2. What Is a Lingua Franca?
• A common language used by people of diverse
backgrounds to communicate with each other. It is also
known as a trade language, bridge language and
vehicular language.
• The use of lingua francas may be almost as old as
language itself. Certainly they have existed since
antiquity.
3. Commercial reasons
Diplomatic reasons
Administrative convenience
As a means of exchanging information between scientists and scholars from
different nationalities.
Throughout the history, lingua francas
have always been used for;
4. English As a Lingua Franca
• English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) refers to the use
of English as a means of communication between
people with different first languages.
• From the 18th century, English has begun to become
the most spoken language in the world, outpacing
other european and world languages.
5. How the English Language Spread
The spreading of the English language began with colonialism. It was
brought by British settlers and descendants, through England’s conquests.
Both world wars have faciliated the use of English. That The Treaty of
Versailles drafted in two languages, English and French, increased the
diplomatic statue of English.
For technical progress and scientific research, English speakers created new
terms for new products. Neologism (a newly coined word) with the
economic expansion led to cultural influence.
6. • In many fields; media, music, business documents, sports, games, science,
technology and so forth, English is the most common language, which contributes
to its spreading.
• A large number of words are becoming international in some fields.
For Instance; Bowling, Surfing, Tourism, Jumbo Jet, Off shore, Off road, Selfie.
• Most products are named based on English words, no matter what their country of
origin is. (Nesquik, Mobistar, Pocari Sweat).
These are the factors helping english to become a lingua franca.
English As a Lingua Franca
7. Some Features of ELF
ELF interactions concentrate on function rather than form
• use of 3rd person singular zero, as in She go to work by bus (i.e. not she goes to work by
bus)
• invariant question tags as in you’re very busy today, isn’t it? (and use of other similar
universal forms)
• preference for bare and/or full infinitive over the use of gerunds, as in I look forward to see
you tomorrow
• increased explicitness, for example how long time instead of how long
• exploited redundancy, such as ellipsis of objects/complements of transitive verbs as in I
wanted to go with, you can borrow.
However, these features are by no means invariant or “obligatory”. Rather, these forms do
not seem to compromise effective communication within an ELF setting when they do occur.
9. • Spanish took its place in America, along with Africa, Asia
and Australia with the growth of the Spanish Empire. It
was the language of global trade until the breakup of
Spanish Empire. It was used in Spanish Colonial Empire
and still used as a lingua franca in U.S, especially Mexico,
Spanish Caribbean, Central America and South America.
Spanish As a Lingua Franca
11. • Russian is widely used in Northern and Central Asia, which was formerly part of the Soviet
Union. It also can be understood by older people in Central and Eastern Europe that was
part of the Warsaw Pact. It is still used as a lingua franca in the Commonwealth of
Independent States (Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan etc.). It is also one of the six official language of the United Nations.
• Russification policies led to expansion of Russian among the countries below.
• .According to Pavlenko (2006) ‘‘ Among the key russification policies was replacement of
local languages by Russian in primary education and in secular establishments of secondary
and higher education. Russification was also promoted through publishing practices,
whereby local-language and bilingual newspapers were replaced by Russian-language
editions. ’’
Russian As a Lingua Franca
13. Arabic was the lingua franca of the Islamic (Arab) Empire, borders of which included the
borders of China and Northern India, Central Asia, Persia, the Middle East, North Africa,
Spain and Portugal. It was the language of science and diplomacy throughout the Islamic
Golden Age. Therefore, a lot of Arabic loanwords are found in many languages(English,
Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Spanish and Portuguese). It was also used by its neighbouring
countries.
One of the main reasons why Arabic became a lingua franca is that it is the language of the
Qur’an along with its commercial and diplomatic use. With the increasing population of
Muslims, Arabic began to be much more widespread in the Muslim countries.(North Africa,
Horn of Africa, Chad etc.). A lot of languages adopted from Arabic scripts.
Arabic As a Lingua Franca
14. It is the second most widely used alphabetic system in the world
after Latin.
It is the second largest native language used by more than a billion
Muslims around the world.
It is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
16. The Strategic Use of Lingua Francas
When those who have completely
different L1 backgrounds have to
communicate for various reasons,
business, trade, education etc., they
prefer to use English as it is the
most common lingua franca in the
world.
17. The Strategic Use of Lingua Francas
When those who have a
common lingua franca
have to communicate, they
prefer to use their common
Lingua franca instead of
English.
18. As a Conclusion
• Lingua Francas are the common languages of the world.
• People’s choice of lingua franca depend on some varieties.(Mostly
geographical, historical, political, commercial features.)
• When it comes to the most common one, English is the most spoken
lingua franca in the world, today.
• All the same, lingua francas can change by time. It is not certain that
English will always remain as the international language of the world.
19. REFERANCES
Englishlinguafranca.com,. (2015). English as a Lingua Franca - What is ELF?. Retrieved 23
February 2015, from http://www.englishlinguafranca.com/what-is-elf/
Pavlenko, A. (2006). RUSSIAN AS A LINGUA FRANCA. Annual Review Of Applied
Linguistics, 26. doi:10.1017/s0267190506000055
Seidlhofer, B. (2005). English as a lingua franca. ELT Journal, 59(4), 339-341.
doi:10.1093/elt/cci064
Translationdirectory.com,. (2015). Article for translators: Why is English the international lingua
franca?. Retrieved 23 February 2015, from http://www.translationdirectory.com/article171.htm
Wikipedia,. (2015). Lingua franca. Retrieved 23 February 2015, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca
