Brexit, Englixit? Disintegration and How Taking Back Control Means Giving Up Control

This contribution seeks to explore what disintegration can mean for a language, with a focus on Brexit and the English language. Linguistic differences are often instrumentalized as drivers of disintegration. However, in the case of Brexit, disintegration will also affect the status of the English l...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: O´Dubhghaill, Sean, Van Kerckhoven, Sven
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:Ecuador
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:revistas.uasb.edu.ec:article/4212
Acceso en línea:https://revistas.uasb.edu.ec/index.php/comentario/article/view/4212
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Brexit
desintegración
idioma inglés
Reino Unido
lingua franca
Unión Europea
euroinglés
English language
EU
UK
Euro English
Descripción
Sumario:This contribution seeks to explore what disintegration can mean for a language, with a focus on Brexit and the English language. Linguistic differences are often instrumentalized as drivers of disintegration. However, in the case of Brexit, disintegration will also affect the status of the English language. Due to the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, English will no longer be a first official language of any European member state; it is only the second official language in Ireland and Malta. This has important political and legal repercussions, that affect the future of the English language in the EU after Brexit. Based on desk research, we see two avenues for the future of the English language within the EU: it could be replaced by another major European language (German/ French), or could become a real European lingua franca. The latter option seems most reasonable as the English language has taken a firm foothold among young (and older) Europeans but entails that by taking back control of its decision-making processes by leaving the EU, the UK will lose the little control over the English language it currently still has. This tendency was already taking place both internationally as within the EU but will greatly accelerate after Brexit.