The World’s Tongue

Cultural Essay

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“The World’s Tongue” was submitted for my Global Studies Seminar. The Global Studies Major is broad in nature and best studied, in my opinion, in conjunction, with other majors. That being said, this paper utilizes my experience as an English and Economics Major to discuss power structures and common languages. I also had the honor of being selected to present this at the Senior Seminar Showcase as the only Humanities Major.

Abstract:

The purpose of “The World’s Tongue” is to examine the concept of a “lingua franca” in a globalized age and form an opinion on if the world should try to establish one. The paper
argues against the idea of establishing a lingua franca through various analyses. The first is by comparing the lingua franca to the pidgin and creole to highlight similarities and differences
while establishing a background for how languages function. The second is by analyzing the attempt to create a lingua franca through a case study of Esperanto, outlining where it both
succeeds and fails. The third method is then comparing and outlining the problems and benefits with a real language being used as a lingua franca, specifically English. From these analyses that discuss power imbalances, nationalist attitudes, language’s relationship with culture and economics, the paper concludes that actively trying to establish a lingua franca would prove to be more problematic than worthwhile, and that other alternatives should be explored.