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Dear Reader,
I went down a rabbit hole this week in search of something known as "Globish". I'd come across references in the last decade or so, of course, but hadn't gone beyond that. There are two definitions:
1/ Globish as defined by Jean-Paul Nerrière, which is about a universalized subset of the English language as we know it. An "English-lite" if you will. We all speak a version of it even if we may not know it.
2/ Globish as defined by Madhukar Gogate, which is a different language construct with a universal orthography. It's not without its flaws, of course. And, if you've spent any time studying Indian billboards and signs, you'll recognize Gogate's Globish as something already much in practice. :)
What sent me searching for more information about Globish was a book that came out late last year: The Rise of English: Global Politics and the Power of Language by Rosemary Salomone. I'm still mulling over some of the points made in this book about monolingualism and multilingualism. But I was, to be honest, frustrated with some of the usual theses of the book and wish the writer had explored deeper and given us new insights. Still, for anyone interested in the politics of language, this should go on your TBR.
Oh, here are a few interesting links from this week:
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