Original scientific paper
Language Strategies and Society
Emil Heršak
; Institut za migracije i narodnosti, Zagreb
Abstract
The paper discusses some parameters of language use and choice, in relation to social and developmental criteria. After the Introduction, three general assumptions regarding language are given: 1) any language can be developed
to the level of fulfilling the needs of its speakers, 2) languages are structurally different, 3) languages are not only communication systems. After this, a description is given of the relations between languages that are a person's default from birth and additional languages that he or she acquires in his or her latter life. In the central part of the paper the author gives a critical analysis of the role of English in the contemporary world as the world's only common language. The most important points emphasise that English is not a particularly easy language, since it is structurally burdened by the size of its vocabulary, by the phrase grammar and by the unpredictability of its orthography. However, English managed to impose itself on the world due to non-linguistic factors. The author does not accept the claim that English has become ethnically, culturally or ideologically neutral. At the end of the paper, he presents some ideas on language strategy (policy) in Croatia. The authors insists that this strategy should be formulated along two lines: a development of the comparative advantages of the Croatian language and a realistic and balanced approach to learning foreign languages
Keywords
language; society; world communication; English language; globalisation; Croatian language
Hrčak ID:
154067
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2001.
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