided to look into overseas. Their plan was to take over other foreign lands and slowly gain an empire, and soon become a world power. The two major causes for US expansion after 1890 were for economic benefits and military control overseas.
The United States was formed from the original 13 Colonies but had to wage war with Britain to establish its sovereignty the Treaty of Paris concluded the revolutionary war in 1783 with America expanding to the Mississippi River and Spain recovering Florida sense in this war it was an American ally but in 1800 Spain secretly ceded the Louisiana territory back to France where Napoleon was hoping to establish an empire in North America when President Thomas Jefferson learned that this arrangement he became concerned with the potential threat of an aggressive Empire Builder descend on boys to France to purchase New Orleans and West Florida for ten million dollars instead they came back with the entire Louisiana territory for $15 million napoleon had needed money for his war against Britain in 1810 American settlers led a revolt against the Spanish in West Florida capturing the poor to Baton Rouge the remainder of West Florida was annexed later by President James
In the years following the Revolutionary War the United States would begin to expand, although not popular among all citizens, it helped shape the country into what we know today. The first acquisition of territory would be as a result of the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain ending the Revolutionary War. This treaty marked the boundaries between the British colonies still located in North America and ceded the thirteen American colonies to a newly recognized country known as the United States of America. This would not be the only acquisition of territory that the United States would complete between the years of 1789 and 1815 but it would be the initial acquisition of territory that would develop this newly formed nation.
The American Revolution of the 16th century led America and the world to a new ways of thinking. How could a small untrained milita defeat the large British Empire? The new colonies beat the British using new forms of military strategy, communication and ideas, and various acts of defiance, to win there independence. Without the cunning tactics used by the leaders of the earliest colonial militias and there perseverance, the new colonies would never have claimed independence from the grip of Britain.
Before the 20th century the United States was an isolationist nation but around the late 19th century America decided to convert into an imperialist power. They had numerous reasons to shift into being an imperialist nation. America didn’t want to begin imperializing to settle and live in the nations they were taking over, they already had America for that reason, they wanted to adopt these nations for what they had to offer, which was many things. America saw an opportunity to improving their nation and took it. Even if there were many causes for America to imperialize, three of them stood out the most.
Economically the U.S. had made advances in technology and began to get oversea territories. Culturally they had used the
The United States had for years been improving and growing rapidly. Away from the other world powers in Europe, they were able to avoid their conflicts for a long time, but that changed. America got involved in World War One and it affected some of their advancements. U.S imperialism was able to thrive in WWI, with America using the power to expand their empire. American progressivism however, fell between the cracks and disappeared for a long while during and after the war.
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s America started expanding abroad to try and enlarge our borders. However this expansion ended up creating more problems for the US. In the end America lost more than they gained all due to American imperialism. Imperialism is when a bigger nation takes over a smaller or weaker nation. When America did this they thought it would make them stronger but it ended up making then weaker and causing them to lose the allies they once had before they imperialized the smaller nations that once trusted them.
The United States of America has never been anything but an empire. The first European settlers came to the land as a colony and even after gaining independence, did nothing but push west while murdering and displacing millions of natives. All that mattered was the country gaining and keeping power. The mindset of the American
How did the United States expand over the years and why? The expansion of the United States was a vital part of America’s history and greatly affects how we live today. America's early days only started in 13 states and then progressively grew to 50 states in total. The time throughout the 1800’s and what happened throughout that time greatly impacted how America expanded land, resources, opportunity, trade, and money. Two of many main causes that evoked American expansion was the amount of opportunity that America could take, the idea of Manifest destiny, and the amount of power that the US had on other countries.
Because of Columbus sailing to the Carribeans, a New World was discovered with unclaimed land. The British saw this unique opportunity presented in front of them and started to send their citizens. Most of the citizens were undesirables because Britain was having a problem with overpopulation. With Britain becoming a dominant presence in America, other nations started to see the lucrative possibilities and started to send their citizens there as well. However Great Britain was able to reign supreme simply because they were able to get there
English as a global language We can’t deny that English has become an international language for communication between all mankind , it is the common language between most of the countries , English is a global language which is spoken as a native language and a second language in most of the countries , and we noticed that people who use English as a second language are way more than people who speak it as a native language , it is taught in every country in this world , it is using as a medium language of understanding between the teacher and the learner , you can see it in banks , supermarkets , in road signs and in international web pages, it is the language that you see and hear every day, so speaking English become a must , also we can’t ignore the fact that English is the language of global communication at medical , tourism , trade and other elements of language use , So English is so important in our various lives aspects. So in this essay I am going to discuss the reasons of how English become a global language and is it a good or bad thing? and what is the advantages and did advantages of spreading of English? There is a lot of reasons that helped to make English a global language and one of the most important reasons is policy , the west colonization for the countries had helped English to spread and distribute by imposing the language and the west culture on the colony countries , so we can say it is all because of the strength that the west had on the world