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From: deb5@ellis.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Re: L'Anglais tue l'Anglais ?
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References: <19950310181608.B.F.Y.M.J.Wilotte@sp0326.kub.nl>
Date: Sat, 11 Mar 1995 23:46:18 GMT
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In article <19950310181608.B.F.Y.M.J.Wilotte@sp0326.kub.nl>,
B.F.Y.M.J. WILOTTE <B.F.Y.M.J.Wilotte@kub.nl> wrote:
>Bonjour a tous,

(My French is not up to snuff, so I'll be responding in English.)

>On dit en effet qu'une langue ne reste pas internationale pour l'eternite ;
>le Latin puis le Francais ont laisse la place a l'Anglais. Je suis tente de 
>penser qu'un jour une autre langue remplacera l'Anglais. Mais en regardant 
>la place de cette langue (E.U, Australie, Canada, Royaume-Uni....) je ne
>vois pas trop qui pourrait la remplacer ?

Why not Mandarin Chinese?  It's spoken in all the countries you list
above, though admittedlyoften onlyby a near-negligible part of the
population.  The population is growing substantially in Australia
and North America as more Chinese settle abroad.

In addition, the language has more native speakers than any other
single language in the world.  The number of second-language speakers
of Mandarin is also significant (especially when one considers that
many Chinese do not speak it natively).

It's difficult to tell, but China may well on its way to living up
to its glorious past and regaining the status it had before technolo-
gical and economic stagnation crippled it.  If it enjoys half the 
success of the Chinese nations of Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan,
it will be the most important economic nation in the next century.
However, if reactionary forces derail the current development or a
major war breaks out and leaves it in shambles, it will remain 
stuck where it is.
 
>Cela dit, vu la batardisation de cette langue, qui accelere toujours davantage,
>elle pourrait bien etre remplacee par "elle-meme", non ?

I disagree.  If anything, the mongrelisation of English has been
slowed and even halted or reversed.  Global communications are
advanced enough to keep world English stable for some time,
especially if it should come to pass that the USA loses some of its
importance and has less influence on it than other countries where
it was learned as a lingua franca.
> 
>A galon vat, trugarez deoc'h,

Kenavo!

-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
