Despite the fact that there is a growing body of research on the characteristics and use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) in Europe, there are relatively few studies aimed at investigating the ways in which language learners voice their opinions about ELF and how they see ELF impacting their own learning. Therefore, the aim of the present study…

Over the centuries, first Latin and then French, German, and Russian have receded in perceived importance as languages of science. Other powerful languages with extensive internal scientific discourse, such as Japanese and Chinese, have always been largely excluded. The dominance of English has elevated the reputation of English-language…

This paper wants to examine the present communicative situation in our global world, and consequently the position occupied by the English language as the main means of interaction. I do not intend to make any realistic prediction, but my purpose is only to evaluate the spread of this language and the emergence of other languages according to both…

The worldwide spread of English has recently received much interest. Issues relating to the multifaceted roles of English around the world have been highlighted and purist positions about English challenged. In particular (a) the assumption that British English is the only valid standard of English; and (b) the notion that the "native speaker" is…

This study explores the historical relationship between the languages of Basarwa of Botswana and Setswana, in order to understand the dynamics underpinning their appropriation of the Setswana language, as they adjust to their changing livelihoods. The study contributes towards the promotion of a better understanding and awareness of the issues of…

The phenomenon of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has become the subject of considerable debate during the past few years. What emerges from much of the discussion, however, is that there seems to be a good deal of uncertainty as to what, precisely, ELF actually is, and how it relates to the much more firmly established field of world Englishes…

This paper reports on the effectiveness of a tailored undergraduate course at a tertiary institution in New Zealand constructed to challenge, and encourage changes to, monolingual "English-only" attitudes. The course was designed to provide knowledge and promote understanding of the phenomenon of English as a global language, and the…

This dissertation project examines the language contact situation of Chipilo, a Veneto-Spanish bilingual community of immigrant origin in central Mexico, focusing both on the social motivations for the sustained bilingualism observed and the linguistic outcomes in the Spanish of the community. Chipilo is a unique community in that Veneto, a…

Drawing on a study of current language use in a rural community in Japan, we question to what extent English actually does serve today as a lingua franca in multilingual, internationally diverse communities. Specifically, we report on a critical ethnography of a small Japanese community with a growing number of non-English-speaking immigrants,…

The study provides an overview of the sociolinguistic situation in Kyrgyzstan and the current role of Russian and Kyrgyz in the republic. We present initial results of a mass survey of language use that show that the efforts to introduce the Kyrgyz language on all levels of societal use had some effect. At the same time, Kyrgyzstan is a…

In the postcolonial era, a cultural nationalist movement has sought to elevate the status of St. Lucia's creole vernacular, Kweyol, and with some success--it is now the most visible symbol of St. Lucian national identity. This relatively new development has altered somewhat the historic linguistic status quo between the official, high status…

This paper presents the beginning of an approach to the study of language use and religion, a sub-area of language and religion that has been little explored. Essential features of the approach include segmenting a religious service into its constituent parts and checking what language is used in what part and for what purpose. The proposed…

This study examined linguistic patterns in the Jewish ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, a group that has rarely been studied from a sociolinguistic perspective. Participants were 92 girls, 10-12 years old, who attend a school where Yiddish is the language of instruction and Hebrew, Israel's official language, is studied only in religious…

The argument put forward here is that we are witnessing the emergence of a concept of English as a lingua franca, which creates a set of attitudes about correctness and in particular "grammatical correctness". The traditional "native-speaker" as final arbiter can only apply to English as a national language. It is the…

This paper focuses on the current use of the three written languages (Chinese, Portuguese and English) and the four spoken languages (Chinese-Cantonese, Chinese-Putonghua, Portuguese and English) in Macao, a former Portuguese colony (1557-1999) which is now a Special Administrative Region of China. Chinese and Portuguese are official languages,…