English from Zero to Hero

ENGLISH FROM ZERO TO HERO

AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR INDONESIA

Jurnal Bahasa Inggris “Pronounce”

Vol. 2 No. 1, Desember 2008

DR. Hananto

Universitas Pelita Harapan

ABSTRACT

For the first time we are experiencing one of the most important linguistic phenomena of our time – the emergence of a n international, or universal, or global language. English now has been considered a global language. Geographically, it is the most widespread language on earth. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development of English from its birth (zero) to its global role (becoming a hero). The dominance role of English then will be discussed critically, especially its implications for Indonesia in terms of foreign language teaching and learning.

FROM ZERO

The historical, social, and political background in the establishment of English is very important in order to understand its present role. The following discussion of the history of English is based on Bough and Cable (1997). There were several important invasions in England. In 43 C.E. the Roman emperor Claudius sent his army to conquer Britain. The military conquest was followed by the Romanization of the province. During this Roman period, Christianity came to England. The Romans soldiers left England in the early 400’s to help defend Rome against barbarian invaders.

With the Roman’s gone, the Britons could not protect themselves against the Pitch and the Scots. The jutes were invited to help them fight the Pitch and the Scots. Having recognized the cowardice of the Britons and the fertility of the land, the jutes decided to settle. It was then followed by some other West Germanic tribes called the angles and the Saxons, the founders of the English nation. The conquest by these German tribes completely changed Britain. The angles and the Saxons soon became the most powerful tribes in England. Each tribe became divided into separate nations. Under King Alferd (802-839), Wessex gained political supremacy over some other kingdoms.

The language of the angles, Saxons, and Jutes became known as English. However, English was the product of mixed languages. The dialects brought by the West Germanic tribes were the basic elements. The grammar and most of the vocabulary of Old English were from these dialects. There were, however, other elements such as the languages of the Celts, the Romans, and the Scandinavians.

Viking invaders from Denmark and Norway began to attack England in late 700’s. During the 800’s they easily conquered all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms except Wessex. King Alferd resisted most of the Danish attacks. In 1016, Canute, a brother of the King of Denmark, became King of England. Two of Canute’s sons followed him on the throne before the old Anglo-Saxon was restored.

The Norman Conquest in 1066 changed the whole course of the English language. Because of the invasion, many nobles from England fled to Scotland. From the twelfth century the language spread throughout the British Isles.

In the modern English period, some influential conditions come into play. The Reinassance began in Italy during the 14th century and reached other parts of Europe, including England. William Canton introduced the printing press in England in 1476. The result was to bring books within the reach of many people. Consequently, education made rapid progress among the people. The printing press also promoted a standard English.

TO HERO

Beginning in the 1600’s the language spread throughout the world as the English explored and colonized Africa, Australia, India, and North America. The spread of English through out the world is presented by Crystal (1997) in his book English as a Global Language. Therefore, I shall discuss briefly some of the points raised by Crystal.

Compared to other European countries, England was late to enter the race for colonial territory. In 1584, Walter Raleigh sponsored the first English colony in America but the colony failed. The settlement at Jamestown in 1607 was the first permanent English settlement in America. Then, in 1620, the first group of Puritans (the ‘Pilgrim Fathers’) established a settlement in Plymouth. The two settlements were the beginning of a process of colonization in North America. America was one of the most promising colonies of England. The American Revolution did not stop the spread of English in this region.

An enormous increase in American immigration took place during the nineteenth century. Because of revolution, starvation, and poverty, migrants entered the USA. It resulted a substantial growth in the use of English. It is believed that the English language plays an important role in maintaining American unity throughout this period of cultural diversification.

John Cabot helped the spread of English in Canada. He is believed to have reached Newfoundland in 1497. But English migration took place a century later. Settlers from New England gradually replaced French settlers. Because of political reasons, many loyalist supporters of Britain left for Canada during the US Declaration of Independence in 1776.

During the early years of American settlement, the English language was also spreading elsewhere. From the early seventeenth century, European ships traveled to the West African coast. They exchanged cheap goods for black slaves. The slaves were hipped to Caribbean islands and the American coast. The slaves and the sailors, many of whom spoke English, developed pidgin forms of communication. The slaves’ children continued using it as a mother tongue, producing the first black creole speech in the region.

In 1768 Captain James Cook left England on an expedition to the Pacific that also took him to Australia. A few years later the English used this territory to deport criminals. Because of the American Revolution, the prisons were overcrowded. In 1787, shiploads of convicts were sent to Australia. Soon after, they found that sheep raising could be profitable carried on in the country. Substantial immigration rapidly increased when gold was discovered on the continent in 1851.

During his expeditions, Captain Cook planted the British flag both in Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand, however, the spread of English was more slowly. The official colony in New Zealand was established in 1840 after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. It was followed by a rapid increase in European immigration.

In South Africa, British forces twice occupied the Cape region, in 1795 and 1806. In 1814, toward the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain purchased the CapeColony from the Dutch. After 1820, thousands of British colonists arrived in South Africa. They demanded that English law be imposed. English became the official language in 1822.

Inspired by the Dutch, the English entered the trade with India. In 1600 the East India Company was founded to promote this trade. The company established settlements at Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta. During the eighteenth century, England and France became two great rivals. The struggle ended in a series of triumphs for the English. In 1858, the company was abolished and the area became part of the British Empire.

After the Spanish-American war in 1898, the USA obtained the island of Guam and control over the Philippines. After World War II the USA acted as United Nations Trust Territories in several areas of pacific. Consequently, the influence of American English is strong in this region. Stamford Raffles, an administrator in the British East India Company, played important role in the development of a British colonial empire in South-east Asia. English quickly became the language of power in the British territories of South-east Asia.

In addition to a geo-historical account, we also need a socio-historical account in order to understand why English has become the language ‘on which the sun never sets’ Crystal (1997:69). A geographical account is needed to explain it. Therefore, it is necessary to review some important factors in social history which laid the cultural foundation for the growth of English as a world language.

Crystal (1997:53) points out that there are two factors that contribute the world status of English. The first is the growth of the British Empire. The second is the role of the United Stated as a super power country of the twentieth century. The USA continues strengthening the world position of the English language today.

Britain had become the world’s leading industrial and trading nation by the beginning of the nineteenth century. Industrial Revolution is used to refer to the period in British history from 1750 to 1850. Dramatic changes in the economic structure took place as inventions and new technology created the factory system of large-scale machine production. One of the linguistic consequences was that foreign people had to learn English if they wished to benefit from the achievement.

Similar developments were taking place in America. By the end of the eighteenth century, America had overtaken Britain as the world’s fastest growing economy. It is estimated that about half of the influential scientific and technological output between 1750 to 1900 was written in English.

In addition to access to the new knowledge, progress in transportation and communication also played an important role. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the growth of transport system, such as the railway and steamship, began to bring people closer together. During the second half of the century, new communication system, such as the telegraph and telephone, enabled people to make contact almost instantly.

The early nineteenth century had seen the rapid growth of the international banking system. It supported the developing industrial companies and facilitated the growth of world trade and investment. Britain and the USA invested their money abroad creating ‘economic imperialism’. As a result, English was a becoming very powerful.

The spread of English through political expansion was weakening. However, there were other factors, such as the cultural legacy and the technological revolution, that continued the spread of English. English was now becoming a medium of communication which has an effect on domestic and professional life.

The importance of a lingua franca was obvious when the League of Nations was established in 1920. French and English were made the official languages of the League. In 1945 the United Nations replaced it and the role of the lingua franca was even more important. English still remains of one of the official languages. It plays an official role in international meetings in all parts of the world.

The media play an important role in many aspects of life – the press, advertising, broadcasting, motion pictures, popular music, and especially television. English has been an important medium of the press since the seventeenth century. Top newspaper, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Times, and TheSunday

times, are all in English advertisements are usually more numerous. In posters, billboard, electric displays, shop signs, and other techniques, American products usually rule. English is used as the official language of international advertising bodies.

BBC and the voice of America have been broadcasting world wide. These media must have a role in the growth of world English. Similarly, Hollywood films and popular music must have made some contributions to the spread of English. Hollywood films have dominated the box offices in most countries. When modern popular music arrived, it was almost entirely in English. Through the medium of popular song, English is heard wherever there is a radio set.

International travels have immediate linguistic consequences. World English use is obvious in this domain. The domains of transportation and accommodation are mediated through the use of English as a supporting language. English has been used as the official language of international aircraft control since the Second World War.

Crystal points out that one of the most important reasons why English has been made an official language or has been chosen as a chief foreign language in schools by so many countries is always educational. English is the medium of the world’s knowledge, especially in the areas of science and technology. It is estimated that about 80 percent of the world’s electronically stored information is in English. It should be noted that English also has a dominant role on the Internet. He summarizes the remarkable growth of English as follows :

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries English was the language of the leading colonial nation – Britain. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was the language of the leader of the industrial revolution – also Britain. In the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth it was the language of the leading economic power – the USA. As a result, when new technologies brought new linguistic opportunities, English emerged as a first-rank language in industries which affected all aspects of society – the press, advertising, broadcasting, motion pictures, sound recording, transport and communications. At the same time, the world was forging fresh networks of international alliances, and there emerged an unprecedented need for a lingua franca Crystal (1997:110).

We definitely need an international language. Attempts have been made toward developing an artificial international or universal language since 1880s (for example Esperanto). These attempts, however, have not been successful. Crystal gives the following reasons why we badly need a global language:

There has never been a time when so many nations were needing to talk to each other so much. There has never been a time when so many people wished to travel to so many places. There has never been such a strain placed on the conventional resources of translating and interpreting. Never has the need for more wide spread bilingualism been greater, to ease the burden placed on the professional few. And never has there been a more urgent need for a global language (Crystal 1997:12)

The benefits from the existence of a global language are numerous. However, some people have pointed out the possible disadvantages. Crystal (p. 12-20) is aware of the possible risks and classifies them into three group:

1. Linguistic power: the possibility that those who speak a global language as a mother tongue will be more powerful than those who learn it as a second or foreign language. English is regarded as a language of power.Crystal addresses this issue by mentioning the fact that children are born ready for bilingualism. If a global language is taught early enough and is maintained continuously, non-native learners will achieve a similar linguistic competence.

1. Linguistic complacency: the worry that a global language will stop the adults’ motivation to learn other languages. Native English tourists assume that everyone speaks English and blame the local people if they do not. Crystal remains us that we are dealing with questions of attitude rather than questions of ability.

1. Linguistic death: the fear that a global language will speed up the death of minority languages. Graddod (1997:39) points out that may languages in the Asia Pacific region are endangered. He gives a list of thirteen endangered language in Indonesia. He predicts that there will be substantial shift towards the national language (Indonesia) in the future. Graddod believes that even Javanese is likely to suffer. He, however, states that English is rarely the main, or direct cause of language loss. Similarly, Crystal points out that the process of language loss has been recognized throughout the linguistic history. The death of languages has little to do with the emergence of a global language.

Phillipson (1992) also shows his objection to the dominance of English. He regards the wide spread of English as Linguistic Imperialism and makes it the title of his book He points out the extent to which English carries cultural baggage. He bases his objection to the form s of modernization which English makes possible. This dominance is asserted and maintained by the continuous creation of cultural inequalities between English and other languages. He writes:

The structural and cultural inequalities ensure the continued allocation of more material resources to English than to other languages and benefit those who proficient in English (Phillipson 1992:47).

Honey (1997:256), however, maintains that it will happen to any other language. Quoting John Swales, Honey points out that “decisions to use a particular language inevitably confer advantage on some and disadvantage on some and disadvantage on others”.

WORLD ENGLISH

The English language now belongs to the world. It is not the sole possession of the English people. Crystal (1997:130) writes that “The loss of ownership is of course uncomfortable to those especially in Britain, who feel that the language is theirs by historical right; but they have no alternative”.

Different dialects of the English language have developed in many areas. Braj Kachru has promoted the case for recognition of many new Englishes. In addition to English spoken in English speaking countries such as England, America, and Australia, there are also other Englishes such as Indian English, South African English andso forth. Kachru (1986:139) shows that each variety of English undergoes a process of acculturation in its new sociocultural context: “In its new surroundings the transplanted English naturally becomes culture bound”. Non-native varieties are marked by their linguistic and cultural nativization.