LINGUIST List 14.2141

Tue Aug 12 2003

Review: Sociolinguistics: Maurais & Morris (Eds) (2003)

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  • Lorenzo Zanasi, Languages in a Globalising World

    Message 1: Languages in a Globalising World

     Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 22:03:21 +0200
    From: Lorenzo Zanasi <lorenzo.zanasitin.it>
    Subject: Languages in a Globalising World




    Jacques Maurais and Michael A. Morris ed. (2003) Languages in a globalising world, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    http://linguistlist.org/issues/14/14-618.html

    Lorenzo Zanasi, Universit� per Stranieri di Siena, Italia.

    The collection of papers edited by Maurais and Morris (already published) in French, in 2001 by Terminogramme) has like a common denominator the ability to show the current vitality and diffusion of some languages (above all English and French) examining their political and linguistics planning dimensions. The contributions are arranged along a macroterritorial structure representing political entity (EU, NAFTA, Mercosor), territorially and culturally homogeneous state groups (Eastern Europe, Central Asia regions, East Asian countries) and, finally, vaster regions interested by linguistic changes (Sub Saharan Africa). On the second level of focus, it brings to bear another common goal: the new technologies, particularly new media, as vectors of communication for languages.

    The text is divided into three parts. The first part contains five theoretical papers, about the linguistic dynamics perspective in a more globalised future. Jacques Maurais sets some questions on how the spreader languages will be in contact and in competition after the collapse of the URSS and the end of apartheid in South Africa. For this purpose, avoiding the rash game of prediction, the author identifies and analyses three modalities of possible relationships that will be reprised in the next contributions: the spreading of English as international lingua franca; the use of technology and multilingual teaching. Mark Fettes compares several interlinguistic strategies: plurilingualism, word English, language brokers and technology. After having precisely defined and individually evaluated them weighting up qualities and defects, Fettes observes how both are socially oriented toward the richer elites and not towards the masses. The author proposes a parameter of language ecology, which has to be realised through the concept of esperantism. Douglas A. Kibbee has his focus on the critical appraisal of theoretical concepts of language ecology and the imposition of English as an international code. The two linguistic geostrategies, corresponding to two political models (free-market theory of capitalism and green theory of ecological protection) with roots in Darwinian view and Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, represent the extreme interpretation of a deterministic version. According to the first model, the predominance of a language is a fruit of natural selection and of a democratic predisposition in that language. The second model reverses the interpretation, representing determinism as an imposition of an ideology, a partial system of values damaging other systems carried by different languages destined therefore to die. The author identifies like as a real danger, in both models, the negation of language contact on theoretical bases. Jean Laponce proposes a territorial strategy in favour of minority languages: he suggests avoiding position of radical linguistic autarchy, but rather accepting, according to cases and domains, a policy led by a territoriality principle and a policy led by a laissez fair conception (for benefit of English). Finally William F. Mackey reminds us how forecasting the diffusion or contraction of a language is uncertain without to considering the multidimensionality and multifunctionality aspects. Demographic indices, geopolitical and economical factors are the keys to linguistic change. An attempt to describe, interpret, predict linguistic data, will include these factors.

    The second part consists of eight papers describing the current linguistic contexts in some geographical areas. Extremely interesting are the careful examinations of linguistic policies in EU, Mercosur and NAFTA by Claude Truchot, Rainer Enrique Hamel and Michael A. Morris. After having briefly described politic and economic integration in the EU, Truchot considers the community linguistic survey, observing the official uses and the empirical uses. He concludes with an analysis of English, French and German as lingua franca. This use, opposed to the historical multilingualism in the EU is really the most uncertain political problem. The South American Common Market (Mercosur) is an agreement between Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay in order to promote an internal economic co-operation. Such a wish is reflecting on the linguistic policy too. It plans an integration of regional languages (Spanish and Portuguese) as official languages with the aim to block English the spread of English (English however retains an important position). The observations of Hamel on geolinguistic perspectives offered by Mercosur are preceded by a synthetics and detailed description of the linguistic situation of every member country. NAFTA is the co-operation pact between USA, Mexico and Canada. Morris notes how the USA undisputed expansion on the economic internal market is not automatic on a linguistic level. In fact contrary to EU and Mercosur, in NAFTA there is not any agreement between partners on the unification of linguistic and cultural features. Particularly, the challenge appears to be between the monoglottic and homogeneous English culture and the linguistic diversity with Spanish spreading into several areas of a traditionally Anglophone territory. The next five essays deal with some recognition of the languages spoken in several parts of the globe. In few pages Ferenc Fodor and Sandrine Peluau are able to design the linguistic landscape of Eastern Europe both before and after the Soviet regime. It brings out the Russian decline and the increase of English. Birgit N. Schlyter and Stefan Kaiser examine respectively, the sociolinguistic situation of the Central Asian societies and the problems of non phonetic Korean, Japanese and Chinese alphabets, for the electronic codification. In both papers the spread of English in these territories is underlined. In Central Asia, English is becoming much more popular and it is considered to be increasing at the same rate as Turkish. In technological Japan anglophonia has become an important part of some job environments, even though the level of learning is still low and the political will to spreading Japanese in the world remains strong. Roland Breton brings us into the African continent. To be precise, into the Southern part of the Sahara: the South Saharan Africa. The African mosaic is very crowded with local languages still subordinated and unfortunately threatened by the three greater colonial languages: English and especially French and Portuguese.Australasia is described linguistically by Richard B. Baldauf and Paulin G. Djit�. Past, present and future are scrupulously examined through by means of the categories proposed by Fettes: world English, plurilingualism, esperantism, language brokers, and technologism. There arises a picture of a territory where English is still dominant in international relationships, but Chinese and Indonesian languages are very strong too.

    The third part includes a series of contributions having as a focus the international languages of wider communication. All of these languages are spoken in a number of countries, all have the potential for expansion although some or all may end up declining in a competitive, globalising world, and all enjoy some degree of international status (from the Introduction). Ulrich Ammon shows us the use of German in international settings through several parameters: numerical, political, economic and cultural. The weight of the German, though some predict it to be lessening, will depend on the economic and technological developments of the germanophones (germanophone) countries.The Arabic standardization is the topic considered by Foued Laroussi; particularly the author is concentrates on the ortographic problem in electronic media like the Internet and on the difference between written code (homogeneous) and spoken code (diatopically connoted). Vida Io. Mikhalchenko and Yulia Trushkova survey the multifaceted status of Russian in Russian Federation, in CIS and the Baltic states. Also in this paper the consideration of information technologies is important. Robert Chaudenson and Grant McConnel assess respectively challenges for French and Fracophonie in a globalising world and development of a strategy for measuring the diffusion and contraction of English. The first paper focuses particularly on the context of Africa; the second one attempts to promote a future language observatory. Finally Maria da Graca Krieger, calls attention to the rising importance of Portuguese, especially with reference to Mercosur. Moreover the Professor marks the rising of a mixed code called Portunhol (Brazilian Portuguese and Southern Cone Spanish). This code evidences the necessity of a political promotion of bilingualism for the Latin American region.

    Critical evaluation.

    Languages in a globalising world is a rich text of cues, stimuli and reflections. It has the merit of analysing a great number of linguistic themes scattered throughout all the corners of the earth in a synthetic way. All the contributions do not conform to the easy game of the long term forecasts and, actually, many of them criticize this risky habit. It is a text that leaves the authors free to take their own positions and to be openly critics towards of others. Perhaps the more evident merit of the volume is to open a series of windows on linguistics reality less known as Eastern Europe, the Arabophone world and central Asia. The frequent use of tables and outlines and the bibliographies concluding every contribution, lends the entire work the quality of a handbook, happily adapted both to the specialist and to the curious university student. I find the historical-descriptive part in almost every paper very good; A little bit weaker, I would say, is the propositive aim that rarely opens doors particularly attractive to the reader. There is a lot of prudence when discussing topics of language policy; maybe too much.



    ABOUT THE REVIEWER

    Lorenzo Zanasi is a doctor in linguistics since 2000. Currently he is concluding a PhD program in geolinguistics of languages in contact. He is also working with the Observatory of immigrant languages and of Italian spoken by immigrants created in 2001 at the University for Foreigners of Siena.