The Rise of English and the Space for Modern Languages

Abstract

This article examines the space for modern languages in Inner Circle
English countries including Australia, UK, and USA against the
continued rise of English as a global lingua franca. It is reasonable
to surmise that the global popularity of English – demanded by the
Outer and Expanding Circle and mainly supplied by the Inner Circle
countries will leave limited instrumental value for learning other
languages. As reported in this article, the global linguistic market is
dominated by English which has also attracted new market players
alongside the old, Anglophone market leaders. Indeed, the “English is
enough” ideology is dominant in the Inner Circles of English, affecting
the quantity and quality of the study of other languages in these
societies. Despite all sociolinguistic, attitudinal, and instrumental
factors in favor of an English-only monolingual social psyche, the
article concludes that the space of other languages has not fully dried
out. There are still many reasons from multiple perspectives that point
to the value of other languages in a global regime of English.