Lingua Francas and Global Englishes

A lingua franca is a shared language used between people with different native tongues. History has had many: Aramaic in the ancient Near East, Greek and Latin in the Mediterranean, Arabic across the Islamic world, Persian in Mughal India, Malay in Southeast Asian trade and Swahili in East Africa. English became a global lingua franca through the reach of the British Empire and later the economic and cultural power of the United States.

Linguist Braj Kachru described three circles of English: an inner circle of native-speaking countries, an outer circle where English was spread by colonialism, such as India and Nigeria, and an expanding circle where it is learned as a foreign language. Many local varieties, like Singapore's Singlish and Nigerian Pidgin, have their own rules. Critics worry that English dominance disadvantages non-native speakers and threatens smaller languages, while others stress that English is reshaped by those who use it.