Has English become the 21st Century’s linguistic bully? - Brian Loo Soon Hua & Nat Dinham | PG 2019

In the 21st century, English is everywhere. How do different languages respond to the pressures exerted by a dominant language such as English, above all in terms of vocabulary? We will combine our experience of studying and working with languages – including a number of indigenous and endangered ones from Europe, North America and Oceania – with an analysis of translations into 150 languages from the uTalk app corpus to consider which languages are most vulnerable and most resistant to English loan words. We will also compare and contrast the areas of a language that easily lend themselves to borrowings. However, there are also languages which buck the trend and we’ll look at the creative new lexicons of these languages and discuss the reasons behind their self-preservation, whether social, syntactic or grammatical. Finally, we’ll also look at what smaller languages are doing to resist the influence of English and other dominant languages and how successful this is. Get ready for discussions on everything from numbering systems to computers, aeroplanes and jellyfish!

Brian Loo Soon Hua is a life-long language learner who speaks eight languages fluently and is currently working on improving his competence in a few more, including a couple of highly endangered ones. He is a translator and social media manager by day and a writer of science fiction and fantasy by night. He might even be developing a conlang or two.

Nat Dinham is Languages Director at uTalk and has worked with over 600 language specialists to build courses in 140+ languages from all around the world. As well as working with many mainstream languages, she’s been privileged to liaise with a number of minority and endangered language groups, including Southern Sami, Greenlandic and Irish.

[VallanoMedia]

I can say that the English language is not really a linguistic bully, but a polyglot language to a degree. If a language is forced on you to speak, then I can see it as a bully language. This presentation just shows the diversity of the English language.

[gwh]

English dominates because the speakers do not have all these hangups about "borrowing". English just steals what it needs.

[plerpplerp]

So... are ancient Greek and Latin also linguistic bullies too? 🤦‍♂️ This sounded more like a very tiresome talk on the advocacy of linguistic purism than anything else.

Maybe the only reason why English has *survived* the Norman invasion, after which French and Latin were the official languages of administration, law and education in the UK for 300 years, is because it assimilated other languages.

You could also argue that English speakers generally don't learn other languages. This is not uncommon with speakers where the native language is used as a lingua franca such as French, Spanish, Russian or Portuguese.

The presenters forget that English is just one of seven lingua francas and it is common for such languages to have a strong influence. A good example is Spanish.

As far as grammar is concerned, Spanish, like English, has a slim lined grammar compared to the other Latin languages.

This is the result of the influence of non native speakers using that language outside the original country. The "do" construction in question forms in English is the direct influence of Gaelic speakers using the language and changing the grammar. The simplified plural system is the result of Danish speakers.

French is also a lingua franca but it has the French academy behind it to fight any influences and keep the language pure.

In this time of Brexit, and the rise of political separatism and nationalism, wouldn't having a common language bring us together?

Languages are a living thing; they either thrive or die just like many species on the planet. Making English into a language killer or "bully" is an provocative thought, but not very tenable.

[GypsieSeeker]

Proto-Indo-European is the original language bully.

[thevannmann]

The "brands" for Vietnamese is incorrect.

[flybyguy]

What is this talk about? Speaking English is not considered politically correct now? Good lord!