What are the effects of globalization on language?

Question

I need to write a long research paper on the effects of globalization on language. I know the basic stuff like the fact that it is leading to many languages extinction.

I was just looking for some tips, suggestions, or key points because I don't want to miss anything important. Anyone have any ideas?

Answer 1

One thing you can discuss is the change of English becoming the world's business language rather than French, as it used to be not so long ago.

Answer 2

One thing i've noticed that computer terms burying previous meanings. Oracle is no longer a greek prophet and everyone has a mouse in their house that's welcome. Soon, you will have to have 2 dictionaries, one that's computer terms and one with noncomputer meanings. Words will have to get shorter as the speed of life accelerates. It is certainly easlier to write "OK" instead of "alright." Religious words seem to be a popular spead across cultures as the words "zen", "nirvana" and "karma" are not even thought of as religious terms to many. Science/invention words from the country of origin will reward those countries with language domination. If the Japanese become the world leaders in invention/science we will end up speaking Japanese.

I wanted to add that I never finished "Les Misérables" by Victor Hugo written in 1862 because he goes on a long rant about foreign words getting into French, I believe they are going to have a very hard time dealing with the future.

Answer 3

You can go anywhere on the planet and people can direct you to the nearest "McDonald's" or sell you a "Coke."

It's so bad in France (or they're so sensitive) that there's a movement to ban certain foreign terms that have become common.

Iran has also made rules about which form of language is "proper."

English is often seen as the de facto world language. Created languages such as Esperanto  haven't been very successful.

Given the Internet, it's possible that written language will spread faster then spoken language.

Answer 4

The trajectory of your research will probably touch on many 'negative' effects, like the one you mentioned, and I am sure others will be eager to contribute more.  I would like to add a few potentially positive ones as food for thought.

There are well over 6,000 languages of the world, many of which currently face extinction at the hands epidemics, malnutrition, poverty, tribal warfare.  Globalization aside.  On top of this, there are probably tens of thousands more languages that have long become extinct for many of the same reasons as above well before the 19th century, when the modern trend of globalization found its footing.  In this context, it is somewhat difficult to defend modern globalization being on the short list of menaces to linguistic preservation.

Historically, the language in most danger has been the one no one else knows about.  The advent of the global media has made a truly worldwide awareness of the sheer linguistic diversity of the world possible.  Websites like ethnologue.com keep some vigilance over the 'health' of languages, documenting for the world just which languages are in trouble.  Over this global network, a global research community works to identify, understand, and record the world's languages, providing some accountability for their continued preservation.  And, the Internet is likely to help languages which have developed writing systems disseminate themselves across the information superhighway.

As English evolves into the world's de facto language of commerce and information exchange, progressively more places of the world will adopt it as a second language.  It remains to be seen whether English will displace existing languages in these locales or supplement them (there has been evidence of both).