by Nia Nymue

Created on: August 25, 2007

The English Language has become the most prevalent language in the world, spoken by citizens in more than 115 countries. Although it may not be the native language of a large percentage of English-speaking people, the fact that many people take the English Language as a second language shows its importance and relevance in our modern society. The English Language could be considered our modern lingua franca.

However, there arises a large disparity within the English Language itself. By population size, American English is more widely spoken than British English, which can be considered to be the "original" English Language origin. When reading, it is immediately apparent whether the writer uses American English or British English by the spelling of certain words such as "practice". In British English, the word "practice" is a noun, but in American English, it serves as both noun and verb. Thus, British English provides more of an advantage to non-native speakers who wish to use English on a more academic basis, since ideas can be put across more clearly and more accurately.

Besides spelling, colloquial factors will also have to be taken into consideration. It would be too dismissive to claim that the English Language has already become a global language because most often than not, in addition to spelling, local proverbs - usually translated from other languages have sneaked their way into the English that is used by the locals. The vernacular in a local country often deviates differently from the "standardised" English used by the British. In fact, within Britain itself, which is segregated by different islands, it would be impossible for a foreigner to immediately discern whether the English spoken by a Welsh is the same English spoken by a mainland Briton.

This brings up the issue of accents. Even if the English Language is officialised as a global language, the heavily-accented English used by the citizens of more than 194 countries will defeat the purpose of having a lingua franca - which is to facilitate communication between citizens of different states. Perhaps then, English can only be considered a written lingua franca, and not a spoken one.

The proliferation of the English Language has also led to the bastardisation of it, primarily by Internet users. 18% of Internet users (correct at time of writing) are Americans, which is the highest percentage for any given country. Thus, the language most used online, by deductive reasoning, is American English.

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