This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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What is the future of the English language? Do you think English will become more diverse or more uniform?
Around 1.5 billion people around the world speak English—roughly 20 percent of the global population. According to linguist scholars, the most likely trajectory for the future of English is its homogenization to conform to the way it is spoken in the U.S.
Keep reading to learn about the future of English.
What Is the Future of the English Language?
In the United States, there have been many attempts throughout the years to “protect” the English language from the perceived threat from foreign influences. Interest groups have sought to establish English as the official language (at least for government use) in cities, states, and even at the federal level. These groups claim that linguistic divisions have historically led to strife in other countries (like Belgium and Canada).
There is some truth to this claim because language is one of the main things that divides human societies from each other. The struggles between Flemish- and Walloon-speakers in Belgium, the Québécois separatist movement pitting Anglophone and Francophone speakers in Canada, and the persecution of Esperanto speakers in fascist states in the early 20th century all attest to language as a hot-button issue.
These same groups, however, ignore the reality that government attempts to encourage the survival and spread of minority languages usually fail, because the evolution and death of languages is an organic process. Indeed, despite the heavy efforts of the Republic of Ireland to keep the Irish language alive, only 4.2 percent of the population speaks Irish daily, according to the country’s 2016 census.
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Here's what you'll find in our full The Mother Tongue summary :
- How English became a global language
- How the invention of the printing press led to standardization of written English
- Why English dictionaries are the most comprehensive found in any language
