How English Became the Global Language

215 Pages·2013·1.495 MB·

by  David Northrup (auth.)

HOW ENGLISH BECAME THE GLOBAL LANGUAGE
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How English Became the
Global Language
David Northrup
HOW ENGLISH BECAME THE GLOBAL LANGUAGE
Copyright © David Northrup, 2013.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-30305-9
All rights reserved.
First published in 2013 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-137-30306-6 ISBN 978-1-137-30307-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137303073
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Northrup, David, 1941– author
How English Became the Global Language / David Northrup.
pages cm
Includes index.
1. English language—Globalization. 2. English language—History.
3. English language—Foreign countries. 4. English language—Variation.
I. Title.
PE1073.N67 2013
420.9—dc23 2012038715
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: March 2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Figures and Tables vii
List of Abbreviations ix
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
Chapter 1
Introduction: Disciplines, Perspectives, Debates,
and Overview 1
How Different Disciplines Tell the History of English 2
An Introduction to Language History 7
Debates about Modern History 16
Overview 22
Chapter 2
The Language of the British Isles 27
Invaders 2 8
Modern English 33
English in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland 3 7
Conclusion 4 5
Chapter 3
The Language of North America 4 9
Colonial Beginnings 50
Expansion and Assimilation 5 7
Persistence of Other Languages and Bilingualism 63
Chapter 4
English in Imperial Asia and Africa 75
British Colonies in Asia 78
British Colonies in Africa 8 9
American Colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific 101
vi CONTENTS
Chapter 5
Cultural Worlds 1 09
International Relations 110
Scientific English 1 14
Business English 1 18
Global English Literature 123
Popular Culture: Rap and Mac 129
Chapter 6
Tipping Points 137
The World Wide Web 140
Soviet Disintegration 1 41
China Tips Asia 1 44
The Global Academic Language 1 48
Conclusion 1 58
Notes 161
Bibliography 1 81
Index 197
Figures and Tables
Figure
6.1 University students going abroad for study, 2009,
by destination. 150
Tables
2.1 Borrowings from Hindi, Turkish, and Welsh 40
3.1 New vocabulary in colonial American English
(excluding place-names) 50
3.2 Loanwords in nineteenth-century American English 57
4.1 Education in Nigeria and India, 1938–39 9 4
4.2 Annual expenditures for education in British
African colonies, 1926 (£ per 1000 population) 96
4.3 African countries using English officially in
education 1 01
6.1 English-medium higher education where English is
not an official language 1 57
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Abbreviations
A
s is fitting in a work of world history, international abbrevia-
tions are used in dates in preference to the abbreviations AD and
BC that are common in Western countries.
BCE Before the Common Era
CE Of the Common Era
Two much used texts are cited in abbreviated form:
CHEL The Cambridge History of the English Language
OCEL The Oxford Companion to the English Language
Other shortened terms:
EIC East India Company
INC Indian National Congress
MNC multinational corporation
SPCK S ociety for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge
SWAPO Southwest African Peoples Organization
UK T he United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland
US T he United States of America