INTRODUCTION

In this final chapter I refer briefly to some of the themes scattered throughout the book without attempting to be comprehensive. Other topics, such as accommodation, regional variation determined by language contact, language mixing etc. are discussed particularly in the concluding sections to various chapters, and can be followed up through the index.

IDENTITY

It is often argued in linguistic literature that language is the most important marker of identity that there is (see e.g. Crystal (2000:40)). Even monolinguals living in a monolingual society where they have little or no contact with other languages may be conscious that it is their language which gives them a special identity in the world. The English, for example, constantly express pride in their language, and in doing so they are implicitly presenting the English language as one of the markers of their achievements as a people. Attempts by the French to eliminate ‘Franglais’ from the French language are reported with alacrity in the British press, with the implication that the English language is now doing what the English people have ceased to do, that is colonising foreign territory. The fading of French as an international educated language in the face of English is reported from time to time with satisfaction. Articles in the press regularly speak of the ‘richness’ and ‘subtlety’ of English, usually without acknowledgment that the ‘richness’ of its vocabulary is largely due to its reception of foreign loan-words over a long period.