Globish is a subset of the English language formalized by Jean-Paul Nerriere.[1] It uses a subset of standard English grammar, and a list of 1500 English words. According to Nerriere it is "not a language" in and of itself,[2] but rather it is the common ground that non-native English speakers adopt in the context of international business.
[edit] Origin and development of Globish
The term Globish was first used by M. N. Gogate in 1998.[3]
While serving as vice president of international marketing at IBM, Jean-Paul Nerriere first observed patterns that non-native English speakers used to communicate with each other in international conferences.[2][3] He later developed rules and training in the form of two books to help non-native English speakers better communicate with each other by using Globish as a lingua franca.[4]
[edit] Criticism
As for every auxiliary international language, this has its critics and there is some discussion about it.
- It is suspected of cultural imperialism, because it spreads only one culture and language from which the subset of words is taken: this criticism is often by the speakers of other "neutral" languages, meant as languages not spoken in any nation. In fact, English speakers represent only a small proportion of the world population[5].
- Globish is not an economically free language. It is a registered trademark and some marketing is done with it, since its owner did not renounce his rights to it (as for example L.L. Zamenhof did), so it can be not well accepted that a second world language is a business for one person or more. Also, often it is said to be easier than it really is, since it is treated as a "product" to be sold. E.g. it is said that to speak Globish one needs to learn a well defined set of words and rules, but - to increase the hypothetical number of speakers and encourage people to study it - it is also said that anyone who has a basic level English does unconsciously speak Globish (so to that even Yasser Arafat has been claimed to be an "excellent exponent" of this language), without caring about the level or the number of words and rules that one knows.[2][4]
- As simplification of English it is criticized for its pronunciation, which is unclear for non-English speakers. English has 38 phonemes: 12 vowels and 24 consonants, and a further 10 diphthongs should be added[6] often audible, understood and well pronounced only by native English speakers (with important differences according to the place where the each speaker was born).
- It is considered an "English for dummies" by people that have to learn it. After having learned it, it is not possible to watch and understand a movie in English or, in general, to understand everything written or said in English. So it is felt to be in a certain sense frustrating, an English that is made for learners to "be used" for a job, and not for free communication of thinking.
- Globish requires people who already know standard English to "forget" many words and use only the 1,500 ones that are allowed; this is not always easy to do (especially if Globish is not used everyday) and they could be tempted to use words taken from the standard English, to be more precise and expressive. In this situation it would be theoretically not be understood by a Globish speaker.
- Sometimes it is not well accepted by some native English speakers, who - except for some conversations in specific contexts abroad (talk with a taxi driver or with a seller) - are not always disposed to renounce a large part of the English lexicon, and sometimes feel such simplifications are some sort of "violence" against the language of Shakespeare.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Globish now the lingua franca of world travellers" The Australian, December 12, 2006.
- ^ a b c "Parlez vous Globish? Probably, even if you don't know it", Toronto Star, March 7, 2009.
- ^ a b McCrum, Robert: "So, what's this Globish revolution?" The Observer, December 3, 2006.
- ^ a b "New lingua franca upsets French" BBC News, January 23, 2009.
- ^ http://www.cilalp.org/?article43#nh2
- ^ http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm
[edit] External links
