Thearrivaloftheyear1999hasbroughtwithanearperfectopportunitytotakealookbackatthelastonethousandyears,assessman’ssuccessesandfailures,andlookforwardwithourpredictionsofthethirdmillennium.
Alreadythisafternoonyou’veheardmanyassessmentsandyou’veheardavarietyofpredictions.
Avarietysovast,rangingfromLewisCarol’sdepictionofcelebratorylife,totheIrishcelebrationofdeath.
Sovastavarietythatit’sdifficulttofindanycommongroundamongstthecontestantsheretoday.
Perhapstheonlythingthatweallshareisthatweareindeeddiscussingmillennia,theoldandthenewandtheturnofthemillennium,andwe’realldiscussingitinthesamelanguage.
Afewhundredyearsagotohaveheldaneventlikethisitwouldhavebeenimperativethatwewereallfluentinanumberofdifferenttongues,fortheapproachofcombatingthelanguagebarrierwassimplytolearnmanydifferentlanguages.
Ofcoursepeoplebackthenhadanulteriormotive:thatwastoensurethatdifferentlanguagesheldtheirdifferentsocietiesorpositions,orasKingCharlesVofSpainputit,“IspeakSpanishtoGod,Italiantowomen,FrenchtomenandGermantomyhorse.”
Todayourapproachissomewhatdifferent.
Insteadoftryingtovastlyspreadourverbalabilityacrosstheboard,we’vechosenrathertofocusit,concentratingonourabilitytomasteroneparticularlanguage,theEnglishlanguage.
Timemagazinerecentlysuggestedthatbytheturnofthemillennium,EnglishwillbetheLinguaFrancaforonequarteroftheworld’spopulation.
Alreadytodaysixtypercentsoftheworld’stelevisionandradiobroadcastsareproducedanddeliveredinEnglish.
Seventypercentsoftheworld’smailaddressedinEnglish.
Anditisthelanguageofchoiceforalmosteverybiteofcomputerdatasentacrosstheglobe.
ButwhyEnglish?Therearenoclearlinguisticreasonsforitssuggestedglobaldominance,certainlythegrammariscomplicated,thespellingpeculiarandthepronunciationeccentric,tosaytheveryleast.
OnewouldneedonlylookthroughthedictionarytofindthevastlistofamusingparadoxesintheEnglishlanguage?quicksandthatworksslowly,aboxingringthatisinfactsquareandaguineapigthat’sreallyneitherfromGuineanorisitapig.
Doesn’titseemoddthatonecanmakeamendsbutnotoneamend.
Orgothroughtheannalsofhistorybutnotoneannal