You may have heard the term ‘killer language’. These are the languages used by the largest numbers of people. Spanish is one; the family of Chinese languages is grouped together and counted as another. English is ranked third in number of people who use it and is referred to as a killer language by many media sources and by some social scientists.
When the user base of a language expands, that language thrives, and if it declines in use, the language may become endangered. Increasing use of English is coupled with a decrease in native, or minority, language use. This change in languages is referred to language shift. It is considered to be a form of language domination. This sometimes occurs with the cultural dominance of one society over another (Majidi). An effect of language domination is exemplified in the observation below by American linguist, Michael Krauss:
It would seem that English-language dominance in the ‘English-speaking world’ has achieved and continues to achieve the highest documented rate of destruction, approaching now 90% [of indigenous language death in postcolonial Australia]. In comparison, Russian domination has reached 90% only among the small peoples of the North; in the Russian Republic itself, 45 of 65 indigenous languages, or 70%, are moribund, while for the entire USSR the total is more like 50%. (1992).
A point of consideration among cultural scientists and mass media during the course of globalization is concern over the role that English plays within a world-culture. English adoption is interpreted as a vehicle for opportunity (Majidi). For example, exclusion from internet activity, information, and communications can be overcome by learning English. It’s a skill that gives economic opportunity as well.
But among social scientists, its role prompts concern. Assimilation into Western culture has negatively impacted minority communities (Krauss, Majidi, Romaine). Linguists Michael Krauss and Suzanne Romaine each document an increase in the death of native languages (Krauss, Romaine). Dr. Romaine’s research has special focus on problems in cultures that are multilingual, and includes fieldwork in Hawaii. Even the UK is not immune to this loss; its own extant languages are endangered. Language death translates into the permanent loss of a whole cultural vision of the world, plus ecological and ethnic-based information (Majidi). In North America, for example, native language death accounts for a progressional shift to English:
People abandon native their language in favor another language seen as more prestigious or more useful (Eckert). In many cultures that are assimilating into Western society, English is regarded as the language of social adjustment: your ability to use it gives you higher status and the absence of ability is a mark of unsophistication.
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