The Command of English
The language may be the world’s ruling lingua franca, but it is up against an evolutionary process that could take things in different directions. Will it survive the long haul?
“Lumpers” and “splitters” are not the latest slangs masquerading on social media. They are two categories of linguists who either “lump” many languages into large stocks or “split” them into numerous smaller language family groups. They disagree over what constitutes a language family that has evolved over centuries, and what criteria and methods can be applied to classify them.
The nature of this predominantly academic debate suggests that if disagreements persist over the history of languages, there is unlikely to be any consensus over its future. Various theories define the progress languages have made worldwide over the centuries. One school of thought believes that the expansion happened side-by-side with the spread of agriculture and the population migration it entailed.
The opposing view suggests the agriculturalists’ language spread by diffusion without significant population movements. There are numerous examples on either side of the aisle. Bloomsbury’s Survey of the World’s Languages cites an interesting instance of Austronesian, the largest universally-accepted language family in the world with over 1,200 languages. It is spoken by around 300 million speakers — from Madagascar in the west to Easter Island in the east, Taiwan in the north, and New Zealand in the south. Yet, opinion differs over the way the Austronesian family is structured, rendering the entire exercise meaningless.
Between native and the common tongue
The February 10, 1933, edition of The New York Times quoted Professor Ferdinand Brunot, the newly-elected president of the Academy of Inscriptions. Prof Brunot declared that industry and commerce needs would eventually force people to drop their native languages and adopt a common tongue. So, the impact of rapid industrialisation on the use of languages had been acknowledged at least 100 years ago.
“The universal tongue that the extension of world relationships would develop would probably be ‘a kind of language analogous to algebra’,” Prof Brunot said. That amounts to an acknowledgment that languages of different important nations had assumed an extension far beyond the sphere of their natural domain and they were becoming merged. Almost a century after Prof Brunot’s words, we seem to be well beyond the curve he suggested.
But has English eclipsed all other languages as the idiom of choice? At least that’s what former French president Nicolas Sarközy conceded, albeit jokingly, following a Wikileak expose on the frequent use of English by French diplomats. The report revealed that France’s diplomatic missives were often written in English, and the French president confessed that “the French really speak English, except in the presence of the British”.
The scenario would have been a major climbdown for Marc Fumaroli, a French historian and essayist widely respected as an advocate for French literature and culture. He maintained that “the international community of the learned” tended “to speak, write and publish mostly in French” in the 18th century.
In his book When the World Spoke French, Fumaroli says the Enlightenment’s best minds gravitated to French out of their shared reverence for both the matchless sophistication of the French art de vivre and the spirited intellectual exchanges of the Parisian salon. This, according to Fumaroli, happened irrespective of whether they hailed from Russia or Prussia, Sweden or Spain, Austria or America. “These men and women, despite their differences, were all irresistibly attracted to the ideal of human happiness inspired by the Enlightenment, whose capital was Paris and whose king was Voltaire. Their stories are testaments to the appeal of that famous ‘sweetness of life’ nourished by France and its language,” he said.
But moving away from the elite and a cursory look at the sheer numbers open up a different kind of debate. Statista 2021 data suggests that around 1.35 billion people speak English worldwide, either natively or as a second language. Closing in is Mandarin Chinese speakers with more than 1.12 billion at the time of the survey. Hindi and Spanish accounted for the third and fourth most widespread languages that year.
To be simple is great
Italian national and a Chinese and English languages expert, Claudia Iacca, concedes that the English language’s hegemony will last for a long time and maybe will never end.
“English language’s simplicity is the first reason. If we think of some other languages, for example, Italian, which is my native language, the grammar rules are complex and not so intuitive,” she says.
According to Iacca, learning Italian comes with numerous difficulties. She says it is common for students not wanting to spend a lot of time understanding difficult grammar rules and even prefer studying “easier” languages.
“English language was spread all around the world during the colonialism period. Populations that inhabited areas of different parts of the globe, originally speaking languages belonging to different family of languages, in some way were forced to learn English a long time ago,” she says.
Indeed, inhabitants of former British colonies took to English and got accustomed to it. But that’s not the case across the world. When it comes to languages, uniformity is not the norm.
English is still not so common in countries such as China despite the upward mobility associated with more universal languages. Iacca attributes this to the young generations’ desire first to study English to attain “an intermediate competency” in the language.
Iacca sees English as a “mouldable language” in a continuously changing society. “English can be more inclusive than other languages, and maybe this characteristic will enforce its hegemony in the future, being at the forefront of this huge human society change,” she emphasises.
Iacca has a Master’s degree in Modern Languages for International Communication and Cooperation and works on the project ‘In Love with Words’, besides pursuing a Master’s degree in Business Management.
Is English going the Latin way?
Doris Hambuch, an Associate Professor in the Department of Languages and Literature at the United Arab Emirates University, believes English will become less important… the same way Latin did before.
“It could well be that technology will prevent the emergence of a new global language,” says Prof Hambuch, who has written about this in a book chapter.
Prof Hambuch, who serves as president of the Canadian Comparative Literature Association, advocates for the preservation, cultivation, and development of smaller community languages. She has written essays on Caribbean literature, eco-criticism, film analyses, and trans-cultural feminism, and her current research focuses on multilingual art practices.
Her remarkable essay — A Vindication of Vernacular — examines the representation of working-class characters, subversive protests against the imposition of European languages, and a creative reflection of the region’s trans-culturation. The essay is a tribute to oral tradition and folklore as main inspirations for using vernacular in Anglophone Caribbean poetry.
Some academics are taking the bull by the horn. In his paper ‘The Future of English and Its Varieties: An Applied Linguistic Perspective’, Abdelrahman Abdalla Salih of Dhofar University, Oman, argues that English language’s rapid growth and unprecedented dominance has transformed the world’s linguistic ecology, leading to anxiety and debates about its future.
According to him, the English language’s unprecedented triumph is a linguistic phenomenon that has left far-reaching consequences and implications in various fields and activities. “There is a pressing moral obligation for rectifying the imbalanced global linguistic ecology, especially with the rise of global English,” he surmises.
Dr Salih also says that investigating the consequences of the spread and dominance of global English extends the need for examining its possible fate. “The recent emergence of globalised English and its triumph and dominance in the international arena have caught the researchers’ attention and sparked debate,” writes Dr Salih.
His paper also lists predictions concerning the future of English as an international language. “The prediction about the drop in English dominance as the Internet’s language to only a half suggests that the world will witness more multilingual web-based information.” The paper claims that such a change is anticipated to give rise to more languages to compete with English on the Internet.
Forgotten grammar
Indiana State University’s paper The Past, Present, and Future of the English Language maintains that the English language is not in danger of a downfall. The language is developing faster than in previous years. However, it highlights the criticism that English has become too lax in today’s society, with grammar being forgotten or words disappearing with reduced vocabulary. “The English language is evolving on a day-to-day basis, and one of the primary reasons is the mass usage of texting and text lingo, prompting an unknown future for English,” says the paper by EC Tuttle.
By 2030, more than 3,000 languages — one-third of the world’s languages — are predicted to get lost while education will be imparted with one language in mind more than others: English. According to the paper, English and Chinese will be learned more as they are quickly approaching language domination within the global world.
However, some counter-arguments seem more compelling, especially in a political context. An interesting read in Politico claims Brexit means relinquishing Britain’s grip on one of its most precious assets: the English language. Such progression is also bound to create amalgamations of its kind. “Fed up of kowtowing to the edicts of native speakers, some linguists want the EU to establish non-native English as an official and equally legitimate language alongside what purists would call the ‘proper’ version,” Eddy Wax and Cristina Gonzalez wrote in the magazine recently.
What rises must fall
Marko Modiano, a professor at the University of Gävle, Sweden, says English is now a mandatory subject for school goers in all EU member states, making it the undisputed lingua franca of Europe. English is spoken as a second language by nearly 40 per cent of the population. He cites examples from across Asia, in countries like China, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore, where English is growing by leaps and bounds and has now become established as the foremost language of cross-cultural communication in those parts of the world.
“We see similar developments across the Middle East. In nearly every country, young people are pursuing proficiency in the English medium, which means that in the years to come, English will have an even stronger position as the primary language of globalisation,” says Prof Modiano.
But, will this linguistic hegemony continue in the long run? Or is it too premature to make such a prediction? “The only thing we can be sure of is that, eventually, this must come to an end. All dominant languages, like civilisations, have their rise and fall, and there is no reason to assume that English will be any different in this respect,” he says.
However, Prof Modiano emphasises that with the current momentum English has amassed, it will certainly continue to dominate in many important domains: “What may occur which could alter this historic inevitability must be some monumental catastrophe, such as large-scale warfare, an extreme weather disaster which impacts the entire world, or a pandemic much greater in scope that what we are currently dealing with.”
Here comes the moot point though. “If nothing so calamitous occurs, it is difficult to see any other language overtaking English in the foreseeable future. The candidates — Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, and Russian — all have relatively few non-native speakers, something required for a language to replace English as the most utilitarian universal language,” says Prof Modiano.
However, for a language to challenge English, it would need to be important in several key domains, such as information technology, academic research, business, film, television, radio production, and music. None of the other languages of wider communication have a strong presence in these areas beyond their domestic markets. “It is for these reasons we can without hesitation claim that English will continue to maintain its position for at least the next 50 years,” he says.
“The English language, quite simply, has strengths no other language can match. Never before in human history have we had a language that so successfully operates internationally among so many people. At least for now, we can expect English to become even more important in the years to come,” Prof Modiano sums up the debate.
It is evident that the English language is showing no signs of slowing up. But because all things eventually come to an end, and it is difficult to speculate beyond the 21st century, it will continue to remain the idiom of choice.
The Great Resignation: Sorry, I quit!
The Great Employee Exodus has become a reality in a post-Covid world where professionals are putting the value of a work-life balance over paychecks and promotions
Until recently, Krithika Sahni (name changed on request) held a top position in a media house, a role she had worked hard to get into. It was stressful and strenuous but Krithika gave it her all, believing she was truly in love with her job.
One day she realised she wasn’t.
“The lack of a dignified work atmosphere, childish politics, zero appreciation and no clarity on the scope of the role” — Krithika is matter-of-fact while listing the reasons for quitting within six months of joining the organisation.
Stepping into the freelance zone, Krithika now has more clarity of what she wants: flexibility, a hybrid-friendly work atmosphere, strong learning opportunities, an environment that encourages peer growth and clearly defines responsibilities. “Most importantly, it has to be a milieu where personal wellbeing is not considered a burden but a priority that heightens performance,” she adds.
Krithika’s views aptly sum up the mindset of an entire post-pandemic generation of professionals who are re-writing the rules of workplace engagement. As the world slowly hobbles towards recovery, people — across age-groups, sectors, hierarchy and countries —are quitting by the dozen, with a ‘thanks, but no thanks’ note to their bosses. And their motivations to do so sound eerily similar: disenchantment with the current working parameters and a desire to chart a path that does not make them slaves to their companies.
‘The Great Resignation’ — or ‘The Big Quit’ as the phenomenon is being called — has joined the list of Covid-19-induced glossary such as ‘Work from Home’ and ‘New Normal’. Coined by Anthony Klotz, a professor of management in Texas who predicted the trend early in 2021, mass resignations have caused a seismic shift in corporate foundations, forcing a huge rethink of career goals, growth and priorities.
In an interview to theversemedia.com, Klotz said, “Right now, people are searching for meaning and purpose. In some cases, people have the answers, but in others they don’t… Over the last 18 months, a lot of organisations have been firefighting — rightfully so — but they’ve gotten away from reminding employees of how their jobs create meaning and purpose in other people’s lives and their own lives — the pro-social piece. I tell leaders, it’s time to take purpose-driven leadership seriously, because you can help employees make sense of ‘What am I doing for eight hours a day?’”
This is also the time to talk about inclusivity, he argued in the same interview. “Employees want to bring their whole selves to work. A lot of the reason we don’t want to go back into the office is because we have to hide part of ourselves there; we have to fake who we are. It’s draining to engage in these antics, where we’re pretending we’re someone we’re not…”
Numbers Tell The Story
So, what happened to predictions that the massive layoffs, huge pay cuts and redundancies — buzzwords that defined the 2020 job narrative — would lead to increased need for security and high anxiety? As it turns out, people (primarily millennials and Gen Zers), prefer saying ‘I quit’, rather than staying in unfulfilling jobs. Take a look at some numbers that shook the world:
* In the US, a whopping 4.3 million quit the workforce in August 2021.
* A Microsoft survey found 41 per cent of its employees wanted to leave their jobs.
* In Germany, 1/3rd companies are short of skilled workers.
* Data collected by OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) show that 20 million workers have not returned to work in 38 member countries since the world opened up.
* In India, the attrition rate in the tech sector is up by 23 per cent while in the Caribbean, one in six workers aged 18-29 has left the workforce.
*A similar phenomenon is occurring in China since April 2021, referred to as Tang Ping.
While data for the UAE is not available, recruiters say this part of the world has not been left untouched either. “We are absolutely seeing a shift in mindset and values among employees,” says Mimi Nicklin, founder and CEO of Freedm, a global creative agency. “The trend is more complex here due to visa requirements, but as the UAE embraces more fluid freelance and business setup visas, people are looking at options that offer them the lifestyle and balance they need. I am meeting more people than ever who are willing to resign from jobs despite not having another role lined up.”
Arguably, a lot of this attitudinal shift can be attributed to companies’ behaviour over the last 20 months, be it with respect to treatment of staff, drastic pay cuts, erasure of benefits or sudden retrenchments. Nicki Wilson, owner of Genie Recruitment, a consumer dedicated recruitment agency, blames it on leadership. “Not many leaders lead their companies with the employee in mind. They took kneejerk reactions without necessarily thinking about the consequence and the ripple effect it may have for the future. Now that the dust has settled and opportunities are coming again, employees are moving,” she analyses.
Priya S, a journalist with a leading newspaper in India, decided to put in her papers when the insecurity about her job became too much to bear. The stress of working from home, constantly changing terms and conditions laid down by her company and salary reductions that set her back financially, collectively took their toll. “In the last one year, the only journey I made was from the bed to my sofa. It affected my physical and mental health. Quitting was not an option I could afford but I knew that if I didn’t do it now, I’d never be able to snap out of the cycle,” says Priya.
Like Priya, millions of people are giving themselves a breather from the uncertainty surrounding modern-day corporate culture, sometimes even without a proper Plan B. Meanwhile, for those with an adventurous spirit, the willingness to look beyond the typical confines of a 9-6 job has opened up new avenues. As Ananda Shakespeare, founder-CEO, Shakespeare Communications notes, a lot of people who couldn’t find work in the UAE during the pandemic, relocated to their home base and set up on their own. Some professions like that of graphic designers or personal trainers offered high freelance wages and easier setups in countries like the UK and Canada. “If you are hard-working and entrepreneurial yet don’t feel valued at work or you’ve taken a pay cut, why wouldn’t you go out on your own?” asks Ananda.
Pandemic: A Wakeup Call
Needless to say, the pandemic has played a huge part in the churn we are currently witnessing. In the US, where the trend has been most pronounced, the mass exodus was put down to unemployment benefits provided by the government, inadequate pay by organisations and fear of the virus. But the real elephant in the room was (the lack of) work-life balance.
For many people, the unimaginable stress and burnout of 2020, coupled with the realisation of the fragility of life caused by the virus, has led to a renewed interest in mental health conversations that were otherwise just restricted to HR manuals. Mental health expert Nancy Zabaneh, founder of Darshan Collective, says, “The Great Resignation has unmasked major deficiencies in employee wellness systems. In essence, the pandemic led the way for an awakening to the pent-up disillusionment with our conventional model of work, the structures of which are now crumbling.”
Simply put, the pandemic epiphany has led people to have new-found respect for their lives — one that didn’t require them to wait till retirement to live the way they wanted. The consequence: more freelancers becoming a part of the gig economy, some deciding to upskill to pivot their careers while others taking the startup route.
Mimi believes that with the upheaval of the last two years reminding people that they are only pawns in the bigger picture, a lot of them are “now voting with their feet in order to meet the emotional and lifestyle values they wanted to fulfill”.
She herself is a lived example of this thought process. An advertising leader, author and empathy advocate, 2020-2021 was the year Mimi decided to resign from a corporate role to reinvent her career and make an impactful, sustainable change in her industry. “The reality of my resignation was that there was no way I could afford to live the life I had in Dubai,” she says. “It meant a relocation to Sri Lanka and spend my time between Dubai and Colombo. But I couldn’t have asked for more. I have the best of both worlds; a culturally-driven, nature-fused and affordable lifestyle in Sri Lanka and access to all the opportunities of Dubai!”
Of course, not everyone has found his or her true path like Mimi. For several others, the decision to quit has been a tough one, especially in a volatile economy.
Krithika admits she had plenty of doubts especially since it was not easy to walk away from a brand that was built from scratch. “You constantly question if you could have done things differently,” she admits. “Did you give too much time to the job? How will you explain this decision to future employers? Also, as a young employee suited for mid-senior roles, would prospective employers give you the position you are professionally adept for, or look at your age?”
But over time, realisation sank in that it’s not just the brand you are working on, it’s also your personal wellbeing. The quest for peace finally triumphed over nagging doubts about staying on in a stressful job.
Then there are others like Taanya Iyer who didn’t mind letting go of a satisfying job for something that guaranteed a better lifestyle. A senior content creator with an India-based MNC, Taanya quit her media job after 10 years in the field when she got an offer that brought her more money, position and brand. “In my previous job, I learnt a lot but never got monetary satisfaction. It wasn’t easy to change industries but I decided to take the leap of faith. The last few months have made me realise that it’s okay to have expectations, some will be fulfilled while others will take time. Sometimes, it’s fine to be selfish and put your needs ahead.”
Currently, Taanya just wants to go with the flow and see where life takes her. “I just got my second dose of vaccine and am saving up for travel in the future,” she says when asked about her plans.
Living in the Moment
Such a ‘live in the moment’ approach is finding a lot of takers, turning the meaning of success and career growth on its head. While earlier, a job that offered a fat paycheck, an upwardly mobile lifestyle and regular promotions were the main motivators, the focus now has shifted to company culture. Nicki observes that smaller companies are attracting top talent. “We are seeing many top-tier candidates taking a flat move or even a drop in salary in their quest to find the environment that will make them happy. From chasing the next fancy job title/ multinational business, they feel the key to success is being happy in what you do,” she says.
Nancy concurs: “People are redefining life and success. A higher premium is being placed on physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. A big remuneration and fancy benefits are no substitutes for meaningful connections.”
Perhaps these ideas were always there at the back of every stressed out employee’s mind but the disruption caused by the pandemic ironically also offered some solutions to their dilemmas — primarily thanks to WFH. For Aasiya Jagadeesh, a creative photographer, it was the experience of working from home in 2020 that gave her the courage to leave her job after work started from office in 2021. “When we returned to office, I missed the flexibility of being a working mother yet getting time to spend with my child. I felt I could lead a more meaningful, well-balanced life as a freelancer. All these years, the security of a monthly salary kept me from taking the step but last year was an eye-opener, and I finally decided to take the plunge. If not now, then when?”
It remains to be seen how long this trend will continue before the demand-supply ratio of jobs goes back to pre-pay cut days but as of now, the future of work appears to have changed inexorably. Nicki believes, “We will see companies known to have good working environments retain their talent for years or even decades. There will be a rise of smaller companies who have been able to keep a ‘family feel’ and there will be many success stories of leaders who really led with empathy.”
As for employees, a healthy salary alone won’t be enough to tempt them back to office. Companies will have to do a lot more. Krithika lays down the rules. “Respect your employees. Diversity and inclusion are not just fancy words for the website. Those are strong aspects for employee well-being. Your employee is not your property. Pay heed to their needs, wants and viewpoints,” she says.
Perhaps the ‘Great Resignation’ might just lay the path for a ‘Great Revaluation’ or ‘Reformation’ on the work front.
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