Numerous "practical, everyday problems related to language and communication" (https://aila.info/about/) are connected to globalization: digital interactive networks and (in)voluntary mass migration break down traditional borders between cultures and communities, engendering confrontation and conflict in human relationships. Currently the language most extensively used to resolve such problems is English. The success of negotiations on conflict resolution, global warming, or refugee settlement often depends on how effectively English is used- but as a lingua franca, ELF. It is the lingua of English as a lingua franca that has tended to get most attention, because the linguistic form it takes often does not conform to the norms of 'standard' English. This 'lingua'-focus has led to the characterization of lingua francas as makeshift, impoverished languages. In this symposium, we follow an alternative etymological interpretation, which suggests that 'lingua franca' should be thought of as 'free language', and ELF thus as "a linguistic resource that is not contained in, or constrained by, traditional (and notoriously tendentious) ideas of what constitutes 'a language'" (Seidlhofer 2011: 81). It is this conceptualization of the franca of ELF that we explore as having central relevance to the global communicative issues that concern applied linguistics. Seidlhofer, Barbara. 2011. Understanding English as a lingua franca. Oxford: OUP. Please click here for the detailed program.
Numerous "practical, everyday problems related to language and communication" (https://aila.info/about/) are connected to globalization: digital interactive networks and (in)voluntary mass migration break down traditional borders between cultures and communities, engendering confrontation and conflict in human relationships. Currently the language most extensively used to resolve such problems is English. The success of negotiations on conflict resolution, global warming, or refugee settlement often depends on how effectively English is used- but as a lingua franca, ELF. It is the lingua of English as a lingua franca that has tended to get most attention, because the linguistic form it takes often does not conform to the norms of 'standard' English. This 'lingua'-focus has led to the characterization of lingua francas as makeshift, impoverished languages. In this symposium, we follow an alternative etymological interpretation, which suggests that 'lingua franca' should be thought of as 'free language', and ELF thus as "a linguistic resource that is not contained in, or constrained by, traditional (and notoriously tendentious) ideas of what constitutes 'a language'" (Seidlhofer 2011: 81). It is this conceptualization of the franca of ELF that we explore as having central relevance to the global communicative issues that concern applied linguistics. Seidlhofer, Barbara. 2011. Understanding English as a lingua franca. Oxford: OUP. Please click here for the detailed program.
Room 1 AILA 2021 aila2021@gcb.nl
Barbara Seidlhofer
Rino Bosso
Iris Schaller-Schwaner
Svitlana KLÖTZL
Birgit Swoboda
Vanja Vukovic
Veronika Thir
Natsuno Funada
Eva Knechtelsdorfer Technical Issues?
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