Content area
Full Text
(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)
Plenary Speeches
Revised version of a plenary talk given at the 70th anniversary conference of the University of Geneva's School of Translation and Interpreting on 13 October 2011.
1.
Introduction
Let us first consider the concept of a 'lingua franca' itself. In its original meaning, a lingua franca - the term is often said to derive from Arabic lisan al farang - was simply an intermediary or contact language used, for instance, by speakers of Arabic with travellers from Western Europe. In this sense, a lingua franca was a contact or vehicular language that consisted of elements and structures of diverse origins. The meaning of the term was later extended to describe a language of commerce in general, a relatively stable variety with little room for individual variation. As a hybrid contact language, a lingua franca is more or less neutral, since it does not belong to any national language, national language community or national territory - concepts that arose much later.
More recently, lingua francas have also been based on particular territories or speech communities, but they have tended to be locally adapted from such bases as their influence extended. One of the historically most important lingua francas was, of course, Latin during the Roman Empire, which also survived for a long time thereafter as a language of science and religion. In more modern times, it was French that was elevated to lingua franca status as the language of European royalty, aristocracy and diplomacy. Other kinds of lingua francas are artificially constructed systems, the best known being Esperanto.
Today, English is without doubt the most widespread and most widely used lingua franca in the world, a truly global phenomenon that cuts right across the well-known Kachruvian circles (Kachru 1992): it can occur anywhere and in any constellation of speakers, and can also integrate native speakers of English, though they tend to play a minor role. ELF is characterized by great variability; it is not a fixed code, and cannot be defined by its formal characteristics. Rather, it is an open-source phenomenon, a resource available for whoever wants to take advantage of the virtual English language. ELF is negotiated ad hoc, varying according to context, speaker group and communicative...