scholarly journals Linguistic Diversity in the Modern World: Language Power and Prestige

Author(s):  
Jurgita Jaroslavienė ◽  
Gintarė Judžentytė-Šinkūnienė
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-10
Author(s):  
Ushuple Lucy Mishina

In our modern world, multilingualism is a common phenomenon. By broad definition, the term ‘multilingualism’ is the use of two or more languages, either by a person or by a group of speakers. Though there have appeared debates and countless studies along with the dominance of multilingualism in any given society. It is often agreed upon by many scholars that multilingualism can be both a problem and a resource. This research paper aims at illuminating the tension of unity and conflict in multilingualism and linguistic diversity. In doing so, this research focuses on multilingualism in Africa and possible implication for unity and conflict within the continent. This paper discovers that multilingualism can cause a crisis of identity, language loss, the death of a language. It can lead to violence and ethnic clashes. In some cases, it can help foster unity in a country.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-47
Author(s):  
Reinier Salverda

Abstract This contribution will engage with Van Parijs’s approach to linguistic justice and his working principles for the reduction of unfairness in the language domain (in particular, the need for intervention and his territorial principle), reflecting on a range of cases of multilingual practice and linguistic coexistence – respectively, in the multilingual capital of the world which is London today; in Fryslân, the minority language area in northern Netherlands; and in Europe, through its European Charter of Regional Minority Languages. Overall, my argument, on a theoretical level, is for the further exploration of the relationship between linguistic diversity and human rights in civil society; and, on a practical level, for the development of a World Language Atlas as envisaged by UNESCO, containing vital information on all the world’s languages – an urgently needed basic resource for policy-making, to ensure, especially for the world’s many endangered languages, the linguistic justice and fairness advocated by Van Parijs.


2017 ◽  
pp. 128-134
Author(s):  
Shailendra Pandey

The study draws insights to teacher and learners in terms of teaching material development. Teaching of the second language has been an important issue in modern world. It is not only an area of teaching but also an area of economic concerns. As a natural outcome that brings out, there is a hard competition among the publishers to obtain the high quality of the teaching materials. Any language learning process traditionally needs print materials or non-print materials (Reinders and White, 2010; Richards, 2001, p. 251; McGrath, 2002, pp. 125-136). The current paper is an assessment of the English Language curriculum that is taught in the colleges across Gujarat. Through this paper, it is focused on whether the curriculum fulfills learners’ needs. Curriculum is used as a general term for the entire organized teaching plan of a subject. Syllabus refers to a pre-defined teacher and supervisor definition of how the curriculum will be accomplished over a predefined period. A curriculum can consist of a number of syllabi. In many parts of the world, language education programs are designed following a syllabus-driven approach, that is, the syllabus determines what kind of materials will be prescribed and in what ways they can be implemented for the classroom teaching. In certain educational contexts, the syllabus even determines how materials should be designed in the first place.


Lampas ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bas van Bommel

Abstract In the period from about 1890 to 1960, there was a widespread belief that a universal language would make an important contribution to both material progress and international understanding. Alongside artificial languages such as Esperanto and national languages such as English and French, for a long time Latin also received serious attention as a potential world language of the future. This article provides an analysis of the discussion held in the Netherlands about the pros and cons of Latin as a modern world language. On the one hand, this analysis shows that due to a unique combination of properties, strong arguments could be made in favour of Latin. On the other hand, both its notorious difficulty and the problems raised by attempts at modernising its archaic vocabulary complicated the candidacy of Latin as a future lingua franca. The article concludes that underlying the ultimate failure of Latin as a modern world language was a misguided attempt to reinvent Latin as a ‘living’ language. The paradoxical lesson this failure teaches is that it is not the ‘life’, but precisely the ‘death’ of the Latin language that is able to maintain it for contemporary use.


2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-155
Author(s):  
Aliya Iskakova ◽  

The status of English language as a lingua franca and the steady expansion of its influence in many areas of human activity cause an ambiguous reaction in the modern world and is accompanied by the emergence of relevant trends in linguistic science and real practice of foreign languages training. In the world linguodidactics, there is a constant search for effective ways of teaching foreign languages, which is inevitably accompanied by a search for solutions to acute problems associated with the English language diversification from the one hand and the preservation of linguistic diversity and cultural identity from the other hand. Analysing the scholars and educators works the author traces the emergence and meaning of the concepts of “translingualism” as a linguistic approach and “translanguaging” as a didactic method. The paper is of great interest from the point of view of acquiring new knowledge and expanding the existing linguodidactic experience. In foreign linguistics, there is a lively discussion about the essence of this phenomenon, which arose as a pedagogical tool in the UK and later took shape in the pedagogical system by the efforts of many scientists and received full theoretical justification in the works written by American scientist Ophelia Garcia and British linguist Lee Wei. Translingualism is considered not only as a powerful pedagogical tool of foreign language training, one the ways to diversify and develop English language, but also as a way to solve accumulated problems in the social sphere, including those the speakers from different linguistic cultures have while communicating.


2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Mar-Molinero

The article traces the spread of Spanish across the globe, highlighting the changing nature of this spread, from indicator of local dominance to colonisation, and then, today, globalisation. This article focuses on the role of Spanish in an era of globalisation, raising issues about the nature of a world or global language, and noting how the emergence of such languages mirrors the decrease of a wider linguistic diversity. It seeks to answer such questions as whether Spanish can be called a global language or instead only an international one. It suggests various tests that should be applied in order to consider what constitutes a global language. I will conclude by speculating on the future spread and role of Spanish, particularly in the U.S. and in its interaction with English.


Author(s):  
E.V. Krasnoperova

The article discusses the issue of language use in the process of developing human consciousness. Language means advocate ideas and impress them in human consciousness. In the modern world, language is used as an ideological pressure on a human being. In current world situation, language tends to be as a means of ideological struggle for power in the society. As such, it can develop a model of the modern world, which, in its turn, develops the ability to perform any activity, designates any processes existing in the society and its life. The article analyzes the use of language means in KPRF Program, which was introduced in the run up to the elections of 2016. The aim of the program text is to introduce a world model designed by KPRF. Lexical- semantic techniques are assessed and language means, which are used to make an effect on voters, are also analyzed in the article.


2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-29
Author(s):  
Albert Moran

Debate concerning media globalisation is paralleled by discussion of the emergence of a world language system. Will we all watch the same television programs and discuss them in English in the future? This article examines the dual linguistic structure which underlines the international circulation of TV program formats. It suggests that there is increasing homogeneity concerning business dealings to do with TV formats, even while there is increasing linguistic diversity so far as the cultural reception and understanding of formatted programs are concerned.


Author(s):  
В.А. Разумовская

Статья посвящена анализу некоторых изменений, происходящих в предметном поле современного переводоведения и связанных с появлением новых объектов перевода на практике и их теоретического осмысления. Случаи расширения категориальной парадигмы науки о переводе рассматриваются в контексте основных социокультурных процессов (глобализации и глокализации), поскольку ключевыми объектами рассматриваемого неовида перевода являются этнотексты, принадлежащие культурам коренных народов Сибири. Этнотексты представляют собой традиционные хранилища культурной информации и памяти уникальных этносов, некоторые из которых испытывают значительное влияние унификации, что нередко приводит к нивелированию их культурных и языковых особенностей. В настоящем исследовании предпринята попытка использования для рассмотрения проблематики декодирования информации этнотекстов методологического инструмента, ставшего в последнее время популярным в гуманитарном дискурсе – фронтира. Символическое понимание фронтира применимо к обозначению и рассмотрению в научном (переводоведческом в данном исследовании) дискурсе встречи старого и нового, изученного и неизученного, понятного и непонятного, однозначного и неоднозначного. В зоне фронтира информационная энтропия возрастает, что требует её преодоления и что в конечном счете может обеспечить дальнейшее развитие науки о переводе. Ставшая в XXI веке актуальной проблематика перевода этнотекстов отнесена в настоящей работе к новой фронтирной зоне переводоведения, в рамках которого еще предстоит решить вопросы определения механизмов изучения текстов, созданных первоначально на языках коренных народов, в зеркале этноперевода. Выделение этнопереводовения как самостоятельной области переводоведения может способствовать созданию новых возможностей для знакомства представителей «других» культур мира с уникальными языками и культурами, некоторые из которых находятся под угрозой исчезновения. Другая важная задача этноперевода определяется в отношении его использования для ревитализации и потенциальному возрождению языков коренных народов Сибири, сохранению их культурной идентичности и обеспечению культурного и языкового разнообразия современного мира, что может стать положительным исходомтекущего процесса глокализации. Некоторые вопросы формирующегося в настоящий момент этнопереводоведения рассмотрены на примере опыта перевода этнотекстов коренных народов Красноярского края и Республики Саха (Якутия). The article is devoted to the analysis of some changes taking place in the subject field of modern Translation Studies and related to the emergence of new translation objects in practice and their theoretical consideration. The cases of the categorical paradigm of the science of translation expansion are discussed in the context of the main socio-cultural processes (globalization and glocalization), since the key objects of the considered neo-type of translation are ethnic texts belonging to the cultures of the indigenous peoples of Siberia. Ethnic texts are traditional repositories of cultural information and memory of unique ethnic groups, some of which are significantly influenced by unification, which often leads to the leveling of their cultural and linguistic characteristics. In this study, an attempt is made to use a methodological tool that has recently become popular in the humanitarian discourse to consider the problems of decoding information of ethnic texts – a frontier. The symbolic interpretation of a frontier is applicable to the designation and consideration in the scholarly (Translation Studies in the present research) discourse of the meeting of the old and the new, the studied and the unexplored, the understandable and the incomprehensible, the definite and the ambiguous. In the frontier zone, information entropy increases, which requires overcoming it and ultimately can ensure the further development of the science of translation. The problems of ethnic texts translation, which have become relevant in the 21st century, are attributed in the present paper to the new frontier zone of Translation Studies, within the framework of which the issues of determining the mechanisms for studying texts originally created in the languages of indigenous peoples in the mirror of ethnic translation have yet to be resolved. The identification of ethnic translation as an independent field of Translation Studies can contribute to the creation of new opportunities for “other” cultures of the world representatives to get acquainted with unique languages and cultures, some of which are endangered. Another important task of ethnic translation is defined in relation to its use for the revitalization and potential revival of the languages of the indigenous peoples of Siberia, the preservation of their cultural identity and ensuring the cultural and linguistic diversity of the modern world, which can become a positive outcome of the current glocalization process. Some issues of the currently emerging Ethnic Translation Studies are considered on the example of the experience of translating the ethnic texts of the indigenous peoples of Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Sakha Republic (Yakutia).


Globus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rej Mavuli Kofi Atitsogbui ◽  
E.N. Atitsogbui ◽  
N.V. Zimovec

In modern world, language as the attitude of a stateship has eithercreated a solid ground for progressive development or a deep rift between tribes,ethnic groups and nationalities which have for centuries or decades been living on a particular territorial formation. In this article we discuss various aspects of language emphasizing its social and cultural aspects and giving examples from different linguistic groups of European, Asian and African continents


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