ABSTRACT

Recall what we said at the beginning of this book. When varieties come to dominate in this way, it has nothing to do with any inherent linguistic superiority, but rather economic, political and social context: all along the way, English has been piggybacking on the British Empire, and more recently on American cultural and economic domination. And while the ‘success’ of English might be good news for English speakers, we must also bear in mind that one of the effects of the worldwide movement of English and its use as an international language is widespread linguistic destruction. We are referring here to the death, or near death, of many languages in those places where English has taken root.