Cultural Imperialism

English, a Tool of Cultural Imperialism?

For many years, English has been the most commonly used language in the entire world. Some people believe that this contributes to the theory of cultural imperialism which means the practice of imposing one’s cultural products and values into other societies. Recently, the need for communication among people all over the world has been increased by many factors. When we look back in time, we can understand the reason for the English language’s widely spread. Although some authors advocate the theory of cultural invasion, others see the future benefits thus support the English language spread.

The use of English as a global language has been increasing dramatically in the last 20 years. Many factors have played a role in this language domination. Alessia Cargo and Martin Dewey (2012) state in their book, “Analyzing English as a Lingua Franca,” that globalization and technological development had a profound effect on the spread of English all over the world. In other words, the world’s need of communication and the technology result in English language propagation which was started earlier in the 15th century during the British colonial activities.

The history of the British empire and the current power of the United States of America are closely contributed to the English language spread. Until the late 16th century, English was only spoken within the British Isles. Peter Muhlhauser’s (1996) book on linguistic ecology demonstrated that the spread of the English language beyond the British Isles is directly linked with the spread of English-speaking

people through the colonial activity. It also showed that the continuing domination of the English language is strongly related to the United States’ influence in many fields. The importance of these two factors, which are considered the main factors of the current English dominance, was differently understood from author to author.

The behavior of linguistics...