LINGUISTIC GLOBALIZATION: PROBLEMS OF LANGUAGE SOVEREIGNTY

Integrational processes on a worldwide scale engender the interaction between the languages of the world, a phenomenon which scholars define as linguistic globalization. These processes have created the need for a common system of language communication among nations. This function has been taken up by American English. The subject of our study is the linguistic reality of modern globalization. Our goal is to investigate the interaction of global English with other language systems, as exemplified by the Ukrainian language. In our study we will examine various views with regard to global English, characterize its influence on other language systems, analyze system-internal possibilities of Ukrainian as a recipient language on the basis of language data drawn from the area of tourism, and prognosticate with regard to the functioning of English as a global language. Our study includes the following sections: “The plurality of opinions”, “A challenge to language specificity”, “Ukrainian as a recipient language”, “Prognosis”. The methods and technique of our investigation are stipulated by its goal, its tasks and the characteristics of the analyzed data: general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis; the descriptive method which enables the systematization of linguistic data, its interpretation and the making of generalizations; the technique of selection which enables the delineation of linguistic units. The material presented points to the conclusion that the national language of Ukrainians, as a recipient language, is capable of utilizing the resources of its linguistic system, simultaneously undergoing change resulting in growth of the language system due to linguistic and extra-linguistic factors. The forms of interaction of a global language with another national language can be not only constructive, but also destructive: when English words and expressions displace language-inherent units and become substituted in their place, and when the tendency grows to use anglicisms for naming not only new concepts but also well-known ones. The present time dimension of the development of the current processes of globalization is as yet not adequate to enable thorough conclusions about their influence on national language systems. Linguistic globalization cannot, therefore, be viewed from only one perspective: as exclusively negative (pessimistically) or as exclusively positive (optimistically). One must admit that at present there is no alternative to “American English” in the process of facilitating the current international communication, which leads to the formation of a new bilingual world map. In this age of globalization there is a need for nations to preserve their cultural and linguistic self-identity, since there is the danger that they may lose their language as a medium of national identity when crucial spheres of their life and activities, particularly the domain of specialized communication, become totally engulfed by a “global language”. All challenges to language resulting from modern globalization are foremost reflected within the area of terminology of each language, since it is this part of the lexicon which is most sensitive to technical and cultural change, and thus of utmost importance to human communication. Ukraine needs to develop a strategy for the further development of its national language within the modern globalized world. The Ukrainian nation should not detach itself from cultural processes of the 21st century and thus remain isolated within its own cultural and linguistic borders. Nevertheless, it is necessary to control the process of Ukraine’s entering into the globalized world.