ЯЗЫКОВАЯ СИТУАЦИЯ В СОЕДИНЁННОМ КОРОЛЕВСТВЕ ВЕЛИКОБРИТАНИИ И СЕВЕРНОЙ ИРЛАНДИИ В 2000-2010-Х ГГ

Abstract

Исследуется языковая ситуация в современной Великобритании. Даётся теоретическая выкладка о понятии и видах языковой ситуации. Анализируются различия между экзоглоссными и эндоглоссными, сбалансированными и несбланасированными языковыми ситуациями. Авторы рассматривают нынешнее состояние британского английского, региональных языков и языков иммигрантов. Также детально анализируется взаимодействие и взаимовлияние всех языков, имеющих хождение в Великобритании. ; Scientific and technologic advance created an opportunity to move fast from across the globe and to get in contact with friends and business partners all over the world. Compression of the space-time removed many barriers, which have hindered effective communication before. Some kind of linguistic space was required in order to understand each other and continue improving relationships. Eventually, English became 'lingua franca', that is why it is important to forecast possible changes in this language in Great Britain, where it emerged and developed. It is noteworthy, that condition of English should be examined before subsequent forecasting. The authors of the article attempt to analyze the linguistic situation in Great Britain on the ground of classification made by A. Shweizer and L. Nikolsky. The theoretical part of the article is devoted to the generally accepted definition of the term 'linguistic situation' and the correlation of the state of language in the United Kingdom with the classification. According to it, the linguistic situation in Great Britain is exoglossic and non-balanced. It means that several languages are widespread among the British, but they have not equal status. In addition, there is one language-macromediator, which is English, and it is used for the communication among different ethnic groups and many regional languages and languages of immigrants. All of them are analyzed in the article. English is traditionally accepted as an official language of the United Kingdom, but it is not stated in any law. Received Pronunciation (RP) faded into insignificance, while more democratic Estuary English, which is a mixture of RP and slang, became more common. It is highlighted that individuals often use standard norms of English or its dialects depending on the social situation. The authors mark that such kind of situation is called diglos-sia. Long-term presence of Scotland and Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom made possible an emergence of mixtures of English and regional languages. Thus, Scots and Hiberno-English have appeared. Welsh is peculiar among other regional languages due to actions of the Welsh government and public organizations on revival of this language. Welsh was the first regional language in Great Britain, which was given an equal status with English in Wales by The Welsh Language Act 1993. Census in 2001 and 2011 has shown certain increase of people speaking Welsh but it is not enough. Experts note that discrimination of Welsh in XIX century entailed loss of Welsh identity and national traditions. It is emphasized legislation itself cannot solve the majority of these deep problems. Nevertheless, Welsh continues to develop and spread in Wales. There is another situation with other two Celtic languages Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic in Great Britain. Public organizations play a greater role in restoring these languages. Irish Gaelic was recognized only in Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Surveys show slow spread of this language because educated Irish prefer English to Gaelic in order to find a better place in the British society. Language performance of Scottish Gaelic has been decreasing for 200 years. However, tempo of reduction is rather slow. The first National Gaelic Language Plan was adopted in 2007 for 5 years. Now the National Gaelic Language Plan 2012-2017 is being implemented. It is quite early to estimate the results of this plan, but officials hope its effect will be seen in some years. It is important to note that the most widespread languages after English are not included in regional languages. They are Polish and languages of Indian people. 600 000 and 700 000 immigrants respectively speak these languages. This trend shows that regulations in the field of immigrant languages became more up-to-date for the government. Great influence of Hindi on English is observed. Experts claim that new form of English Hinglish, has emerged recent years. To conclude, this article deals with main characteristics of the linguistic situation in Great Britain and examines the interrelations of the languages spread in the United Kingdom.