Words of the World: The Global Language SystemISBN: 978-0-7456-2748-9
Paperback
272 pages
January 2002, Polity
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The human species is divided into more than five thousand
language groups that do not understand each other. And yet these
groups constitute one coherent world language system, connected by
multilingual speakers in a surprisingly powerful way. The chances
of a language thriving depend on its position in the system. There
are thousands of small, peripheral languages, each connected to one
of a hundred central languages. The entire system is held together
by one global language: English. A language is a
‘hypercollective' good: the more speakers it has, the higher
its communication value for each one of them. Thus, when people
think that a language is gaining new speakers, that in itself is a
reason for them to want to learn it too. That is why, in an age of
globalization, only a few languages remain for transnational
communication and these often prevail even in national
societies.
This important book discusses a number of specific constellations in detail: India, Indonesia, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa and the European Union. De Swaan concludes by providing a sober but illuminating view of language policy in multilingual societies. This book will be essential reading for those studying sociology, communication studies and linguistics.