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Article published In: InContext
Vol. 3:2 (2023) ► pp.31–51

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English as lingua franca or World Englishes?

Two approaches to achieving linguistic justice for all

 | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 30 November 2023
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https://doi.org/10.54754/incontext.v3i2.66
Abstract
One of the key ways to realizing linguistic justice, as alluded to by Phillipe van Parijs (2011), is to welcome the use of English as a global lingua franca. Linguistic justice is defined as the condition in which the languages of linguistic groups are accorded official recognition, and the speakers do not suffer from social, economic, and dignity inequality on the basis of their language. However, the acceptance of English as an international language, as pointed out by many scholars, including Van Parijs himself, can also lead to potentially unjust linguistic situations. There are, in particular, three issues that come with the use of English as a global language, and they are (1) inequality in communication; (2) unfair resource allocation; and (3) lack of speaker dignity. This paper will provide a review of how political philosophers have talked about these problems, and the normative solutions to achieving linguistic justice. The aim of this article is to provide a linguistic perspective to the issue of linguistic justice. The author endeavors to do so by looking at linguistic justice through the lens of two dominant paradigms in the field of English linguistics: the World Englishes (WE) paradigm, pioneered by Braj Kachru; and the English as Lingua Franca (ELF) paradigm, a relatively more recent alternative developed by Jennifer Jenkins. The tenets of how each paradigm views speakers of English around the world are compared and a solution to the problem of linguistic justice is offered by thinking about “Englishes” instead of a single monolithic linguistic entity “English”. In doing so, efforts are made to highlight how linguistic justice can be achieved in the world of Englishes.
논문초록
필리프 판 파레이스 (Van Parijs, 2011)가 암시한 바처럼, 언어정의(linguistic justice)를 실현하는 핵심적인 방법 중 하나는 전 세계적 국제공용어(lingua franca)로서의 영어 사용을 환영하는 것이다. 언어정의는 다양한 언어집단의 언어가 공식적인 인정을 부 여받으며, 화자들이 언어에 기반한 사회적, 경제적, 존엄적 불평등을 겪지 않는 상태로 정의 된다. 그러나 판 파레이스 본인을 포함하여 많은 학자들이 지적했듯이, 국제어로서의 영어 를 수용했을 때 잠재적으로 불공정한 언어상황을 초래할 가능성 역시 존재한다. 세계어로 서의 영어 사용에는 특히 세 가지 문제가 수반되는데, 바로 (1) 커뮤니케이션에서의 불평등, (2) 부당한 자원배분, (3) 화자의 존엄성 부재이다. 본 연구는 이들 문제에 대한 정치철학자 들의 논의, 그리고 언어정의 달성을 위한 규범적 해법을 검토하고자 한다. 이를 위해 본 연구 는 영어학 분야를 지배하는 양대 패러다임의 시각에서 언어정의를 고찰하는데, 하나는 브라 지 카츠루(Braj Kachru)가 선도한 ‘세계영어(WE)’ 패러다임이고 다른 하나는 제니퍼 젠킨 스(Jennifer Jenkins)가 개발하여 상대적으로 최근에 제시된 대안, ‘국제공용어로서의 영어 (ELF)’ 패러다임이다. 본 연구에서는 각각의 패러다임이 세계 전역의 영어 화자를 바라보는 관점의 원리를 분석하고 비교하는 한편, 단일한 언어 개체로서의 ‘영어(English)’ 대신 다양 한 ‘영어 이형(Englishes)’에 대한 고찰을 통해 언어정의 문제에 대한 해법을 제시한다. 이를 통해 본 연구는 다양한 영어 이형이 공존하는 세상에서 언어정의를 달성할 수 있는 방안을 집중조명하고자 한다.
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