English can be seen as - A) world lingua franca, which will become a positive force for global unity or B) A 'monstrous weed', reaching out and strangling all other indigenous languages and cultures in its path. Discuss

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Discussion of the tension between these two views: English can be seen as,

A/ world lingua franca, which will become a positive force for global unity or

B/ A 'monstrous weed', reaching out and strangling all other indigenous languages and cultures in its path.

An attempt at a full discussion of this title can only ever take place on a superficial level if it is to be confined to the usual word limit of an essay. In order to understand the role ,,of the English language in the world today and its possibilities in the future, then we must look to the past to examine critically how it has developed. We will be returning to the forces which cause language to shift, change and develop: the social; economic; political and the technological. In linguistic terms, it is really helpful if we try to see these forces both diachronically and synchronically. I believe that we will ultimately see that the majority of these forces and factors are out of the control of one nation; that occasionally, world councils or organisations have a go at manipulating language development but 1 am convinced that such attempts