“English is the global language.” — a headline of this
kind must have appeared in a thousand newspapers and
magazines in recent years. “English Rules” is an actual example,
presenting to the world an uncomplicated scenario suggesting the
universality of the language’s spread and the likelihood of its
continuation. A statement prominently displayed in the body of
the associated article, memorable chiefly for its alliterative
ingenuity, reinforces the initial impression: “The British Empire
may be in full retreat with the handover of Hong Kong. But from
Bengal to Belize and Las Vegas to Lahore, the language of the
sceptered isle is rapidly becoming the first global lingua franca.”
Millennial retrospectives and prognostications continued in the
same vein, with several major newspapers and magazines finding
in the subject of the English language an apt symbol for the
themes of globalization, diversification, progress and identity
addressed in their special editions.
A language achieves a genuinely global status when it
develops a special role that is recognized in every country. To
achieve such a status, a language has to be taken up by other
countries around the world. They must decide to give it a special
place within their communities, even though they may have few
(or no) mother-tongue speakers.
Salman Rushdie comments that “the English language
ceased to be the sole possession of the English some time ago”.
Indeed, when even the largest English-speaking nation, the USA,
turns out to have only about 20 percent of the world’s English
speakers, it is plain that no one can now claim sole ownership.
This is probably the best way of defining a genuinely global
language, in fact: that its usage is not restricted by countries or by
governing bodies.
David Crystal. English as a global language.
Cambridge University Press, 2003. pp. 1-2;4;140-141 (adapted).