A Reply!

Response from professor-An interesting angle

----Original message----
From : paul_lewis@sil.org
Date : 04/05/2015 - 16:02 (GMTST)
To : tab.g@btinternet.com
Subject : Re: 

Hello Tabitha:

You have chosen a very interesting topic for your discussion.  My initial reaction is that you have framed the question somewhat oddly.  Languages aren't sentient beings so assigning responsibility to a language (Is English responsible for...) doesn't quite go deep enough to clarify what is really going on.

As you might guess, there are multiple dimensions to what we are observing in the world today with the rapid decline and loss of many of the less-commonly-known languages. It is a crisis that is unprecedented though examples of similar extinctions of languages on a much smaller scale can almost certainly be found.  Language shift and death is not a new thing but we just haven't noticed it going on so widely and so rapidly in any time period where people were actually paying attention.

I think what you are really asking is: What are the reasons behind the widespread acquisition and use of English and why is that spread causing other languages to go out of use?  The answer (or at least some good guesses) to that question is a bit easier to provide though there are still lots of complexities.  If I had to sum it up in one word, I'd say that the root cause of language loss and extinction is contact between communities that use different languages.  Contact is, of course, inevitable and it doesn't always have to lead to the loss of one of the languages in contact, but contact with another group always raises issues of comparison and evaluation.  And the differences in power and the opportunities that "the other language" provides in terms of rewards and benefits become significant factors affecting an individual's and a community's choices regarding which language(s) they will use for what purposes.

What is different in today's world is that contact no longer has to be physical or based on geography.  The ease of transportation and communication pretty much makes everybody everybody else's neighbor. I regularly see Facebook posts from people all over the world in multiple languages (some which I speak, others, not so much).  The benefit of being able to share in what those "friends" are posting motivates (1) me to learn their language, or (2) them to use a language that more people an understand.  If there are other benefits besides these purely communicative needs associated with a particular language the motivation to learn and use it becomes stronger.

English has risen to the top of the heap of "valuable" languages because of the combination of benefits that one accrues from knowing how to use it:  you can get a better education (Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, MIT) if you speak English,  you can get a better job, you can project a more modern and "with it" identity,  and on and on. 

Every language can be evaluated in terms of its Functions (what is it used for?), its means of Acquisition (how easy and accessible is it to learn?), its Motivations (what rewards and benefits does it offer?), it's policy Environment (do governments promote or at least allow its use?) and its level of Differentiation (are there clear norms for when the language can and should be used?)  and English comes out at the top of the scale in terms of all of these conditions nearly everywhere.  Non-dominant languages are generally much weaker in terms of most of these factors and their users will need to be proactive to find Functions, secure Acquisition (pass it on from parent to child), increase Motivations,  lobby for a friendly policy Environment, and make sure there are clearly defined norms for when their language can and should be used.  That takes activism, investment, and effort and many communities aren't finding the resources (of will and of funding and of expertise) that they need to make those efforts.  They look at English and see all of the advantages and so they abandon their own language by abandoning its transmission to their children.  When that happens the doom of the smaller languages is almost certain.

Best of luck on this research project!

M. Paul Lewis