Is English really the greatest language?
Some linguists say that all languages are equally great and are unique Every language has got its own syntactical, lexical and phonological features We may compare one language with another but can’t say one language is superior or inferior to another Every country is proud of its national language. The languages in the world are divided into Indo-European, Celtic, Dravidian and so on English belongs to the family of indo-European languages. It is undoubtedly the most popular and the most widely used language across the globe. It is no exaggeration to say that no human being can exist in the world without learning English as the first, second or a foreign language .even a great hater of English cannot but use a few words of English in his or her speech .English is called the window of the world. it is the language of science and technology, computers, web, internet ,fax, commerce and parliament, journalism, and what not It is impossible to imagine life without English for a modern human being.
What is the reason for the popularity of English?
Is it linguistic superiority or historical accident that has made English so popular?The spread and popularity of English is so rampant that most languages and cultures are dreaded to be extinct because of English. some language fanatics have tried to replace English with Hindi as the official language of India but in vain .The craze for English as a subject or medium of instruction is on the increase in non-native English speaking countries like India .some scholars argue that English is the language of the colonialists. They think English would not have been so popular as it is today if The British had not ruled the world in the past.
Let us now discuss the linguistic demerits of English.
- English is an unphonetic language. Maxmuller says ’English spelling is a national misfortune to England and an international misfortune to the rest of the world.’
- There is no one to one correspondence between its tense and time. Some argue that English has only two tenses-the present and the past.
- There is no numerical adjective like ‘howmanieth ‘ in English.It is difficult to ask for the hierachical position of a person. example. howmanieth son are you to your father?
- The use of prepositions is a big ask for even native speakers .the use of phrasal verbs is all the more difficult
- The use of articles is non-existent in most languages.
- Unlike most Indian languages English does not have causative verbs for most words.
Now let us discuss its merits.
- It is the most resourceful language in the world.It has not only graciously borrowed many words from living and dead languages but also profusely lent most of its words to all most all the languages.
- The verb does not change with the change of the gender unlike most Indian languages .For example, he is coming and she is coming
I think ,despite its popularity the linguistic demerits of English far out weigh its merits.The list of the merits and demerits is not exhaustive there may be some more. If you like you may point out them .Shall we go back to our topic “is English really the greatest language in the world?
I hope the teachers and scholars respond to the topic impartially and enthusiastically.
Yours sincerely,
JVL NARASIMHA RAO
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Dear NARASIMHA RAO,
Your topic is good and tempting. Thank you!
The thing I'd like to know first is: what do you mean while using the adjective "GREAT" here?
... then, I can respond to the topic perfectly within my experience.
Best Regards,
Traika
Dear Mr.Rao,
An interesting question raised by you! you have come out with concrete points outweighing demerits of English.
When I raised a typical kind of opinion in gavin’s issue of digital divide,he gave me an earnest answer that english will be dominant on-line in spite of other languages popularity.
Here are quotes of Indian scholars:
India's education system "kills any spirit of innovation" by failing to close the gap between industry and academia, said S. Srinavasa Murthy, professor of electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi.
Joshi says the major challenge in India is to find innovative solutions that help rural enterprises survive global competition. "If innovation leaves out the rural sector, we are leaving most of India out," he said.
As a co-indain teacher I can say that English is not great
regards
dr.mangay
Dear MR RAO & Dr Mangay
I should thank Mr JVL NARASIMHA RAO for having the courage to raise an interesting issue of whether English is the greatest language or not. This is a loaded argument for me and a difficult one. And I think we make the discussion to shallow if we only look at the linguistic features, because language/choice and use involves consideration of complex sociolinguistic issues.
In spite of linguistic features you have raised to support your argument, I think I cannot really bet one language is great and the other one is not. Language is an identity of a person and a group using it. For the community using it, it sufficiently addresses their survival needs. But any language falls short when it is required to take us beyond the service of the community and culture that birthed it.
English has passed that stage and has become the most dominant language by borrowing ruthlessly from other languages and cultures. English has benefited from the underlying developments in almost every field. Yes this has been favoured by the political, economic, scientific dominance of Britain and now the north Americans. If this influence is to continue, I think English will remain the dominant international language.
Especially in contexts like Ethiopia, where none of its languages are spoken by foreigners, we have no choice but to adopt a foreign language, such as English to interact with the rest of the world. Do the non-English speaking countries, India, China or Japanese have any choice to communicate wit Ethiopians or other Africans? Well they can pay a lot money to disseminate their languages like the French or English speaking countries. But how much is this feasible? With the current level of economy, it is very difficult for Ethiopia or other African nations (well the Arabic speakers have no problem because this is one of the dominant international languages.)
Linguistically, yes, but if you consider pragmatic issues, does demerit of English outweigh its merits in India? Yes I do agree that people would develop cognitively and culturally, if they are educated in own language. In the whole of Africa, I think in African Union summits, language policy is one of the issues our leaders are grappling with. (I would think it is the same in Asia and India.)
If I am not stating the obvious, I think the way forward is, adopting multilingualism. While empowering the indigenous languages, multilingualism addresses the competition not only between local and foreign languages but also the competition between local languages (I am thinking of which language can you adopt as a national language in countries like Ethiopia with more than 80 languages or Nigeria with more than 250 languages? I guess India too has many languages? Which one will you say is great which one is not? Are you not promoting one language and culture while supressing the others?
Nigussie
Hello.
With due respect to all n to all the languages.In spite of being a teacher trainer in English I firmly believe that Sanskrit is the richest of all languages. It is so scientific with apt explanations for everything and if learnt once it becomes easy to learn other languages. It is mother of many many languages. Not only Indian languages but foreign language learning also becomes easy. All the linguistic principles that are discussed in English are already dealt with in Sanskrit long back. I think this is one interesting area where good research work can be done.
Priyamvada.
The linguistic demerits of English
Dear Mr Metsheng,
I am really delighted that you have entered into the discussion ’is English really the greatest language in the world’? In fact I have raised the issue not because I want to undermine the importance or greatness of English but to know why English has become so popular despite its linguistic demerits I know it is very difficult to say whether a language is great or not .as we are interested in linguistics we may compare and contrast one language with another .paradoxically I am a great admirer of English and the English .although there are many countries there is only one great Britain Why is it called so? because she ruled almost the world once some linguists argue that if the French or the Dutch had ruled the world ,the languages would have been so popular as English .they say that there is nothing great about the English language. Since the English were and are powerful, their language has become popular. It is true that England was powerful in the past and America is powerful in the present. The language of the powerful has naturally become popular .Even if we can’t accept the fact that English is not the greatest language ,we can’t deny the fact that the English are great in the past and the present those who are powerful naturally become popular and are considered great though what is popular need not be great.
You have accepted the linguistic demerits of English .you have proved your greatness by accepting the facts .It is a fact that English is the most utilitarian language in the world. no language come near it even in the distant future .most languages and cultures are dreaded to be extinct because of English .of course, you are aware of all these facts .In India some fanatics tried to revive Sanskrit to counter the influence of English but in vain .some so called nationalists made an unsuccessful attempt to impose Hindi on south Indians. They have failed to replace English as the associate official language of the nation .In fact English is the unofficial national language of India. Only English is the compulsory language up to degree level in India.
I request you to read my blog MY DEAR BARD. Then you will understand me much better.
I express my deep gratitude to your for your exhaustive and enlightening comments.
With kind regards,
Yours sincerely,
JVL NARASIMHA RAO
Dear TRAIKA,
Thank you very much for your response. but you threw the ball in my court by asking me to define the adjective in the context. I know it is some what dificult to answer. Why do we regard Shakespeare as the greatest dramatist in the world? What about Homer, KALIDASA and others? why is Bradman is still considered the greatest batsman although Tendulkar has scored tons and tons of runs in test and one day cricket? Lara is great Tendulkar is greater, Bradman is the greatest. When every thing is compared, Why not languages? Nobody can deny the fact that English is the most popular and useful language in the world. Does it mean that it is the greatest language linguistically, culturally, historically and literally?What is popular need not be great.
English is the language of the colonialists.England was powerful in the past and America is at present.If the french or the Dutch ruled the world,what would have happened? Has English become popular because of historical reasons or linguistic or some other reasons?I am not against English or its popularity.In fact I admire English. I am a true bilingual.I like my mother tongue Telugu and admire English.But I think that it has more demerits than merits linguistically. My point is in what way it is the greatest language? simply because of its popularity and utility? Or something else?
Hoping to receive your comments by and by.
With kind regards
Yours sincerely,
JVL NARASIMHA RAO
Thank you for your comments.Although you are a Tamilian,You want hindi to be the official language of indians.Infact Tamilnadu is the only state which has opposed the three language formula in south india.You seem to be a staunch nationalist.Thank you for your nationalism.Infact you and i are not against english or its popularity.it is our breadwinner.I have been studying english for the last 30 years and i will continue to study it in the future.But i wonder why english has become so popular?is it linguistic superiority or historical accident that has made english so popular,utilitarianand all pervading?It is no exaggeration to say that english is omnipotent,omnipresent and omniscient.One may doubt the existence of God but not English.we can't remake the past. but if the english had not ruled the world, had english been so popular as it is today?I have pointed out the linguistic demerits of english which even Mr Metshengcouldn't deny.However,My aim is not to undermine the greatness or the popularity of english My role is much akin to a disinterested linguist.
I hope you will respond to my comments very promptly.
With kind regards,
Yours sincerely,
JVL NARASIMHA RAO
Of course not.
There are so many other languages in the world, some of which you may have never heard of. Each of them is unique in some way and thus special.
Nowadays English seems to be the lingua franca but look at the past! 1000 years ago Latin was the main language in use and some 200 years ago French was the most popular language in Europe. In the future, my guess is that Chinese may take over.
It's easier to treat English as a means of effective communication than an ultimate goal. I agree with Nigussie on that point - in countries where there is a number of languages spoken, it is unfair to prioritize one of them over the others.
Dear Anita,
Thank you for your response. My object of raising the topic is not undermine the greatness or popularity of English. In fact, I am an English teacher, trainer ,resource person and text book writer English is my bread winner. I have raised the topic only out of curiosity my point is whether English would have been as popular as it is today if the British had not ruled the world and America is as powerful as it is today. Of course they are ifs and buts only. Linguistically English has got more demerits than merits.As the guest teacher Mr Negash has rightly pointed out English has got more pragmatic merits than other languages. We can’t think of any other language than English as link language in a multilingual and multicultural country like India.. It doesn't however mean that English is the richest and the greatest language in the world the classical languages like Sanskrit and Latin have dead and the resourceful languages like English are flourishing.
yours sincerely,
JVL NARASIMHA RAO
Dear priyamvada8778,
Thank you very much for your response.I do agree that Sanskrit is the richest and the purest language in the world.It is really sad that in the land of the vedas and the Upanishads the most chaste and the purest language Sanskrit has almost dead.I was born in a family of Sanskrit scholars but I am ashamed to say that I haven't learned any Sanskrit.I spent the whole of my time and energy for learning English. I am not sure I have mastered English or not yet. i know it is a life long process.I have spent 30 precious years of my life learning English. I agree that Sanskrit is the mother of all languages.Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world. So Sanskrit might be the oldest language in the world.so it should be the mother of all language.Even English , latin, German and Sanskrit belong to the same indo European family. We can't remake the past.we have to accept the fact that English is the most popular and utilitarian language in the world even though it is not the richest or the greatest language linguistically. I am sad that I have not learned Sanskrit in spite of my background.
With kind regards,
Yours sincerely,
JVL NARASIMHA RAO