World Domination and Growing Variation

Abstract

The period that forms the content of this chapter starts in 1914 and continues to the present day. 1914 is a symbolic date in that it witnessed the outbreak of the First World War, for the twentieth century is the first to have experienced world wars and the development of mass methods of destruction. Both world wars saw conscription into the armed forces which meant that many who had had little experience of the world outside their home environment were suddenly forced into proximity with people from other parts of Britain as well as from other parts of the world in situations that forced them to work together. They were exposed to different language varieties from Britain and the rest of the Commonwealth and to varying social habits and lifestyles. Experience of this kind inevitably affected their attitude to their environment and to their language. It encouraged the demand for changes to society and the loosening of the stranglehold of the standard which was often seen as both élitist and inhibiting. Exposure to other accents and types of language broadened the linguistic horizon of those involved in the war effort and led them to believe that the way they spoke had as much right to be heard as more approved varieties. The end of the Second World War left two superpowers, the United States of America and the Soviet Union, to contest supremacy over the rest of the world. The western world was dominated by America and hence English became the dominant language of the western alliance as it faced the eastern bloc countries in the Cold War, which lasted from the end of the Second World War until 1990. The western powers were helped by Marshall Aid to rebuild their economies and joined together in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to form a joint military force to defend their interests against the eastern powers united militarily under the Warsaw Pact. America dominated NATO and provided many men for the defence of western Europe who were housed in military garrisons throughout the region in case the Eastern bloc broke through the so-called Iron Curtain which divided the two sides. With the ending of the Cold War and the collapse of communism in the east, many of the former members of the Warsaw Pact tried to liberalise their economies by introducing capitalism in place of state planning. Inevitably they looked to America and to western Europe for a lead and economic assistance. One result of this development was that where Russian had been an obligatory school language in countries like Poland, it was replaced by English as soon as Russia withdrew its armies and political control. English extended its influence even further throughout the world.