Startseite Linguistik & Semiotik Chapter 18. English as a lingua franca in European multilingualism
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Chapter 18. English as a lingua franca in European multilingualism

  • Cornelia Hülmbauer und Barbara Seidlhofer
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Exploring the Dynamics of Multilingualism
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Exploring the Dynamics of Multilingualism

Abstract

In this chapter, we investigate the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) in interaction with other languages in linguistically diversified settings and examine the ways in which ELF is employed by plurilingual European speakers. On the one hand, this concerns the speakers’ strategic adaptation of linguistic elements according to their specific communicative purposes. In this respect, we have identified patterns of accommodation techniques and joint negotiation of meaning among ELF users. On the other hand, these processes have themselves proven to be interwoven with speakers’ overall linguistic repertoires and have thus shown ELF to be a multilingual mode. The analysis has shed light on diverse manifestations of this linguistic diversity within ELF and the processes underlying these. On a more general level, two major findings have emerged from the investigation of lingua franca communication: (1) Regardless of differences in first languages, plurilingual speakers share a great deal of skills, knowledge and resources which they mobilise in order to achieve their communicative goals. In other words, there is ‘familiarity in the foreign’ which can be strategically exploited. (2) Intercultural communicators employing a lingua franca mode exhibit considerable flexibility and integration of linguistic resources rather than sticking to stable, strictly demarcated codes. There is thus ‘flexibility beyond the fixed’. We analyse ELF interactions as representative of today’s intercultural communication practices and concluded that there is a need for reconsideration of established categories such as stable speech communities, reified languages and additive multilingualism.

Abstract

In this chapter, we investigate the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) in interaction with other languages in linguistically diversified settings and examine the ways in which ELF is employed by plurilingual European speakers. On the one hand, this concerns the speakers’ strategic adaptation of linguistic elements according to their specific communicative purposes. In this respect, we have identified patterns of accommodation techniques and joint negotiation of meaning among ELF users. On the other hand, these processes have themselves proven to be interwoven with speakers’ overall linguistic repertoires and have thus shown ELF to be a multilingual mode. The analysis has shed light on diverse manifestations of this linguistic diversity within ELF and the processes underlying these. On a more general level, two major findings have emerged from the investigation of lingua franca communication: (1) Regardless of differences in first languages, plurilingual speakers share a great deal of skills, knowledge and resources which they mobilise in order to achieve their communicative goals. In other words, there is ‘familiarity in the foreign’ which can be strategically exploited. (2) Intercultural communicators employing a lingua franca mode exhibit considerable flexibility and integration of linguistic resources rather than sticking to stable, strictly demarcated codes. There is thus ‘flexibility beyond the fixed’. We analyse ELF interactions as representative of today’s intercultural communication practices and concluded that there is a need for reconsideration of established categories such as stable speech communities, reified languages and additive multilingualism.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction ix
  4. Part I. Companies
  5. Chapter 1. Multilingual practices in professional settings 3
  6. Chapter 2. The practical processing of plurilingualism as a resource in professional activities 33
  7. Chapter 3. Multilingualism and diversity management in companies in the Upper Rhine Region 59
  8. Chapter 4. Representations of multilingualism and management of linguistic diversity in companies 83
  9. Chapter 5. A social representational perspective on languages and their management in the Danish corporate sector 101
  10. Chapter 6. What can Gaelic teach us about effective policy through planning? 121
  11. Chapter 7. Language diversity management on corporate websites 137
  12. Part II. European institutions
  13. Chapter 8. Language competence and language choice within EU institutions and their effects on national legislative authorities 157
  14. Chapter 9. EU and lesser-used languages 179
  15. Chapter 10. Dynamics of multilingualism in post-Enlargement EU institutions 205
  16. Part III. Higher education
  17. Chapter 11. Accomplishing multilingualism through plurilingual activities 229
  18. Chapter 12. Multilingual higher education between policies and practices 253
  19. Chapter 13. Plurilingualisms and knowledge construction in higher education 279
  20. Chapter 14. Language policies in universities and their outcomes 299
  21. Chapter 15. Policies and practices of multilingualism at Babeş-Bolyai University (Cluj, Romania) 323
  22. How policies influence multilingual education and the impact of multilingual education on practices 353
  23. Part IV. Transversal issues
  24. Chapter 17. Assessing efficiency and fairness in multilingual communication 365
  25. Chapter 18. English as a lingua franca in European multilingualism 387
  26. Chapter 19. Europe’s multilingualism in the context of a European culture of standard languages 407
  27. Conclusion 429
  28. Index 437
https://doi.org/10.1075/mdm.2.18hul

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction ix
  4. Part I. Companies
  5. Chapter 1. Multilingual practices in professional settings 3
  6. Chapter 2. The practical processing of plurilingualism as a resource in professional activities 33
  7. Chapter 3. Multilingualism and diversity management in companies in the Upper Rhine Region 59
  8. Chapter 4. Representations of multilingualism and management of linguistic diversity in companies 83
  9. Chapter 5. A social representational perspective on languages and their management in the Danish corporate sector 101
  10. Chapter 6. What can Gaelic teach us about effective policy through planning? 121
  11. Chapter 7. Language diversity management on corporate websites 137
  12. Part II. European institutions
  13. Chapter 8. Language competence and language choice within EU institutions and their effects on national legislative authorities 157
  14. Chapter 9. EU and lesser-used languages 179
  15. Chapter 10. Dynamics of multilingualism in post-Enlargement EU institutions 205
  16. Part III. Higher education
  17. Chapter 11. Accomplishing multilingualism through plurilingual activities 229
  18. Chapter 12. Multilingual higher education between policies and practices 253
  19. Chapter 13. Plurilingualisms and knowledge construction in higher education 279
  20. Chapter 14. Language policies in universities and their outcomes 299
  21. Chapter 15. Policies and practices of multilingualism at Babeş-Bolyai University (Cluj, Romania) 323
  22. How policies influence multilingual education and the impact of multilingual education on practices 353
  23. Part IV. Transversal issues
  24. Chapter 17. Assessing efficiency and fairness in multilingual communication 365
  25. Chapter 18. English as a lingua franca in European multilingualism 387
  26. Chapter 19. Europe’s multilingualism in the context of a European culture of standard languages 407
  27. Conclusion 429
  28. Index 437
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Heruntergeladen am 16.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/mdm.2.18hul/html
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