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Linguistic Imperialism

The document discusses the theory of linguistic imperialism proposed by Robert Phillipson in his influential book. Phillipson defines linguistic imperialism as the dominance asserted and maintained through structural and cultural inequalities between English and other languages. The theory provides a critique of how English maintains its dominance in former colonies and increasingly in Europe. It identifies factors such as the belief that English is best taught monolingually that promote English over other languages.

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Sheraz Tahir
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123 views11 pages

Linguistic Imperialism

The document discusses the theory of linguistic imperialism proposed by Robert Phillipson in his influential book. Phillipson defines linguistic imperialism as the dominance asserted and maintained through structural and cultural inequalities between English and other languages. The theory provides a critique of how English maintains its dominance in former colonies and increasingly in Europe. It identifies factors such as the belief that English is best taught monolingually that promote English over other languages.

Uploaded by

Sheraz Tahir
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Linguistic Imperialism

Lecture Notes
WTUC
Dec. 2006
Linguistic imperialism
• The theory of Linguistic imperialism has
since the early 1990s attracted the
attention among scholars in the field of
English applied linguistics, particularly
since the publication of Robert Phillipson's
influential book Linguistic Imperialism,
which led to considerable disputes about
the merits and shortcomings of the theory.
Linguistic imperialism is often seen in the
context of cultural imperialism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_imperialism
English language imperialism
• Phillipson defines English linguistic
imperialism as:
– "the dominance asserted and maintained by
the establishment and continuous
reconstitution of structural and cultural
inequalities between English and other
languages".
Phillipson's theory
• Phillipson's theory provides a powerful
critique on the historical spread of English
as an international language and how it
continues to maintain its current
dominance particularly in postcolonial
contexts like India, Pakistan, Uganda,
Zimbabwe, etc but also increasingly in
"neo-colonial" contexts such as
continental Europe.
key underlying tenets of English
These are:
• English is best taught monolingually ("the
monolingual fallacy")
• the ideal teacher is a native speaker ("the
nativespeaker fallacy")
• the earlier English is taught, the better the
results ("the early start fallacy")
• the more English is thought, the better the
results ("the maximum exposure fallacy")
• if other languages are used much, standards of
English will drop ("the subtractive fallacy")
Who promotes English
• English intrinsic arguments describe the
language as God-given, rich, noble and
interesting. These arguments usually assert
what English is and other languages are not.
• English extrinsic arguments point out that
English is well established: there are trained
teachers and a multitude of teaching material.
There are also abundant immaterial resources
like knowledge of the language.
• English functional arguments emphasise the
usefulness of English as a gateway to the world.
Other arguments for English are
• Its economic-reproductive function: it
enables people to operate technology.
• Its ideological function: it stands for
modernity.
• It is a symbol for material advance and
efficiency.
Linguicism
• Another very important theme in his work
is what he calls "linguicism" the processes
by which endangered languages become
extinct or lose their local eminence as a
direct result of the rising and competing
prominence of English in disparate global
contexts.
Internationalisation
• Such an "internationalisation" of English might
also bring new possibilities for native speakers
of the language. McCabe elaborates:
– ...whereas for two centuries we exported our
language and our customs in hot pursuit of...fresh
markets, we now find that our language and our
customs are returned to us but altered so that they
can be used by others...so that our own language and
culture discover new possibilities, fresh
contradictions" (1985: 45).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_imperialism
• Even so, the talk of "linguistic imperialism" is not entirely
absurd. An obvious annoyance is the way English is
seeping into Japanese, often taking the place of perfectly
good native words as users try to be fashionable. Of
greater concern is what happens when more people
become fluent in English. Will English become the
language of business (even in Japan) - and of scientific,
technological and intellectual discourse? Will parents
push their children to learn English at the expense of
Japanese? Will the market for printed Japanese
materials shrink?
http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/2000/0407/ed.english.html
Write an Essay
• Is there a danger that these countries will
lose their own identity over time by
succumbing to the charm the English-
speaking nations yield? Will they lose their
own traditions and customs, replacing
them with the more “superior” as a result
of this intervention? Should the EFL
teachers introduce a cultural element into
their classrooms and further reinforce the
current trend?

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