What Makes A Language A World Language?

Introduction

A world language can be defined as a language that is spoken around the world and learnt by many people as a second language (Baker & Jones, 1998). However, what exactly makes a world language, a world language? There are five common assumptions typically associated with world languages and in this essay, they will be discussed and evaluated along with other relevant factors.

Assumptions of world languages

The five assumptions are:

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1. World powers make world languages

The concept of power is multifaceted as it comprises many aspects, which include religion, military conquests and education. It is believed that with these aspects, languages are able to spread due to the power and influence that these aspects possess. In his book, Firth (1964 [1937]) also mentions that Hebrew, Arabic, Latin, Sanskrit and English are examples of world languages that achieved their status due to world powers. However, the spread of languages is not always successful despite the aforementioned aspects of power. For instance, despite the Romans conquering much territory in the past, Latin did not manage to spread much throughout the conquered regions (Ostler, 2005). In addition, in spite of invasions from the Turks, Mongolians, Jurchen and Manchu, Chinese was never phased out in China (Lockard, 2007). The shared written language also made reunification of Chinese communities much simpler after being separated and conquered by invasions. Thus, Ostler (2005) concluded that there was little to none linguistic influence on the invaded countries by the invading countries and hence, it can be said that world powers play an insubstantial role in making world languages.

2. Trade makes world languages

Through trade, many opportunities for the spread of languages arise due to contact made between people of different countries (Cooper, 1979). Lingua francas are used for communicative purposes by speakers who do not speak each other’s native languages (Knapp & Meierkord, 2002), which is why they are largely utilised by people of different nations who trade. Hence, when lingua francas are used with increasing frequency around the world due to trade, it facilitates the spread of these lingua francas, which can elevate their statuses to world languages. Nevertheless, this is not always the case. Centuries ago, the Phoenicians spread the alphabet to the Greeks and taught them how to read and write as well. In addition to trading influence, the Phoenicians had cultural influence over the Greeks too. However, in terms of linguistic influence, the fact that Phoenician remains unknown outside its territories shows that it may not be able to qualify for classification as a world language (Ostler, 2005). Another example would be in the case of Sogdian, a language spoken in Samarkand. Merchants in Sogdia were very wealthy due to the trade that they engaged in on the Silk Road (Rose, 2010) and Sogdian could be heard in countries far away from their own, evidence that the language had spread due to the trade that the Sogdians partook in. However, when trade along the Silk Road ceased, the Sogdian language also stopped spreading to other countries. Hence, trade can be helpful in spreading languages in the short run but it is not exceptionally useful in the long run in terms of making the language of trade a world language.

3. Literacy makes world languages

Literacy has also been thought to play a vital role in making languages world languages. With high literacy rates, there are more people capable of spreading the language and making it known around the world. Despite so, history once again proves this assumption wrong. The Gauls became literate a few generations after the Roman conquests, but this was not sufficient to sustain their language. According to Ostler (2015), although there were high Gaulish literacy rates, Gaulish died out after the first century AD and Latin, the language of their Roman invaders, took over as the main language used by the Gauls. Therefore, it is evident that high literacy rates alone are greatly inadequate in sustaining a language, let alone moulding said languages into world languages.

4. Classical languages become world languages

In the words of UC Berkeley linguist George L. Hart (2000), a classical language “should be ancient… should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own, not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature”. The rich history that classical languages have could incentivise more people to use these languages, possibly turning these languages into world languages. In order to ascertain this possibility, we can look into the case of Aramaic. Aramaic was initially just spoken by nomads (Macdonald, 1993) and it has a written history of about 3000 years. It was also designated as the general clerical language of the Assyrian empire, replacing the Akkadian language. In addition, Jesus of Nazareth spoke Aramaic, but specifically, he spoke a substandard variety used by people of Jerusalem and Judea (Ostler, 2005). His disciples also travelled eastward and spread Aramaic during their travels as well. Aramaic inscriptions were found in many countries, including India and China and there were even Egyptian administrations run in Aramaic (Millard, 1972). With that being said, it is beneficial for a language to be considered as a classical language in order to make it as a world language and on top of that, it is also useful to be linked to a religion.

5. Prestige makes world languages

Prestige is the degree of esteem and social value associated by members of a speech community toward certain languages or dialects (Nordquist, 2018) and it is also one of the features that many successful languages have in common. An example of a language which thrived due to prestige would be Sumerian, which achieved its esteemed status through farming wealth (Millar, 2010). French is also another language which had prestige due to the fact that it was the most affluent country in Europe at the point in time when usage of Latin was diminishing (Grenoble & Whaley, 1998). In addition, Portuguese in Brazil also spread due to the gold rush in the 17th century, which shows that the prestige of Portuguese is not due to colonial administration by the Portuguese, but the economic development as a result of the gold rush (Lipski, 1975). The aforementioned examples demonstrate how significant prestige is as a factor which contributes to making languages world languages.

To sum this section up, although there might be some truth to these assumptions, not all of them play significant roles in making languages world languages. After evaluating all five assumptions, we can conclude that prestige is the only definite factor which contributes to making a language a world language.

Factors

In addition to prestige, there are other factors which definitely help in making a language a world language. They are as follows:

1. An increase in population/a large population

An increase in population, or an already large population by nature, would definitely be able to make a language a world language. With more speakers, it becomes easier for a language to spread to other regions. A notable example would be in the case of the spread of English with the British settlers in North America. When the British colonised the Americas, they introduced English to the people there and by the end of the 17th century, English became a predominant language amongst the people of the various colonies (Longmore, 2007). Part of the reason why English was able to rise in usage so drastically was also due to the fact that when the British pilgrims settled down, they started their own families, which added on to the English-speaking population. Furthermore, due to the sheer number of British settlers who immigrated to the Americas, there was already a large population of English-speaking people to begin with. Therefore, it can be said that a large population and an increase in population contribute directly to making a world language out of a language.

2. Substantial number of non-native speakers

Another way in which a language becomes a world language is through being a lingua franca to a large number of non-native speakers. As mentioned in the definition in the introduction, world languages are typically learnt by many as a second language (Baker & Jones, 1998). Arguably one of the most widely used lingua francas, English has approximately 378 million L1 speakers and 735 million L2 speakers (Ethnologue, 2019). Evidently, the number of non-native English speakers (L2 speakers) greatly outweighs the number of native English speakers (L1 speakers). English has become widely accepted as ‘the world’s lingua franca’ (Portelli, 2012) due to it having the highest number of L2 speakers compared to any other language (Ethnologue, 2019), thus solidifying its status as a world language. Hence, it is with a great number of non-native speakers using it as a lingua franca that a language can be considered as a world language.

3. Official status in countries

Being accredited with an official status in multiple countries could also be a factor in making a language a world language. Some consider Mandarin as a world language due to its sheer number of speakers – 908 million L1 speakers and 198 million L2 speakers (Ethnologue, 2019). However, we do have to consider that Mandarin is largely spoken in China and its neighbouring countries only, hence it does not have an official status in non-Asian countries outside of the greater China region despite it being spoken by millions of people (Ostler, 2005). Therefore, Mandarin cannot be considered as a world language for that very reason. Recognition as an official language by multiple countries (not just in countries where a language is native to the people there) is crucial in terms of differentiating between a language and a world language as world languages need to be recognised as official languages across multiple countries in order to be considered as world languages.

4. Used across several regions

What’s a world language if it is only recognised in name as an official language but not actually spoken by many people? Being used across several regions is an important factor in making a language a world language. This point is also reflected in Baker and Jones’ (1998) definition of ‘world languages’ mentioned in the introduction as they stated that world languages are languages spoken around the world. Using the same example as the previous point, Mandarin also cannot be considered as a world language since it is not spoken across several regions, but mostly confined to Asian countries only as there are relatively few Mandarin speakers outside of China. Ostler (2005) also mentions an interesting point – although Mandarin speakers comprise one sixth of the entire world population, over 99 percent of these speakers stay in China. Hence, Mandarin cannot be considered as a world language unless one’s entire world only consists of China. Therefore, a language must be used in several different regions before it can be deemed as a world language.

Other influential factors

Besides the aforementioned factors which definitely contribute to a language becoming a world language, there are other significant factors which can also help to make a language a world language.

1. War and territorial expansion

When an invading country manages to successful conquer another country, they are able to impose their own rules and policies onto the invaded country. For instance, an invading or expanding country may choose to implement would be language policies in order to introduce or impose their own language on the people of the country being targeted.

This can be observed in the case of Russian in the aftermath of the World War II as after the war, the status of Russian started to elevate as people began seeing it as a scientific and political language as well (Aronova, 2017). The impact of war on language is very significant as it could greatly change the people’s perceptions of the language and hence, possibly turn a language into a world language.

Another example would be in the case of English in India. The British were able to expand their territory into India as the Indians were very willing to accept the British rule due to the economic benefits that they brought about (Daily History, 2019). The British then introduced English to the Indians and even after India gained independence in 1947, English still remains as one of its official language (Tropf, 2004), demonstrating the lasting effects of territorial expansion. English is now spoken across many countries in the world, including those that use English as a native language and those that have been colonised by the British. Hence, from the two examples mentioned above, we can conclude that war and territorial expansion could likely make a language a world language.

2. Being in charge of areas where agriculture is cultivated

When countries are suppliers for staple foods, their languages can also end up being spread to other countries. The farming/language dispersal hypothesis states that the adoption of agriculture plays a vital role in the distribution of language families around the world (Bellwood, 2005), or in other words, making a language a world language. An example cited by Kemp et al. (2010) is Uto-Aztecan, a language family in the Americas that was possibly spread across Mesoamerica and the American Southwest by farmers in the past. Hence, this shows that farming agriculture could be beneficial in making a language a world language due to the way that language can be spread through farmers.

Conclusion

Therefore, considering all the aforementioned factors, a ‘checklist’ can be formulated to help ascertain if a language a world language.

Nevertheless, this ‘checklist’ is not fully comprehensive of all the different factors which contribute to making a language a world language and other factors have to be taken into consideration as well. However, the ‘checklist’ does contain the definite and highly influential factors that make a language a world language and hence, can be used as a rough gauge in determining a world language due to the evaluation (based on history and the present world) done in this essay.

References

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