Conclusion: Understanding Discourse On Globalizing English

By Author: Arsenalo
Total Articles: 116

A major effect of the globalizing function of English is the integration and use of anglicisms in various language-cultural areas. Such usage gives rise to different reactions among speakers ranging from attraction to repulsion. According to the central ideal of objectivity in science, linguists, on the other hand, usually strike an observant, descriptive, and generally unemotional tone when it comes to the assessment of English influence. On the background of this duality in discourse Vibram Five Fingers Shoes between public and academic opinions, this case study has taken up the issue on how discourse on the use of anglicisms is conceptually structured in the context of English influence on German.

The analysis of primary conceptualizations of language emphasizes the basic divide between language as a closed and static entity vs. an open and fluctuating system. While language is generally understood as a bounded entity, academic models of language and contact emphasize speaker-internal boundedness and speaker-external, social boundedness. Laymen descriptions of languages and contact, on the other hand, favour more concrete physical imagery. In this sense, purist imagery draws on conceptual metaphors that emphasize aspects of destruction, impurity, danger, and carelessness. Accordingly, anglicisms are metaphorized as causing sickness, destruction, and demise of German. Utilizing largely the same general conceptual metaphors, non-purist opinions, by contrast, are based on specific metaphoric mappings that stress the power of the German language and the aspect of care-giving.

In order to shed more light on the conceptualizations of English influence on German, the scope of the present study would have to be extended considerably to larger samples of public discourse. Despite that, this investigation indicates that for understanding the current influence of English on a global scale, it is not only important to research its linguistic effects but also to focus on its reception in the diverse speech communities. Comprehending the metaphoric Five Fingers KSO conceptualizations that lie beneath diverse opinions on the use of English in other languages appears as a necessary step towards increasing a language user's sensibility for the application and effects of discursive imagery, and, as such, it could help to foster mutual understanding between academic and public views on the issue.