Extended transcript below. Language Level: Upper intermediate/Advanced CERf C1 According to Henry Hitchings book Language Wars (2011) there are only eight nations which do not have an official primary language. Show
Why choose not to have an official language?Henry Hitchings outlines some key factors in Language Wars (2011) a) Constitutional history/Cultural tradition Perhaps surprisingly, the anglophone countries generally do not have English as an official language. Majority English speaking countries in blue58 countries have English as an official language — but not the UK, the USA or Australia. See here for the case of the UK and here for the USA. The English language is a shared cultural heritage but not a defining feature of the nation state. Broadly speaking, English has achieved primary status through usage rather than coercion. A similar pattern can be seen in the emergence of Globish — the form of English used as an international lingua franca. b) Ethnic/Religious Tension According to the Ethnologue, the area that once formed Ethiopia has 84 native languages. This may explain why the three neighbouring African countries: Ethiopia, Somalia & Eritrea have avoided giving one linguistic community privileged status. Pakistan is a nation essentially created on religious grounds. It also contains a number of competing communities. Urdu is the de facto official language, but this arrangement is not formalised, as it is with its close cousin Hindi in India. The majority populations of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia Herzegovina and Croatia all speak variants of the same language. Unfortunately they do not agree what that language is called. There had been various controversies and arguments regarding the name of the language. Bosnia neighboring Croats and Serbs call their languages Croatian and Serbian. While Montenegro officially acknowledges the Bosnian language in its 2007 Constitution together with Serbian, Croatian, and Albanian languages, Montenegrin remains the “official language”. The Dayton Peace Accord accredited the Bosnian
as a different language spoken by Bosniaks Bosnia and Herzegovina. source New Zealand also promotes minority languages (Maori & New Zealand Sign Language) through official status. New Zealand Sign Language (with less than 25,000 speakers) is official while English, the mother tongue of 95.6% of the population, is not. Sometimes protecting indigenous minority languages can produce strange anomalies. My parents went to school in the early years of Irish independence, a time when the political policy of the then Free State was to establish “austere national self-sufficiency in an Irish-speaking Ireland.” The practical upshot of this was they studied subjects like Chemistry in an unfamiliar second language (Gaelic). English is the third
most spoken native language in the world, behind only Mandarin (Chinese) and Spanish, and is spoken by more people overall than any other language in the world. English gained traction around the world during the 17th century—largely due to the influence of the British Empire and
the United States—and has become the leading language of international discourse and business. English is a West Germanic language, part of a group of languages that developed in the area of
Europe's North Sea, which includes modern-day countries such as Germany, Norway, Denmark, and the
United Kingdom (among others). There are six West Germanic languages in all: English, Dutch/Flemish, German, Afrikaans, Yiddish, and the lesser-known Frisian. English as we know it has its origin in Germanic tribes who migrated to the UK around 400-500 CE. The language they developed is typically classified as Old English, and looks very little like the English of
today—particularly thanks to its different word order, now-peculiar spellings, and use of characters such as ash (æ) and eth (ð), both of which have fallen out of common use today. This language evolved into Middle English during the twelfth-fifteenth centuries, influenced by Latin, Old Norse, and French. Middle English is much more readable to the modern eye, though the spelling is often still unusual and the th-sounding letter thorn, now written as þ (not to be confused with p) had not yet
been replaced by Y (as in "Ye Olde Shoppe" and which, in turn, was later replaced by th). Sometime around the 1500s, Middle English gave way to Modern English, which continues to evolve and change. For example, today's writing is filled with acronyms, abbreviations, creative use of punctuation and capitalization, and emojis that simply did not exist a century ago. Top 10 Countries that Speak English as a Primary Language (by total population 2021)
It's important to note that this list includes only countries in which English is the primary language. This has a massive impact on which countries appear on the list. If the list were expanded to include countries in which English is not the primary language but is widely used as a "lingua franca," or common language, the list would change considerably. Top 10 English-Speaking Countries in the World (as primary or lingua franca 2021)
The role of English in the modern worldEnglish is the preeminent language of business, diplomacy, and international communication around the world. It is one of six official languages used by the United Nations and is used by organizations including the International Olympic Committee, the European Free Trade Association, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. It is the most widely taught foreign language around the world and the most-used language in scientific studies, with roughly 50% of English-language science writing created by researchers whose native language is something other than English. In light of this worldwide acceptance, many countries have English designated as the de jure official language, meaning it is legally recognized as the official language. In some cases, particularly in Africa, where countries may have dozens of regional languages, English is frequently the official language but not be the primary language. This means that English can be used in business, education, and official documents but is not the language most widely spoken by its residents. This is the case for nations such as India and Pakistan. There are also nations in which English is a de facto national language, meaning that it exists in reality and is practiced, even though it is not officially recognized by law. This is especially true in countries that have no official language. For example, even though English is the most commonly spoken language in the United States, the country actually has no legally declared official language at the federal level. As such, English is the de facto national language. Of the nations where English is a de facto national language, the United States is the most populous with an estimated 332 million people. The "Three Circles" of EnglishLinguist Braj Kachru developed the three circles model in the mid-1980s to describe the spread of English and describe the various degrees to which English is prevalent in each country. The model visualizes English as a series of three differently-sized circles, arranged concentrically like a bulls-eye. While even Kachru admits there are still a few edge cases that don't fit cleanly into any of the three circles, his model nonetheless accommodates the majority of the world's countries using a mere three distinct categories:
English Speakers in the AmericasWithin the English-speaking countries in the Americas, an estimated 350 million people can speak English. About 297 million are native speakers residing in the United States, while 30 million live in Canada. In Central and South America, there are about 14 million English speakers. The English speakers are spread across Puerto Rico (1.7 million), Chile (1.97 million), Columbia (2 million), and Argentina (5.9 million). English Speakers in AfricaMany countries in Africa consider English a second language. Given the diversity in the languages on the continent, statistics show that about 237 million people speak English in the region. Most English speakers in Africa reside in Cameroon (9.8 million) and 111 million in Nigeria. There are 29 million English speakers in Uganda and South Africa (16 million). English Speakers In OceaniaWithin the Oceania region, about 30 million people speak English. Twenty-two million are native English speakers from Australia. 4 million come from New Zealand, with a majority of the citizens speaking New Zealand English. There are a total of 200,000 English speakers in Fiji and 3.2 million in Papua New Guinea. English Speakers in the CaribbeanIn the Caribbean, there are about 18 territories where English is the official language. It's also a language popularly used among tourists. So, even if you're in a region where it isn't the primary language, most people within the region speak it as a second language. The largest and populous island in the Caribbean (Jamaica) has 2.6 million English speakers, with 459,000 being native speakers. English Speakers in the Middle EastA large population in the Middle East speaks Arabic. English is regarded as a "business" language taught in universities and schools as a second language. In Iraq, 35% of the country's English speakers consider it their second language. In Israel, over 80% of the country's population can speak it. English Speakers in AsiaAsia has few native English speakers, with most speaking English as a foreign or second language. This continent has about 460 million people who can speak English. India leads as the country with a high number of people who can speak English at 265 million. Pakistan has 25 million, Bangladesh 29 million and the Philippines has 50 million. Singapore has over 4.2 million English speakers, making up over 80% of its total population. English is also among the country's official languages, like Tamil, Mandarin, and Malay. Only 36% of the country's total population are native speakers. Japanese is the official language in Japan, but it's estimated that 30 percent of the country's population can speak English at any level. Only 2% can speak English fluently. English Speakers in EuropeEurope has an average of 200 million English speakers. The total number of English speakers in the United Kingdom is estimated at 60 million. Northern Ireland accounts for 1.7 million people, Wales and England has over 49.8 million and Scotland has 5.1 million. There are 20.7 million people who can speak English in Italy, 25.4 million in France, and 45.8 million in Germany. A majority of the United Kingdom English Speakers consider it their native language. The other countries in the European region speak it as their second language. English Speaking Countries 2022English Speaking Countries 2022
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