The spread of English language in Europe and some other regions Dealing with the first part of the

threefold framework suggested in the outline is not a simple matter. After reviewing the huge amount of literature that exists I decided to start by giving the historical context and by introducing important terminology. After that I present two opposing "world-views" on the subject exemplified by !hillipson"s Linguistic Imperialism #$%%&' and (rystal"s English as a global language #$%%)'. *ther issues involved will be explored with this framework in mind. +orn between the desire to tackle all the issues and the necessity of presenting a clear argument I have compiled an additional bibliography of works which cannot be dealt with in the main text because of restrictions of space because of lack in overall relevance and because I do not feel that it is useful to make "one book out of twenty". +his additional bibliography is given in Appendix A. 1. Historical roots of the spread of English In $%$, -ollick envisioned the global spread of a simplified form of .nglish. +oday his vision has been enormously surpassed/ .nglish #with all its idiosyncrasies' is used as the global language - spoken in all fields which re0uire international contact and co-operation #for a list see (rystal $%%)/ 1'. It therefore makes sense to give a short historical sketch of how this "spreading"$ of the language happened.& +he foundations for the expansion of .nglish were laid as the 2ritish .mpire itself expanded #roughly between $344 and $%44'. .nglish and .nglish 5anguage +eaching #.5+' served as a tool to strengthen 2ritish rule. +he result of colonial education policies6 was the creation of an .nglish speaking native elite on the one side and a vernacular speaking majority on the other. 2. The spread of English: a European perspective 2.1.Introduction 7hen one considers the wealth of literature on global .nglish it is remarkable that relatively little has been said about .nglish in .urope. In the bibliography of 8lobal .nglishes #$%39-$%16' 8:rlach #$%1,' lists only , items which deal with .uropean .nglish #as compared to 64 items for African .nglish'. .ven in the bibliography for the years $%1,-$%%6 #8lause et.al. $%%6' this number does not increase significantly. 2ecause a comprehensive account of .nglish in .urope would probably re0uire a multi-volume work it cannot be provided here. 7hat I would like to accomplish in this chapter then is to give a concise overview of the most important aspects of .nglish in .urope. +o begin with I will give a short historical account of the spread of .nglish in .urope since $%,9. ;econdly I will take a look at the status of .nglish in different .uropean regions and in different functional domains #without raising any claims of completeness'. 5ast but not least the language problem of the .< will be analysed as far as it touches upon the status of .nglish. 2.2. English in Europe since 1945 Although it may be risky to take $%,9 as a starting point for a survey about the role of .nglish in .urope - because this approach carries the danger of downplaying continuities from the war and pre-war period&9 - I will do so here because the immediate post-war period undoubtedly gave .nglish in .urope a big - maybe a decisive - boost. +his happened for the following reasons/ 7hen the full extent of =a>i atrocities became known the prestige of 8erman dropped sharply and as a result .in schools all over northern .urope .nglish became the unchallenged second language within a decade or two" #Dollerup $%%3/ &3'. +o a lesser extent -rench may also have suffered a loss of prestige due to the bad reputation of the ?ichy collaboration regime. +he forces of the 7estern allies were under a unified command and

because of the leading role of .nglish speaking countries in the Alliance .nglish was the main language of command. (ontrary to 7orld 7ar $ -rench played only a minor role. In most .uropean countries the Allies were not seen as invaders but as liberators@ this positive attitude influenced attitudes towards .nglish #AagBge $%%3/ 6%'. A major factor in the reconstruction of 7estern .urope were American funds made available through the Carshall !lan. +his large scale ".uropean Decovery !rogram" #the official name' initiated an Americanisation process that undoubtedly affected language attitudes. +he main post-war trend which was perhaps triggered by all these factors was the formation of a youth culture oriented towards the <;A #see Dollerup $%%3/ &)'. Eoung people now labelled "teenagers" listened to and identified with the popular music of artists like .lvis !resley. +oday .nglish terms are used in youth subcultures like rap hip-hop break-dancing or graffiti #see the examples in !reisler $%%%/ &3$'. +oday "any .uropean...who switches on the radio has a very good chance of striking upon some popular music with an .nglish-language text" #Ammon $%%,/ $'. Additionally .nglish is currently spread - or spreads itself #if no agency is to be implied' through film&3 +?&) advertising and - perhaps most importantly in our technological age - software and the internet.&1 As a conse0uence .nglish is today the most important source for loans in all .uropean languages. Ammon points out that "everyone in .urope has got used to at least bits and pieces of .nglish. A normal person can as a rule not even avoid using such loans actively" #$%%,/ &'.&% +oday ,&F of .uropean citi>ens claim to be able to converse in .nglish #(rystal $%%)/ 1$'. 7hen it comes to language teaching .nglish is the language most widely taught in .urope. It comes therefore as no surprise that there is a significant generation-gap in .nglish language proficiency. European Englishes: several regions 2ecause of the marked differences between .uropean countries it is reasonable to assume that the status of and the attitudes connected with .nglish will vary considerably across .urope. In general however it is safe to assume that the function of .nglish in .urope is "...not that of a popular vernacular but of a necessary means of communication in certain well-defined situations" #-ettes $%%$/ i'. Figure: English spoken as foreign language in E countries. !ountr" English speaking population =etherlands )$F Denmark 31F 8ermany 69F 2elgium 6,F -rance 64F Italy $%F ;pain $6F ;ource/ adapted from 5abrie and Guell #$%%)/ &, appendix $'. 2ased on the available data on the use of .nglish in different .< countries I suggest that one can #roughly of course' divide 7estern .urope into three parts/64 Intense use of .nglish/ +he =etherlands 5uxembourg and the ;candinavian (ountries. Coderate use of .nglish/ 8ermany ;wit>erland Austria 2elgium6$ -rance. 5ittle use of .nglish/ +he Cediterranean (ountries #except in some tourist areas'. 2efore I proceed to give a more detailed survey of these three parts which I have termed "supraregions" because each region contains several countries three things should be noted. -irstly I will not deal with the 8erman speaking

areas here as they will be discussed in chapter 6. ;econdly -rance will be discussed in more detail because of the contrast between official pronouncements on and actual usage of .nglish. +hirdly it is obvious that I cannot deal with all the countries in the respective supraregion@ however I would like to highlight certain features which I suggest apply to all countries within the supraregion. !lease note that Ireland is an exception from this tripartite typology #see below'. -urthermore let me emphasise that the typology suggested here is to a large extent one of usage and not of attitudes. In fact a similar neat grouping according to language attitudes is unfortunately next to impossible - at least with the means to my disposal. +he number of variables that might have an impact on language attitudes even within one single country is simply too high. ;ome of the relevant factors influencing attitudes are/ 8=!/ attitudes in a rich province may be different from those in a poor. .ducation/ those well-educated may have different attitudes than those poorly educated. <rban regions/ attitudes in cities may differ significantly from those in rural areas. .thnic makeup/ minorities may differ in their attitude to .nglish. *fficially prescribed attitudes/ a country may have an "official attitude" toward .nglish which might not be necessarily shared by the populace #see the discussion of -rance below'. 2.#.1. The $candinavian countries and the %etherlands: English as a second mother tongue ;tarting with the ;candinavian countries it could be said that they have most successfully assimilated .nglish. 5abrie and Guell attest Denmark 5uxembourg and the =etherlands an "exemplary position in terms of the multilingual abilities of their citi>ens" #$%%)/ 1' and Aaugen even thinks that the ;candinavian peoples are well on their way to becoming bilingual #$%1)/ 16'. !reisler suggests that .nglish in Denmark is not #only' used for the purposes of the elite #what he calls ".nglish from above"' but is appropriated by the common citi>en #".nglish from below"' in domains like music +? or youth culture in general #see $%%%/ &,$-&,3 &34-$'. In higher education students of virtually all subjects are expected to read books and journals in .nglish #!hillipson and ;kutnabb-Hangas $%%%/ &9'. According to !hillipson the Danish minister of education even claimed that .nglish is the second mother tongue of his country #$%%&/ %'. +his fits in with a ministerial note from $%)1 which states that the official aim of .5+ in Danish schools is to make the population bilingual #given in !reisler $%%%/ &,$'. (ode-switching is also common. Ta&le: E'tent to (hich English is e'perienced &" adult )anes per (eek E'perience Fre*uenc" AearIlisten to .nglish %6F ;eeIread .nglish 11F ;peak .nglish &)F 7rite in .nglish $&F ;ource/ adapted from !reisler #$%%%/ &,,'. ;imilarly -erguson #an American' praises the high level of .nglish language competence in ;weden #$%%,/ ,&4'. +o some extent this may be because in ;weden films and radio-programmes are often shown in .nglish only - even without subtitles #Aoll0vist $%1,/ $%'. +herefore 5jung"s conclusion that .nglish in ;weden is used by a surprisingly large percentage of people - not only for work but also in connection with leisure-time activities like watching television programmes in .nglish - does not come as a surprise. -urthermore a

large number of ;wedes also read in .nglish #5jung $%13/ 6),'. In regard to the situation in the =etherlands -ettes suggests that the impact of .nglish may only be superficial despite the fact that .-5 already starts in primary school/ Dutch knowledge of .nglish is far more often passive than active tuned towards understanding films and texts rather than producing the films and texts themselves...Dutch pop groups often perform in .nglish but Dutch actors rarely do so and Dutch writers #naturallyJ' never do #-ettes $%%$/ i'. I suggest that this also holds true for the other countries of this region. Although .nglish plays an important role it has not been used #appropriated' for local purposes to the same extent as in former 2ritish colonies #see chapter $'. All of the countries in this region are rather small speech communities@ .nglish is therefore often perceived as a "window to the world" which helps these countries to compete internationally #see Aaugen $%1)/ 13 Aoll0vist $%1,/ $% and +ruchot $%%)/ )6'. At the university some subjects may even be taught in .nglish. 8enerally .nglish is seen as an indicator of modernisation and is therefore fre0uently used in advertising. Attitudes towards .nglish seem to vary considerably though. 7hile Aoll0vist demonstrates that in ;weden attitudes towards .nglish are generally positive and !reisler comes to similar conclusions in regard to Denmark #$%%%/ &96' !hillipson notes that there is a strong anti-.nglish lobby in =orway #!hillipson and ;kutnab Hangas $%%,/ 1$' and ;ajavaara shows that many -inns think that .nglish has a detrimental influence on their language #$%13/ 39'. It should be noted though that as discussed in chapter $.$$.$ the attitude of the researcher him or herself may play a pivotal role when reporting such findings. 2.#.2. France It is appropriate to deal with -rance in greater detail as this country is sometimes portrayed as the arch-enemy of .nglish. +he spread of .nglish has been a welcome opportunity for some to rant against American culture/ le (ornec for instance fears that the -rench elite of the future "will succeed in speaking bad .nglish which is no longer that of ;hakespeare but of Donald Duck" #$%1$/ ,&% 0td. in -lait> $%%6/ $14'. +his conspiracy view reminds one of the comic Asterix/ all of .urope may be con0uered by .nglish but -rance still does not give in. +he -rench may not have a magic potion against .nglish but they have passed several laws outlawing .nglish loans #see Aaas $%%$ for a detailed account'. *ne of the reasons why the -rench government portrays itself as the defender not only of -rench but also of the linguistic variety of .urope #see AagBge $%%3/ %4' is that the spread of .nglish is seen as a danger to the influence of -rench not only in .urope but also in the world at large. +his attitude is exemplified by AagBge"s revealing comment that if .nglish is used even in congresses which take place in -rance then African nations who have opted for -rench as their official language might reconsider this decision #$%%3/ $44'. In contrast to such official concerns .nglish seems to be 0uite popular and widespread in -rance as -lait>" analysis of movies radio programmes and job advertisements shows #$%%6/ $1&-$11'. +he fact that 19F of schoolchildren decided to learn .nglish as a foreign language and moreover the fact that even the .cole (entral de !aris re0uires fluent .nglish for all its graduates #2ryson $%%4/ $1$' supports Hachru"s argument that even those who have a critical attitude towards .nglish see to it that their children learn the language #see ch.$.%.'. +hus even the -rench seem to admit - albeit somewhat grudgingly - that .nglish is important in international communication. ;ome successful businessmen have even turned into supporters of .nglish@ Alan Cinc considers the .nglish language "the only contribution 2ritain has made to .urope" #0td. in +ruchot $%%)/ )6'. -urthermore in accord with the .uropean trend a generation gap seems to exist/ while the older generation tends to know only -rench the young primarily

use .nglish to communicate with other nationalities #5abrie and Guell $%%)/ $&'. Interestingly (laude +ruchot notes that the practice of using .nglish in conversation which was fashionable only in trendy circles ten years ago has become more general #$%%)/ )&'. .ven the effect of the language laws seems to be rather limited. Aaas notes that 0uite a number of .nglish loans are used in different sections of the populace #$%%$/ $9,'. All this and the fact that 64F of the population speaks .nglish - only 9F less than in 8ermany #see table above' - leads us to the conclusion that .nglish is used more often than might be expected if one only relies on governmental sources. +his conclusion is underlined by Aausmann.s assertion that "it is the fashion to be theoretically against Anglicisms but to keep the practical conse0uences within reasonable limits" #$%13/ )%'. -inally both -lait> and Hibbee point out that those who voice anti-.nglish feelings might in reality be angry at themselves because the influx of .nglish words is seen as a dependence on others in fields where the -rench were once the leaders. +hese people see -rench as "about the last treasure we still possess" #$%%6/ $%$ $%%6/ &$,-9 &$)'. 2.#.#. The +editerranean countries: ,tal" and $pain Italy provides a good example of a truly Cediterranean country. As in so many other .uropean countries it was post-war Americanisation through which .nglish was spread. Italians borrowed a number of words from the fields of sport music entertainment business and technical subjects. -or Dardano .nglish contributed substantially to a second .uropeanisation of Italian #$%13/ &6$'. According to !ulcini the appeal of .nglish words Kto the ItaliansL is due not only to their cultural prestige but...also to their structural features/ their brevity and phonic effect... their flexibility in word-formation...and their similarity to Italian words #$%%)/ )%'. +his brevity has according to Dardano a connotation of modernity and efficiency - at least for some users #$%13/ &6,'. +oday Anglicisms seem to be accepted into the standard language at a rapid pace. Dardano emphasises that the influence of .nglish is not only present in the upper classes but is also felt at the middle and lower levels of the Italian linguistic community. +he influx is particularly high in various technical sub-codes #$%13/ &63-) &,,'. ;till in schools .nglish is only learned by 34 percent of the pupils. Interestingly !ulcini notes a decline of the American myth in Italy and thinks that the growing acceptance of .uropean unification may lead "to a shift of interest from .nglish to other foreign languages" #!ulcini $%%)/ 16'. +he contemporary attitude towards .nglish seems less marked by purism than in some other .uropean countries@ perhaps this liberalism is still a countermovement to the extremely hostile reaction to foreign loans during the fascist period when #similar to 8ermany' various substitutions for Anglicisms were proposed #Dardano $%13/ &69'. In ;pain as a contrast attitudes towards .nglish loans seem to be more critical. *ne purist even put the use of an Anglicism on a par with lack of morals and personal hygiene #see !ratt $%13/ 636'. 8enerally speaking Anglicisms are introduced because one needs to lexicalise an object or a process. In some instances however !ratt concludes that the .nglish term may be used instead of the ;panish one because the user wants to appear modern and sophisticated #$%13/ 636'. -or !ratt ;pain which has only in the recent past been able to make up some ground for its technological backwardness is singularly drawn to all that smacks of progress and modernity #$%13/ 639'.66 +he advertising industry has exploited this fact and uses technical or pseudotechnical Anglicisms to increase the attractiveness of products. .nglish is thus used for image-making. Actually this connotation with modernity seems to be widespread in .urope #and in fact in the world as !hillipson shows Kch. $.,.&.L@ see also the discussion of the prestige factor in Austria Kch 6.&.9.L'.

2.#.4. The e'ception: ,reland Ireland has been referred to as ".ngland"s first colony". In regard to the status of .nglish I suggest that this judgement is 0uite true/ the status of .nglish in Ireland is in many ways more similar to #post'colonial .nglishes than to .nglish on the continent. Indeed writers like 2rian -riel have depicted .nglish as the language of the coloniser #see for instance his play Translations K$%1$L'. 8aelic the official language of the country is hardly spoken outside a small confined area #called the 8aeltacht' and this area is still shrinking. 7hile pupils are compelled to learn 8aelic at school and while a knowledge of 8aelic is also a prere0uisite for certain jobs no one can force people to actively use the language. !articularly in the big cities the triumph of .nglish has been overwhelming.6, In =orthern Ireland the varieties of .nglish spoken distinguishes some (atholics from some !rotestants as clearly as colour distinguishes an Afrikaner from a Mulu" #+odd $%1%/ 66)'. Actually this fact may be an indication of the extent that .nglish has become an Irish language. After all some of the greatest ".nglish" writers and poets were born in Ireland. 2.#.5. Eastern Europe: a case of linguistic imperialism During communist times .nglish was seen as the language of freedom by many intellectuals in the .ast. 7hen the iron curtain finally fell the demand for and the use of .nglish in .astern .urope exploded. +he following reasons for the popularity of .nglish come to mind/ 2ecause of ideological reasons .nglish was neglected in education while Dussian played a prominent role. +he necessity of understanding .nglish texts +he usefulness of .nglish if one wants to use the newly won freedom to travel to foreign countries. +he rising demand for competence in .nglish in key professions. +he desire to comprehend .nglish which one encounters in daily life #advertisements pop songs and so on'. !hilipson and ;kutnabb-Hangas see #rather predictably' some parallels between developing countries and .astern .urope #$%%,/ 14'@ however one cannot draw simple conclusions. As !hilipson and ;kutnabb-Hangas themselves point out most .ast .uropean countries have long-established national languages. Another factor is that in .astern .urope there is a long history of foreign language learning built upon the principle that student and teacher have the same mother tongue. Aence .astern .uropean teachers are less eager to rely on authentic material and on a native-speaker teacher #see ch.$.,.$.'. ;till it seems that .nglish is gaining ground in .astern .urope particularly among the young #for .nglish in .astern .urope see also ;lowinski K$%%1/ iL'. Figure: The three most needed language skills in three European !ountries !ountr" English French -erman -rance )$F -- $$F ;pain 34F &$F )F !oland ,3F )F &3F ;ource/ 8lNck #$%%&' 0td. in Ammon #$%%,/ )' #extract'. 2.4.2. English in European science 7e are fast approaching an epoch of universal conferences...If there were a universal language it would be indifferent in which part of the world the conference were held...#-ollick $%6, K$%$,L/ %6'. 7ithin the academic field it has been said that one has to "publish in .nglish or perish" #?iereck $%%3/ &4'. In some domains .nglish has to a very large extent replaced 8erman as a scientific language. +his becomes visible in the renaming of journals/ the Archiv fr Kreislaufforschung for instance was turned into Basic Research in Cardiolog . Around $%94 all contributions to the !eitschrift fr Tierps cholgie were in 8erman - now %9F are in .nglish #?iereck

$%%3/ &4'. *ther .uropean languages most prominently -rench #see Hibee $%%6/ &$3' and Italian had to give way to .nglish too. 7einrich suspects that the .nglish language is used as a convenient strategy for coping with an everincreasing amount of information/ everything that is not in .nglish is simply disregarded #$%11/ 64%-$4 0td. in Domaschnew $%%3/ 69'. Interestingly different sciences use .nglish to a different degree/ within the !ure ;ciences Cedicine and Cathematics .nglish is the only language of communication@ in the social sciences there is a trend towards .nglish. +he humanities however rather remain a domain of national languages #see also ch. ,.6.).'. +reanor #i' lists the conse0uences of the dominant status of .nglish in some academic areas/ If a second language is re0uired for entrance to a university it is almost always .nglish #+reanor i'. +his is certainly true@ it should not be forgotten though that in 8erman speaking areas #but not in the <H' 5atin is also often a prere0uisite particularly for those wishing to study modern languages medicine and law. A native speaker of .nglish can become a !rofessor of !hysics without knowing any other languages. #+reanor i'. -urthermore one could add .nglish speakers often have the opportunity of going abroad without knowing local languages. !ublications in major international journals are considered more valuable and those journals are almost all in .nglish. Almost all academic journals published in .nglish refuse to accept contributions in another language. Degarding the situation in Denmark !hillipson and ;kutnabb-Hangas #$%%%/ &)-1' divide scholars in three broad groups according to the use of mother tongue andIor .nglish for academic purposes/ ".nglish *nly"/ the member of this group are mostly from natural sciences and feel that .nglish is the natural language of science.