How do you think international relations have shaped language use today?

Languages
#1

Hi everyone,

What are your thoughts on this question? I personally think it is quite an interesting question as you can break it down into regions, continents etc… What I mean by the question is how the way countries have interacted and their relationships, have shaped languages into having certain “statuses” in the world today. Do you think it is a good thing that some languages have become more “prominent” in a sense on a global scale?

Any opinions or interesting facts on how a certain language is used in some way due to interaction between countries are extremely appreciated. You can really take this question in any direction you would like to (e.g. attempts at lingua franca, prominence of a language in a region where it is not an official language…)

This may seem like a very niche question, and there is a reason for that. In January, I’m going to be a doing a project on this enquiry, quite like a mini thesis, and the more research the better.

I hope you’re all doing great and excited for the conference, feel free to message me it would be great to meet you all!

Kai

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#2

An obvious example of language use being affected by international relations is how English has replaced Russian as the second language in Estonia and Latvia after 1991. Curiously enough, Finnish, a prestige language in Northern Estonia until mid-90’s, has also greatly lost ground in that region because people became free to communicate with people from all over the world, so Finland is no longer so important for Estonians.

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