Languages of Wider Communication

doi:10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/00644-1

Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics (Second Edition)

2006, Pages 690-697

https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/00644-1 Get rights and content

World language and international language have tended to be employed interchangeably; insofar as there is a distinction, it resides in the condition that a world language encompasses the entire globe, while international languages may serve clusters of nations. English has today assumed the position of a world language. The languages Arabic, Swahili, and French play a vital role as international languages, which serve the purpose of maintaining supranational economic, cultural, and, within certain limitations, ethnic zones. Languages of wider communication such as Hindi and Bahasa Indonesia provide a mutually intelligible medium for speakers in multilingual societies.

bilingualism

globalization

indigenous language

language and ethnicity

lingua franca

second language acquisition

Janina Brutt-Griffler is Associate Professor in the Department of Learning and Instruction at SUNY, Buffalo. Prior to joining the department she taught on the graduate faculty at the University of York, England. Her areas of specialization are English in a global context, sociolinguitics, second language acquisition, and authorship among bilingual writers. Her MLA prize winning World English: a study of its development complicates the simple narrative of language spread as a function of Western cultural hegemony. Her publications also include Bilingualism and language pedagogy (co-edited) and English and ethnicity (co-edited). She serves on the Distinguished Service and Scholarship Committee of the American Association for Applied Linguistics and the Executive Committee for General Linguistics Group of the Modern Language Association of America. Her current work focuses on language and globalization.

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