ENGLISH IN EUROPE: FROM NATIONALLY HOMOGENEOUS LANGUAGE TO LINGUA FRANCA

Abstract

concepts. In forming vocabulary of the European lingua franca, speakers mostly deal with transnomination of previously cognized entities and ideas. Quite a number of Euro-English terms appear just to give more precise names to phenomena which already have some lexical units to denote them. The naming task is to be decided with the help of already exiting terms instead of new creations, because nominative density calls for appropriateness of application choice and hence might prevent the easiness of communication in a multilingual community. CONCLUSIONS Today, English is one of the most widely spread and varied languages whose international significance has caused the change of linguistic landscape in the world and particularly in Europe. From a nationally homogeneous and regionally restricted language it has turned into a European lingua franca to play a number of social functions. From a sociolinguistic point of view, it has enhanced a new type of bilingualism bridging communication in multilingual and multicultural Europe. European English contributes into globalisation, political, economic, social and cultural unification by providing the common core of specialist and common vocabulary. It has become a symbol of new European identity reflecting the optimal mix of culture-specific and common European features. The formation of Euro-English vocabulary mostly relies upon the internal resources and follows the general trend in current English away from ‘a friendly to borrow’ and toward ‘a friendly to share’ language. Naming processes appeal to new and previously denoted notions related to everyday life and specialised fields, particularly politics, 39 Lakoff G., Johnson M. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago, London : University of Chicago Press,