[Air-l] Language on the Internet (was AoIR in Latin-America)

[joshua raclaw]

Alex,

A strictly statistical view is what I was speaking from, actually :)

>It's admirable to learn a language for love or curiosity,
>but the fact is that most people do it for economic advantage and
>up until recently, English speakers haven't had to.

I'm surprised at that last statement - I think you're completely discounting the
fact that humans use language for purposes other than commerce, and that those
purposes extend way beyond 'love or curiousity'.  I'm not about to debate the
status of English as a linguistic powerhouse, but I can't ignore what appears
to be a rising trend for multilingualism on the internet.  Frankly, I don't
think it's 'wishful thinking' for anyone to do so.

Joshua



Joshua Raclaw - PhD student
Department of Linguistics
University of Colorado at Boulder
http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~raclaw/


Quoting Alex Kuskis <alex.kuskis at netscape.ca>:

* >Technically speaking, English is a minority........Joshua
*
* That might be true from a strictly statistical point of view, Joshua,
* but English is a language that has lifted beyond its weight for
* several hundred years. Politically and economically this
* might be the result of one global English empire succeeding
* another one. But, just as important is the fact that both Industrial
* and Information Revolutions emerged from the English language
* world, and to the extent that technologies embody the assumptions
* of language and culture, modern ICT embodies Anglo-American
* thinking and values. That is why, as the Internet is consolidating
* almost everywhere, new high speed technologies variously alluded
* to as Web 2.0 and 3.0, the sematic Web, and Internet 2 are being
* rolled out from Silicon Valley, MIT, Bangalore, Waterloo (the
* Blackberry) and other English language domains. The Internet
* is not static, continues to evolve, mostly out of the English-
* speaking realm where it's so integrated with the culture, and
* the digital divide with the so-called Third World continues to
* increase. The downside of all this for the English-speaking
* world is that it reinforces mono-lingualism and language
* chauvinism. It's admirable to learn a language for love or curiosity,
* but the fact is that most people do it for economic advantage and
* up until recently, English speakers haven't had to.
*
* Wikipedia has a fairly good entry on 'English on the Internet',
* which is certainly debatable, but probably sound....Alex Kuskis
*
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_on_the_Internet
* If a gradual decline in English first language users is inevitable it does
* not necessarily follow that English will not continue to be the language of
* choice for those accessing the Internet.
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* In the future then, English and Chinese may have roughly equal positions at
* the top of the overall Internet first language users but English will likely
* continue to dominate as the default choice for those accessing the Internet
* in a second language.
* -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Internet content
* b.. Given the enormous lead it already enjoys and its increasing use as
* lingua franca in other spheres English web content may continue to dominate
* even as English first-language Internet users decline. This is a classic
* positive feedback loop: new Internet users find it helpful to learn English
* and employ it on-line, thus reinforcing the language's prestige and forcing
* subsequent new users to learn English as well.
*
* ----- Original Message -----
* From: "joshua raclaw" <Joshua.Raclaw at colorado.edu>
* To: <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
* Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 4:31 PM
* Subject: Re: [Air-l] Language on the Internet (was AoIR in Latin-America)
*
* > Alex,
* >
* > Technically speaking, English is a minority.  I don't think you can argue
* > with
* > Geert's assertion that (relatively speaking) the use of English online is
* > shrinking exponentially.  It's a much more multilingual arena than it was
* > even
* > a few years ago (and certainly the 'multilingual internet' is getting much
* > more scholarly attention as of late because of this).
* >
* > Also, please don't misinterpret the statistic that 1.5 billion people
* > speak
* > English by thinking that these are monolingual and/or native speakers!
* > Just
* > because a speaker knows English doesn't mean they're going to use it in
* > every
* > context, and this applies both online and off.
* >
* > Joshua
* > Joshua Raclaw - PhD student
* > Department of Linguistics
* > University of Colorado at Boulder
*
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