“English is the global language.” — a headline of this kind must have appeared in a thousand newspapers and magazines in recent years. “English Rules” is an actual example, presenting to the world an uncomplicated scenario suggesting the universality of the language’s spread and the likelihood of its continuation. A statement prominently displayed in the body of the associated article, memorable chiefly for its alliterative ingenuity, reinforces the initial impression: “The British Empire may be in full retreat with the handover of Hong Kong. But from Bengal to Belize and Las Vegas to Lahore, the language of the sceptered isle is rapidly becoming the first global lingua franca.” Millennial retrospectives and prognostications continued in the same vein, with several major newspapers and magazines finding in the subject of the English language an apt symbol for the themes of globalization, diversification, progress and identity addressed in their special editions.

A language achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized in every country. To achieve such a status, a language has to be taken up by other countries around the world. They must decide to give it a special place within their communities, even though they may have few (or no) mother-tongue speakers.

Salman Rushdie comments that “the English language ceased to be the sole possession of the English some time ago”. Indeed, when even the largest English-speaking nation, the USA, turns out to have only about 20 percent of the world’s English speakers, it is plain that no one can now claim sole ownership. This is probably the best way of defining a genuinely global language, in fact: that its usage is not restricted by countries or by governing bodies.

David Crystal. English as a global language. Cambridge University Press,2003. pp.1-2;4;140-141 (adapted).