Lingua Franca free essay sample

Lingua Franca is a pidgin, a trade language used by numerous language communities around the Mediterranean, to communicate with others whose language they did not speak. It is, in fact, the mother of all pidgins, seemingly in use since the Middle Ages and surviving until the nineteenth century, when it disappeared with hardly a trace, probably under the onslaught of the triumphant French language, leaving only a few anecdotal quotations in the writings of travelers or observers, an imperfect French/Lingua Franca vocabulary (1830) meant for settlers in the newly annexed territory of Algeria, and some other rather strange detritus. A lingua franca (from Italian, literally meaning Frankish language) is a language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both persons mother tongues. Lingua franca is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic history or structure of the language: Though pidgins and creoles often function as lingua francas, many lingua francas are neither pidgins nor creoles. We will write a custom essay sample on Lingua Franca or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Lingua franca may also refer to the de facto language within a more or less specialized field. A synonym for lingua franca is â€Å"vehicular language. Whereas a vernacular language is used as a native language in a single speaker community, a vehicular language goes beyond the boundaries of its original community, and is used as a second language for communication between communities. For example, English is a vernacular in England, but is used as a vehicular language (that is, a lingua franca) in the Philippines. References: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Lingua_franca In many countries around the world, English is the lingua franca, but in some places, it is a native language; in others, it is a second language or a foreign language. In India, the Philippines and Singapore, English is viewed as second language next to their respective first languages. English will not decline as a first language: Indeed for the foreseeable future it will be among the five major mother tongues of the world. Spread out worldwide, it may even change and ultimately split into a family of languages. But it would go against the pattern of world history if alien peoples patronized English for very much longer than necessary. Chinese, Hindi, Spanish and Portuguesepossibly also Russian, Malay, Persian and Arabichave the potential to increase within their vast regions, and perhaps even globally. The aspirations of some of these languages are already visible, if far from realization. China is a third of the way into its program to establish 100 Confucius Institutes around the world to popularize learning Chinese. They are now present in 23 countries, part of plans to have 100 million people studying Chinese worldwide by 2010. How lingua franca is developed? Hundreds of years ago, when the world was being traversed by sailors from dozens of nations, and each vessel was manned by any number of nationalities, new languages called lingua franca began to emerge. These languages were often a blend of Portuguese, English, French, Mandarin and local languages, and allowed for communication and trade between the polyglot merchants both on board and on the mainland. Several examples of it exist today the pidgin of Papua New Guinea is one example. Worldwide lingua franca Malay Country :Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia In the 14th century, during the Malacca Sultanate, Malay was used as a lingua franca in the Malay archipelago, by the locals as much as by the traders and artisans that stopped at Malacca via the Straits of Malacca. Nowadays, Malay is used mostly in Malaysia (officially called Bahasa Malaysia) and Brunei, and to a lesser extent in Singapore. One of Singapores four official languages, the Malay creole language Baba Malay was the lingua franca in Singapore prior to the introduction of English as a working and instructional language, and remains so for the elder generation. However, Indonesian, a standardized variety of Malay, serves as a lingua franca throughout Indonesia and East Timor. While Indonesia counts several hundred different languages, Indonesian, the official language of Indonesia, is their vehicular language. Chinese – Country : China / Taiwan Classical Chinese previously served as both a written lingua franca and diplomatic language in Far East Asia, used by mainland China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, the Ryukyus, and Vietnam in interstate communications. In the early 20th century Classical Chinese in China was replaced by modern written Standard Chinese. Currently, among most Chinese-speaking communities, Standard Mandarin serves the function of providing a common spoken language between speakers of different and mutually unintelligible Chinese spoken languages—not to mention between the Han Chinese and other ethnic groups in China. Written Chinese has also been used as a way of communication through these character-using countries. However, specific regions in China also possess their individual lingua franca, such as Standard Cantonese in Guangdong province, Hong Kong, Macau, as well as traditionally the ethnic Chinese populations residing in Singapore and Malaysia. English – Country : United Kingdom , United States of America English is the dominant language of the United Kingdom, and therefore, as the UK became a colonial power, English served and, to some extent, continues to serve as the lingua franca of Ireland, former colonies of the British Empire (including Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the United States, and Vanuatu), present British territories (like Bermuda, Falkland Islands, and Saint Helena), former British territories (such as Hong Kong), U. S. territories (like Guam, Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico), Virgin Islands (both British and American), and the Philippines. In many of these nations the use of English is seen as a means of avoiding the political difficulties inherent in promoting any individual indigenous language as the lingua franca. 2. Section on whether language used in coffee shops are lingua of some sort, if not state whether they are pidgins or creoles. In Malaysia places such as coffee shops, fish markets and taxi stands, the language being used are recognize as Manglish which is English-based pidgin of Malaysia. Malaysian Colloquial English which is famously known as Manglish or Street English, a portmanteau of the word Malay and English should not be confused to Malaysia English which is formally known as Malaysian Standard English (MySE), is a form of English used and spoken in Malaysia as a second language. Manglish has become part of Malaysian culture and heritage. Manglish has become something we can be proud of. Why try to hide it? It’s part of our cultural heritage. And it’s something that all Malaysians can participate in, no matter which ethnicity.