Is English a Killer Language Essay

Is English a Killer Language Introduction         

   There have been great debates about whether English has become a killer language for the other languages or it is being threatened by the existence of the other languages. Today, English is considered as the common language of the world and it has tremendous influences on other languages. Does not it happen to you that you come across Turkish leaflets with English words or people who speak their non-English languages that is full of English words? This issue is itself a very precise sign that English affects the other languages in an unwanted way. This essay claims English is a killer language as, firstly, it was imposed in an imperialist way to make linguistic changes, secondly it threatens the culture of the societies.

Is English a Killer Language Essay Body

            First of all, it is stated via Exploation Theory that “English was systematically spread by the British and the Americans with the help of language planning policies, in order to maintain ascertain indirect control over post-colonial countries” (Eckert et. al, 2004). This theory is a sign that English was spreaded in order to ‘kill’ the linguistic properties and uses of other languages which is exemplified by using the case of Papua New Guinea where the colonization results in drastic changes in languages.

            Secondly, English is a killer language because it is considered by several writers as a way of destroying cultures. It is claimed in Tom O’Reilly’s article that “Linguistic imperialism is also central to social imperialism, which relates to the transmission of the norms and behavior of a model social structure, and these are embedded in language” (O’Reilly, 2015). Linguistic imperialism was applied with English as stated before, so English is used as a way to change the social structure and culture of the societies.

            Thirdly, English has become a killer language because of some political reasons which is stated as “Obviously it is not language itself which kills other languages. It is when a politically, economically and culturally powerful society imposes on a less powerful one for profitable reasons that language death can occur” (Eckert et. al, 2004). The example of Papua New Guinea is given fort his case as “In the case of Papua New Guinea, the colonial background and the lack of an official written standard lead to language suicide and made English act as a killer language”.

Is English a Killer Language Essay Conclusion

            To conclude, English has become a killer language because firstly we have the systematically speread of English in order to make linguistic changes in colonies of Britain, secondly it has been used as a way of destroying cultures and lastly it is considered to result in a language suicide because of political reasons.

References

O’Reilly, T. (2015, 02 02). English as a Foreign Language: Cultural Imperialism, or Economic Resource? TOM O’REILLY investigates. Taken from languagedebates.wordpress.com: https://languagedebates.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/english-as-a-foreign-language-cultural-imperialism-or-economic-resource-tom-oreilly-investigates/

Tanja Eckert, A. J. (2004). Is English a ‘Killer Language’? The Globalisation of a Code. Ehistling, 1-13.