Feb 17, 2019 09:33 PM
https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/wha...33068.html
EXCERPT: . . . When Britain formally leaves the EU, the proportion of native English speakers inside the EU will fall from 14 to 1 per cent, however English will still remain as the second language of 38 per cent people in the EU. In fact, more than 80 per cent of primary school children and over 95 per cent of secondary-school students across the EU learn English before any other foreign language. Undoubtedly, English has earned a completely dominant position within the EU during the last two decades. Now, with the exit of Britain, English is also set to make its exit from the official list of languages of the EU. What would happen next?
Certainly, the French language might eye its comeback in the EU; certainly Brussels, the headquarter of the EU, has an affinity for the language. At the moment, English is one of the 24 official languages of the EU. In fact, every EU member country can list one language of its choice, and English entered that list due to Britain. [...] However, will the mighty English language then retain its place at the request of Ireland or tiny Malta? If that happens, that will also be an interesting scenario. Some believe that English will return to the EU with the entry of Scotland in future. [...]
Officials from non-French speaking areas like Italy, Spain, Scandinavia or Eastern Europe would be more interested to see English, the global lingua franca, which they sometimes call ‘Globish’, remain the primary means of communication in the EU over a language like French or German. English might be a better bet for them as it will not be anybody’s mother tongue. Hence, there is a wide spread speculation that English might become even more prominent after Brexit. In fact, Mario Monti, the former Italian prime minister and European commissioner, already batted for English as the EU’s main official language in the post-Brexit scenario.
Interestingly enough, many experts believe that instead of weakening the status of English, Brexit might strengthen the power of English as the principal working language of the EU. However, an emergence of an authentic European English or Euro-English might be a socio-linguistic reality. ‘Euro-English’ may be defined as “a self-contained European variety of English”, which is used and developed by non-native English speakers in Europe with its own grammar.
Europeans are already speaking a version of English that is diverging from British English and developing its own idioms, different spelling (labor, not labour), grammar and construction, and it is developing in the same way that American or Australian or Indian English did. A recognisable variety of Euro-English within the EU could emerge in the post- Brexit era. [...] This would loosen the grasp of British English within Europe. The Irish, for example, don’t have any motivation for preserving the sovereignty of ‘British English’. The Scots too have an indigenous Celtic language, and there is a long-standing conflict between the English and the Scots regarding their languages. Experts predict that Europe would speak its own post- Brexit English without having the British umbrella. Some experts prefer to call it ‘Eurish’ language, which is still English but with many features which a native English speaker would never use....
MORE: https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/wha...33068.html
EXCERPT: . . . When Britain formally leaves the EU, the proportion of native English speakers inside the EU will fall from 14 to 1 per cent, however English will still remain as the second language of 38 per cent people in the EU. In fact, more than 80 per cent of primary school children and over 95 per cent of secondary-school students across the EU learn English before any other foreign language. Undoubtedly, English has earned a completely dominant position within the EU during the last two decades. Now, with the exit of Britain, English is also set to make its exit from the official list of languages of the EU. What would happen next?
Certainly, the French language might eye its comeback in the EU; certainly Brussels, the headquarter of the EU, has an affinity for the language. At the moment, English is one of the 24 official languages of the EU. In fact, every EU member country can list one language of its choice, and English entered that list due to Britain. [...] However, will the mighty English language then retain its place at the request of Ireland or tiny Malta? If that happens, that will also be an interesting scenario. Some believe that English will return to the EU with the entry of Scotland in future. [...]
Officials from non-French speaking areas like Italy, Spain, Scandinavia or Eastern Europe would be more interested to see English, the global lingua franca, which they sometimes call ‘Globish’, remain the primary means of communication in the EU over a language like French or German. English might be a better bet for them as it will not be anybody’s mother tongue. Hence, there is a wide spread speculation that English might become even more prominent after Brexit. In fact, Mario Monti, the former Italian prime minister and European commissioner, already batted for English as the EU’s main official language in the post-Brexit scenario.
Interestingly enough, many experts believe that instead of weakening the status of English, Brexit might strengthen the power of English as the principal working language of the EU. However, an emergence of an authentic European English or Euro-English might be a socio-linguistic reality. ‘Euro-English’ may be defined as “a self-contained European variety of English”, which is used and developed by non-native English speakers in Europe with its own grammar.
Europeans are already speaking a version of English that is diverging from British English and developing its own idioms, different spelling (labor, not labour), grammar and construction, and it is developing in the same way that American or Australian or Indian English did. A recognisable variety of Euro-English within the EU could emerge in the post- Brexit era. [...] This would loosen the grasp of British English within Europe. The Irish, for example, don’t have any motivation for preserving the sovereignty of ‘British English’. The Scots too have an indigenous Celtic language, and there is a long-standing conflict between the English and the Scots regarding their languages. Experts predict that Europe would speak its own post- Brexit English without having the British umbrella. Some experts prefer to call it ‘Eurish’ language, which is still English but with many features which a native English speaker would never use....
MORE: https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/wha...33068.html