New English
In “The Queen’s English Is Dead,” Annalee Newitz discusses the implications of David Graddol’s notion that native English speakers are a dying breed. By 2010, according to his estimates, 2 billion people will be speaking English, but only 350 million will claim English as their mother tongue. This burgeoning globalization, coupled with the wide use of the Internet, will lead to a simplification and fragmenting of the language that, to Newitz, is not altogether disheartening. Can we language perfectionists come to view the new English as a cross-cultural communications tool that might have a valuable invigorating effect? Newitz argues thus when she says, “Once we all acknowledge that there are many correct Englishes, and not just the Queen’s English or Terry Gross’ English, things will be a lot better for everybody.”