By: Barnali Bose, Editor- ICN Group
Some intrinsic features of the English language are believed to set it apart as an ideal choice for a global language. I would choose to discuss a few of them.
The richness and depth of the vocabulary :
The 1989 revised “Oxford English Dictionary” lists 6,15,000 words in 20 volumes, officially the world’s largest dictionary.
If technical and scientific words were to be included, the total would rise to, well over a million. Its idiomatic phrases and figures of speech, make English, an ornamental language.
My heart was in my mouth( to be extremely anxious); to let the cat out of the bag( to disclose a secret in public ); spilled the beans (revealed a carefully guarded secret) ;brushing things under the carpet (leaving problems unresolved) ;turn black and blue ( being infuriated) are a few examples of idiomatic expressions that enrich the English language,both in verbal and written form.
The flexibility of the language:
One example of this is in respect of word order and the ability to phrase sentences as active or passive (e.g. ‘The flood devastated the state.’ may be written as ‘ The state was devastated by the flood.’ ).
Another is in the ability to use the same word as two different parts of speech e.g as noun as in ‘Water is the elixir of life’ and as verb as in ,‘Water the plants’.
Antonyms can easily be created by adding prefixes as ‘in’ to ’explicable’ ( inexplicable) and ‘un’ to civilised( uncivilised). Forms are changed with suffixes as ‘kindness’ (abstract noun) from ‘kind’ (adjective).
Wren and Martin’s English Grammar and Composition,‘The Bible’ of English Grammar, provides a comprehensive list. Here, I have used ‘the Bible’ as a metaphor. Another commonly used metaphor is: He is ‘the black sheep’ of the family. Similes such as ‘ as cold as ice’ or ‘ as pretty as a picture’ are also often used in speech and in writing.
The disuse of obsolete words and coining of new ones:
There is no dearth of new English words nor is there a shortage of creative people. Therefore we continue to coin as well as blend new words for our regular use, a good number of which make their way into dictionaries.
‘Infotainment’, a comparatively new word we often come across, is a blend of ‘information’ & ‘entertainment.‘Twitterati’, frequent users of Twitter, is relatively new. ‘Unfriend’, as a verb used by Facebook users was non existent before the FB invaded our lives.
In the same way, words go out of use and are replaced by new words of the same meaning. For instance, ‘yonder’(that), ‘amidst’ (in the middle of ), ‘whilst'( while) and ‘amongst’ (among) are no longer heard in the spoken form though one does come across these words in conventional written English. These will probably ‘bite the dust’ as many others did.
The extent of popularity and quality of English Literature throughout History has elevated English to a position, second to none.
English was the language of the colonial Lords
Historically, the essential factor of a global language is that it is spoken by those who wield power. Latin was the lingua franca of its time, although it was only a minority language within the Roman Empire as a whole.
Crucially, though, English was the language of the powerful leaders and administrators and of the Roman military – and, later, of the power of the Roman Catholic Church. This was what drove its ascent to its global language status.
Thus without doubt,we can say that a particular language dominates only when its speakers dominate.
Will English retain its present position in future?
Notwithstanding the unassailable position that English holds today, its future as a global language is not necessarily assured. Why so?
Well, in the Middle Ages, Latin seemed forever set as the language of education and culture, as did French in the 18th Century.
Nevertheless, circumstances changed and so did the importance of these languages. As it is said, ‘Change is the law of nature’. Factors, political, social or otherwise, may, once again precipitate such a change, placing another language in the forefront.
Time has always been and will always be a silent witness to such changes.
( To be continued and concluded in the next segment)
