Linguistic Imperialism

In his ’92 disquisition, Linguistic Imperialism, Robert Philippson defined English linguistic imperialism as

“The dominance asserted and retained by the establishment and continuous reconstitution of structural and cultural inequalities between English and other languages.”

Philippson saw Linguistic Imperialism, as the forced administration of a language over one people, at the hands of another, a demonstration of power if you would; showcasing the military and economic might of the acting party.

However, economic and military brawns are not sufficient on their own to expand and secure the boundaries of one’s influence. Linguistic Imperialism, succeeded in serving as the perfect tool of empire as it brought upon aspects of the dominant culture along with the language, thereby securing itself amongst those foreign to it.

In our modern Anglophone society, a prime example of linguistic imperialism would be popular culture. Based on the tastes of ordinary people, popular culture acts as the conglomeration of the global mainstream, permeating every level of society.  As such, popular culture has come to dictate most aspects of our everyday life, In particular how we converse and the language in which we do so. As a young child, my familiarity with the English language was foremost through television, radio and the Internet. Surrounded by these influences on a daily basis I was enveloped by the English language and despite the fact that Hindi was my native tongue, English soon became my preferred method of communication. The inevitable drawback to this though was that Hindi steadily phased out of my life as it served no use to me and I wasn’t exposed to it on a regular basis.

Now on a personal level, the gradual withdrawal of my native tongue did not bear any dire repercussions on my person. However, was this to happen to an entire community or people, that is when a problem would arise, for then the language and the culture it embodies faces the likelihood of being permanently phased out, as it no longer serves any use.

Luckily, with over 182 million speakers, Hindi is far from this calamity. However the fortune of a thriving speaking populous cannot be attributed to all languages and with the renewed prominence of English in popular culture in part to mass media it should come as no surprise that nearly half the world’s 6,500 languages face extinction.