1.1.2. The status of English around the world
In fact, until the 16th century English was not so
much important in world communication (Crystal, 2003). Nowadays, English is
said to be the lingua franca of the world. Wehmeier (2000) defines it
as «a shared language of communication used by people whose main languages
are different» This definition is applicable to the situation of English
today such is the case of India and Kenya (Graddol, 1997).
Certain facts about the existence of English in the world
could be helpful in understanding its status. Actually, Graddol (1997)
indicates that English is spoken by 750 million as English as a Foreign
Language (EFL) speakers, 375 million as Second Language (L2) speakers, and 375
million as First Language (L1) speakers. In addition to these speakers, major
influential world organizations such as the United Nations, where it is among
the six languages that are considered official, and the European Union are
adopting English (ibid).
The existence and emergence of English in non-native English
countries is an important feature of its worldwide spread and reflects, in the
view of some (Crystal, 2003), the value attached to it and in the view of
others (Phillipson, 1992; Kachru, 1985; Pennycook, 1994), the sign of
imposition, domination and imperialism. In his Encyclopaedia of English
language, David Crystal (2003) mentioned some statistics
about the use of English in six east African states showing
its deep infiltration into various domains. Table 2 below shows that English is
present in five East African countries (Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, and
Zimbabwe) in high court, parliament, civil service, education, media, business,
signs, and has an official status in them. This means that it is present in the
legislative, judicial, and what is called the fourth branch of the political
system, which is media. Taking into consideration the variety of languages and
ethnic minorities that exist in these countries, one could deduce that English
has occupied domains of use otherwise impossible for the minority languages to
occupy. This situation usually leads to greater value attached to the learning
and mastery of English in these communities.
Table 2: Some domains of English use in six east African
states (Crystal, 2003, p. 103).
|
Kenya
|
Tanzania
|
Uganda
|
Zambia
|
Malawi
|
Zimbabwe
|
|
Official status
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
High court
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Parliament
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Civil service
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Secondary school
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Primary school
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Radio
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Newspapers
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Advertising
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Road signs
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Shop and
vehicle signs
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Business and
correspondence
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes = English used No = English not used
Studying the spread of English has been the concern of many
scholars who tried to investigate and describe this horizontal spread
(emergence of English all over
the globe). For instance, Braj Kachru (1985) presents the model
of the three concentric circles reviewed in the forthcoming sub-section.
| 
