Aufgabe NT 2 - Aufgabe 2 · Abitur NRW Englisch GK · Nachtermin · Weiterbildungskolleg 2021

Jane Setter

Will Brexit spell the end of English as an official EU language?

Jane Setter is a professor of phonetics at the University of Reading.

1 In 2016 Danuta Hübner, an MEP and chair of the European parliament’s constitutional

affairs committee, was quoted as saying, “If we don’t have the UK, we don’t have English.”

But is it as simple as that?

Until the 1990s, the dominant language of the EU was French. When the EU was the EC

5 (European Community) and the official language policy was defined, Dutch, French,

German and Italian were identified as the working languages. However, as more countries

joined, many of which had English as a second or additional language, the number of

English speakers grew until English became the majority common language.

Currently, the EU lists 24 official and working languages. The UK is the only member

10 country that gives English as its official language. There are a few member countries that

commonly use English but have nominated a different language as their EU official language.

For instance, the Republic of Ireland gives Irish Gaelic as its official language, and Malta

gives Maltese.

When Britain withdraws from the EU (and leaving aside possible negotiations with Scotland

15 or other territories), in order to remove English as an official language, as clarified in a

statement on behalf of the European commission in Ireland dated 27 June 2016, there would

have to be a unanimous vote in the European parliament in favour of doing so. Speaking at

the time of the referendum, in 2016, the German EU commissioner Günther Oettinger

explained, “We have a series of member states that speak English, and English is the world

20 language which we all accept.” So, even if there was the will to do so, getting rid of English

wouldn’t be straightforward.

Even if it did come to that, would it be a knock-down blow for the language? Historically,

English has weathered a number of storms. When colonies of the British empire sought to

gain their independence, it may have seemed logical for English – the language of the

25 oppressors – to be rejected at the same time. The fact that this did not happen, and that

English is used as an official first or second language in more than 70 countries worldwide,

points in part to its developing socioeconomic and political status during the 20th century.

The number of speakers for whom English is an unofficial second or foreign language is

greater than all other English language speakers, and continues to grow. With the decline of

30 the British empire came the rise of the United States, which has English as its official

language. Prof Lynne Murphy from the University of Sussex believes the US saved the

English language. From the perspective of its use as a global lingua franca, she has got a

point.

In fact, in some postcolonial situations, English is regarded as a more or less neutral language.

35 In India, for example, English was supposed to be phased out post-independence in 1947 in

favour of Hindi. However, as not everyone in India speaks Hindi, and many do not want to

for various cultural and political reasons, English continued to be used, and is now an

official language of India. In Hong Kong, English is still an official language despite the

return of the territory to the People’s Republic of China in 1997. As Hong Kong is an

40 international hub for trade and finance, this makes pragmatic sense, but there is also

evidence that Hong Kong people feel that the English language is part of their identity –

something that makes Hong Kong distinctive from mainland China. Singapore has speakers

of Malay, Chinese (various dialects) and Tamil, among others; in this context, English is a

unifying language.

45 But these Englishes are not “British English”, or even “American English”. The Englishes

spoken around the world have developed their own vocabulary and grammar; Euro-English

is no exception. English simply does not belong to traditional “native” English speakers any

more: it belongs to everyone who speaks it, and it will develop and change depending on the

communicative needs of speech communities. Brits and Americans need to bear this in mind

50 when using English in international settings, as they cannot assume they will be understood

by every English speaker.

So, will English cease to be a language of the EU? Probably not in the short to medium term,

either in conversations between EU member countries, MEPs, or in EU interaction with

other countries around the world. One Swedish MEP even suggested that communications

55 in the EU could be fairer in English, as it will be everyone’s second language.

In the long term, however, the continued dominance of English as a global language may

depend on its political and socioeconomic fortunes. As it is so well-established and widespread,

I believe it is likely to be used as a global lingua franca for some time.

Annotations

Language mistakes in the original text have been corrected.

1 · MEP – Member of the European Parliament

18 · commissioner – here: high-ranking EU official

38 · Hong Kong – a British colony from 1843 until 1997

2. Analyse the ways in which the author conveys her opinions. Concentrate on communicative strategies and the use of language.

(Analysis) [16 Punkte]