Russian Language Journal
Keywords
language, linguistic, global, world
Abstract
Although the United Nations has declared that its working languages—English, Russian, French, Spanish, Chinese, and, more recently, Japanese and Arabic— are “world languages,” there is no strictly linguistic basis for such a claim. Indeed, many linguists reject the term, and many of those who do accept it believe that it denotes—roughly—an artificial global language. Moreover, many find in it an unpleasant hint of the pseudoscientific idea that one language can be superior to another.
Recommended Citation
Kostomarov, V. G.
(2005)
"The concept of “world language”,"
Russian Language Journal: Vol. 55:
Iss.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rlj/vol55/iss1/3
