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English in a post‐Brexit European Union
Author(s) -
MODIANO MARKO
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/weng.12264
Subject(s) - brexit , european union , political science , principal (computer security) , member states , english language , space (punctuation) , power (physics) , linguistics , international trade , economics , computer science , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , operating system
This article speculates about the possible effects of the Brexit process on the status and functions of English in the European Union (EU). One issue here is whether Brexit will result in the weakening of the status of English within the Union, or whether this process will, ironically, strengthen the power of English as the principal working language of the EU, as well as the primary L2 among Europeans. One possibility here is that the exit of Britain from the Union will clear the sociolinguistic space for the emergence of an authentic European English, used by members of the EU as a ‘second language’ or (even) a quasi‐Outer Circle English, serving the needs of the European Union as the common link language for administration and cooperation between member states.