The Ecology of Global English

• Published in: International multilingual research journal 2007-08, Vol.1 (2), p.89-100
• Main Author: Canagarajah, A. Suresh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Advertising; Business Communication; Ecology; English (Second Language); Global Approach; Interpersonal Communication; Language Role; Language Variation; Linguistic Borrowing; Mass Media; Morphemes; Multilingualism; Official Languages; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Sociolinguistics; Teaching Methods
• ISSN: 1931-3152; 1931-3160
• DOI: 10.1080/15257770701495299

Global English is under contestation. Although some consider lingua franca English (LFE) as a neutral medium or code that does not belong to any specific culture or nationality, others see the deceptive nature of this linguistic globalization. Along with Spring (2007/this issue), they see global English as embodying partisan interests and values. The author wants to insert into this debate the promising new research from microsocial contexts of language contact that shows a very creative negotiation of codes and values. This research points to the paradoxical possibility that multilinguals are able to use English for shared purposes while not losing their values and identities. This article is an extension of Spring's (2007/this issue) discussion; not oppositional to his. Spring does point briefly to the hybridization of English in advertisements and media. However, he feels that macrosocial forces of Western hegemony appropriate this hybridity for their own designs. The author likes to consider the signs of pluralization from the microsocial contexts of conversational and interpersonal negotiations in multilingual business and professional contact situations. Although Spring presents anecdotal examples from media and advertising, the author is able to present the findings emerging from empirical data on conversations in contact situations. Whereas Spring theorizes from texts and policies at the broader social level, the author considers the negotiation of English in everyday conversation. This treatment might be considered as emerging more from the interpersonal level of multilingual contact in global communication. After theorizing LFE, the author goes on to develop the strategies of acquisition and communication in these examples to consider how an alternate pedagogy can be fashioned that is more in tune with the biospheric model Spring favors. (Contains 6 footnotes.)