Book Review

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Forwarded from LINGUIST List 14.2141
Tue Aug 12 2003

Jacques Maurais and Michael A. Morris ed. (2003) Languages in a
globalising world, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.


Lorenzo Zanasi, Universita per Stranieri di Siena, Italia.

The collection of papers edited by Maurais and Morris (already published)
in French, in 2001 by Terminogramme) has like a common denominator the
ability to show the current vitality and diffusion of some languages
(above all English and French) examining their political and linguistics
planning dimensions. The contributions are arranged along a
macroterritorial structure representing political entity (EU, NAFTA,
Mercosor), territorially and culturally homogeneous state groups (Eastern
Europe, Central Asia regions, East Asian countries) and, finally, vaster
regions interested by linguistic changes (Sub Saharan Africa). On the
second level of focus, it brings to bear another common goal: the new
technologies, particularly new media, as vectors of communication for
languages.

The text is divided into three parts. The first part contains five
theoretical papers, about the linguistic dynamics perspective in a more
globalised future.  Jacques Maurais sets some questions on how the
spreader languages will be in contact and in competition after the
collapse of the URSS and the end of apartheid in South Africa. For this
purpose, avoiding the rash game of prediction, the author identifies and
analyses three modalities of possible relationships that will be reprised
in the next contributions: the spreading of English as international
lingua franca; the use of technology and multilingual teaching.  Mark
Fettes compares several interlinguistic strategies: plurilingualism, word
English, language brokers and technology. After having precisely defined
and individually evaluated them weighting up qualities and defects, Fettes
observes how both are socially oriented toward the richer elites and not
towards the masses. The author proposes a parameter of language ecology,
which has to be realised through the concept of esperantism.  Douglas A.
Kibbee has his focus on the critical appraisal of theoretical concepts of
language ecology and the imposition of English as an international code.
The two linguistic geostrategies, corresponding to two political models
(free-market theory of capitalism and green theory of ecological
protection) with roots in Darwinian view and Sapir-Whorf hypothesis,
represent the extreme interpretation of a deterministic version. According
to the first model, the predominance of a language is a fruit of natural
selection and of a democratic predisposition in that language. The second
model reverses the interpretation, representing determinism as an
imposition of an ideology, a partial system of values damaging other
systems carried by different languages destined therefore to die. The
author identifies like as a real danger, in both models, the negation of
language contact on theoretical bases.  Jean Laponce proposes a
territorial strategy in favour of minority languages: he suggests avoiding
position of radical linguistic autarchy, but rather accepting, according
to cases and domains, a policy led by a territoriality principle and a
policy led by a laissez fair conception (for benefit of English).
Finally William F. Mackey reminds us how forecasting the diffusion or
contraction of a language is uncertain without to considering the
multidimensionality and multifunctionality aspects.  Demographic indices,
geopolitical and economical factors are the keys to linguistic change. An
attempt to describe, interpret, predict linguistic data, will include
these factors.

The second part consists of eight papers describing the current linguistic
contexts in some geographical areas.  Extremely interesting are the
careful examinations of linguistic policies in EU, Mercosur and NAFTA by
Claude Truchot, Rainer Enrique Hamel and Michael A. Morris.  After having
briefly described politic and economic integration in the EU, Truchot
considers the community linguistic survey, observing the official uses and
the empirical uses. He concludes with an analysis of English, French and
German as lingua franca. This use, opposed to the historical
multilingualism in the EU is really the most uncertain political problem.
The South American Common Market (Mercosur) is an agreement between
Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay in order to promote an internal
economic co-operation. Such a wish is reflecting on the linguistic policy
too. It plans an integration of regional languages (Spanish and
Portuguese) as official languages with the aim to block English the spread
of English (English however retains an important position). The
observations of Hamel on geolinguistic perspectives offered by Mercosur
are preceded by a synthetics and detailed description of the linguistic
situation of every member country.  NAFTA is the co-operation pact between
USA, Mexico and Canada. Morris notes how the USA undisputed expansion on
the economic internal market is not automatic on a linguistic level. In
fact contrary to EU and Mercosur, in NAFTA there is not any agreement
between partners on the unification of linguistic and cultural features.
Particularly, the challenge appears to be between the monoglottic and
homogeneous English culture and the linguistic diversity with Spanish
spreading into several areas of a traditionally Anglophone territory. The
next five essays deal with some recognition of the languages spoken in
several parts of the globe. In few pages Ferenc Fodor and Sandrine Peluau
are able to design the linguistic landscape of Eastern Europe both before
and after the Soviet regime. It brings out the Russian decline and the
increase of English.  Birgit N. Schlyter and Stefan Kaiser examine
respectively, the sociolinguistic situation of the Central Asian societies
and the problems of non phonetic Korean, Japanese and Chinese alphabets,
for the electronic codification. In both papers the spread of English in
these territories is underlined. In Central Asia, English is becoming much
more popular and it is considered to be increasing at the same rate as
Turkish. In technological Japan anglophonia has become an important part
of some job environments, even though the level of learning is still low
and the political will to spreading Japanese in the world remains strong.
Roland Breton brings us into the African continent. To be precise, into
the Southern part of the Sahara: the South Saharan Africa.  The African
mosaic is very crowded with local languages still subordinated and
unfortunately threatened by the three greater colonial languages: English
and especially French and Portuguese.Australasia is described
linguistically by Richard B. Baldauf and Paulin G. Djit. Past, present and
future are scrupulously examined through by means of the categories
proposed by Fettes: world English, plurilingualism, esperantism, language
brokers, and technologism. There arises a picture of a territory where
English is still dominant in international relationships, but Chinese and
Indonesian languages are very strong too.

The third part includes a series of contributions having as a focus the
international languages of wider communication. All of these languages are
spoken in a number of countries, all have the potential for expansion
although some or all may end up declining in a competitive, globalising
world, and all enjoy some degree of international status (from the
Introduction). Ulrich Ammon shows us the use of German in international
settings through several parameters: numerical, political, economic and
cultural. The weight of the German, though some predict it to be
lessening, will depend on the economic and technological developments of
the germanophones (germanophone) countries.The Arabic standardization is
the topic considered by Foued Laroussi; particularly the author is
concentrates on the ortographic problem in electronic media like the
Internet and on the difference between written code (homogeneous) and
spoken code (diatopically connoted). Vida Io. Mikhalchenko and Yulia
Trushkova survey the multifaceted status of Russian in Russian Federation,
in CIS and the Baltic states. Also in this paper the consideration of
information technologies is important. Robert Chaudenson and Grant
McConnel assess respectively challenges for French and Fracophonie in a
globalising world and development of a strategy for measuring the
diffusion and contraction of English. The first paper focuses particularly
on the context of Africa; the second one attempts to promote a future
language observatory. Finally Maria da Graca Krieger, calls attention to
the rising importance of Portuguese, especially with reference to
Mercosur. Moreover the Professor marks the rising of a mixed code called
Portunhol (Brazilian Portuguese and Southern Cone Spanish).  This code
evidences the necessity of a political promotion of bilingualism for the
Latin American region.

Critical evaluation.

Languages in a globalising world is a rich text of cues, stimuli and
reflections. It has the merit of analysing a great number of linguistic
themes scattered throughout all the corners of the earth in a synthetic
way. All the contributions do not conform to the easy game of the long
term forecasts and, actually, many of them criticize this risky habit. It
is a text that leaves the authors free to take their own positions and to
be openly critics towards of others. Perhaps the more evident merit of the
volume is to open a series of windows on linguistics reality less known as
Eastern Europe, the Arabophone world and central Asia. The frequent use of
tables and outlines and the bibliographies concluding every contribution,
lends the entire work the quality of a handbook, happily adapted both to
the specialist and to the curious university student.  I find the
historical-descriptive part in almost every paper very good; A little bit
weaker, I would say, is the propositive aim that rarely opens doors
particularly attractive to the reader. There is a lot of prudence when
discussing topics of language policy; maybe too much.



ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Lorenzo Zanasi is a doctor in linguistics since 2000. Currently he is
concluding a PhD program in geolinguistics of languages in contact. He is
also working with the Observatory of immigrant languages and of Italian
spoken by immigrants created in 2001 at the University for Foreigners of
Siena.