The articles included in this collection are devoted to a topic that is not only scientifically relevant, but also politically topical: the influence of a language that is already universally called "global" (a relatively new term that belongs equally to sociolinguistics and politics) on the functioning of other languages of the world in the field of science. As prof. Ulrich Ammon, this is one of the main areas in which the dominant position of the English language in the world is realized.

Science is one of the functional areas that has gained special weight in social communication in the last decade. It is directly related to technology, production, business and, ultimately, to economic success and prosperity (R. Kaplan, USA; A. Martel, Canada; M. Siguan, Spain, etc.); it is the latter factor that, according to the authors of many articles, makes the language attractive for learning and is crucial for functional activity the language. The spread of the English language in the world (R. Kaplan, USA) is the result not so much of a purposeful policy, but of a historical combination of circumstances that took place after the Second World War. The main scientific and technological resources were concentrated in the United States, and English has historically become the language of science, education, technology, business and production, as well as, most importantly, the language of the latest communication technologies (WWW), which, according to R. Kaplan, became the third civilizational leap in human history after the creation of writing and printing. The accumulation of vast resources of information at the end of the XX century. created the need for its ordering, structuring, storing, processing, and so on. The creation of information resources (for example, data banks), their replenishment and access to them also occur in English, and the possession of information brings direct economic benefits (R. Baldauf, Australia). Thus, the English language is attractive not only because it provides access to huge information resources (85% of scientific information in the world exists in English), but also because it provides access to higher living standards.

Thus, calculations of the abstracts of scientific works stored in the world's largest databases and the level of citation of scientific works in different languages of the world show that during the 60-80-ies of the XX century, the amount of scientific information in English grew rapidly, while in other languages its amount remained unchanged or decreased (R. Baldauf, Australia).

At the same time, the spread of English throughout the world, according to the same authors, is the result of a purposeful policy of the governments of English - speaking countries. Teaching English to foreigners, developing and publishing various textbooks is a profitable business and, therefore, a developed industry (R. Kaplan).

The international community (both scientists and technologists, teachers, and businessmen) needs to learn and apply English in practice. On the one hand, this need is a question of economic success in the international market: to achieve it, it is necessary to "promote" scientific and technological achievements of society at the state level (A. Martel). On the other hand, there is an objective need for a universal lingua franca, a universal interdialect, a language of international scientific and technological communication. A. de Swaan sees the positive role of English as a universal language of science in that it provides a universal set of concepts and a standard of comparisons, i.e. it acts as a kind of conceptual and terminological language-the reference point. But there is also a downside to this phenomenon. English, like medieval Latin, acts as a "link" between various national scientific schools; this is especially evident in the exact sciences, where English serves as a means of transmitting extra-personal objectified knowledge. But in the field of social and humanitarian sciences, another function of language is being updated-the function of transmitting national-specific, ethno-cultural information. Against the spread of the English language is put forward

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the next argument: medieval Latin was a dead language, i.e. there was no collective of its native speakers, so Latin was "culturally neutral". Ideally, this should be the world (global) language-freed from the national and cultural context. This is not the case with English, which is the living language of English - speaking countries, especially the United States; it is a vehicle for the values of the American way of life. From this point of view, the global spread of the English language plays a sharply negative role, as it eliminates the cultural and linguistic diversity of scientific and philosophical schools (M. Siguan, A. de Swaan), threatens multilingualism and multiculturalism, which in themselves are social values.

Evaluation of the process of English language dissemination occupies a large place in the research and reasoning of the authors of articles in this book. In general, the" evaluative component", according to W. Ammon, the compiler of the collection, is of great value for the discussion of the role of the English language, since the attitude to the language and to its use is an integral part of the functional characteristics of any language.

All authors regard the dominance of the English language in international science as a fait accompli. Thus, R. Baldauf (Australia) shows that researchers tend to use scientific information in English. Attempts to introduce multilingualism as a scientific practice in Australia did not bring positive results; the English language there, as in many other countries, fully meets the needs of scientific communication.

The need to use English is steadily increasing in the scientific communities of many countries: in Israel (B Spolsky, E. Shokhami, Israel), Switzerland (Kh. Murray, S. Dingwall, Switzerland), Finland (X. Haarman, E. Holman, Finland), Hungary (P. Medjis, M. Laszlo, Hungary), etc. As W. Ammon notes in the preface, even those who are deeply outraged by the dominance of the English language in science cannot but admit that only the English - speaking part of the scientific community has achieved what other representatives of it sought, namely, to spread their language in the world. This makes native English speakers a "privileged" part of the scientific community. They do not experience difficulties due to the need to study the language and produce linguistically correct scientific texts in it. This, according to W. Ammon himself and the authors of other articles, creates a situation of inequality of both languages (functional) and their native speakers (social).

First, native speakers of English as a second language or a foreign language will never be able to achieve the level of language competence that native speakers of English as a native language have. Thus, despite all the interest in learning English, the language skills of students in many countries are assessed as insufficient for full-fledged scientific communication. R. de Chilia and T. Schweiger (Austria) note that in Austrian universities, English is used as a means of teaching very limited and adequate language skills are not available for students (sometimes teachers). The highest rates of English proficiency are observed in such disciplines as mathematics; slightly lower rates are observed in the fields of sociology, history and other humanities subjects. Similarly, among Hungarian scientists, passive language skills (ability to read texts) prevail over active language skills (ability to communicate orally) (P. Mejis, M. Laszlo, Hungary). Meanwhile, the scientific significance of texts written in English (especially correct, literate) is assessed as higher. The lack of proficiency in English among scientists is an obstacle to promoting their achievements on the world stage. The" right of primacy " of native English speakers also applies to the field of scientific discoveries: scientific achievements made in countries with English as the main language become known all over the world; discoveries made in other countries are doomed to obscurity solely for linguistic reasons. It also implies a more favorable informational and socio - economic position of native speakers of a particular language (English).

It is noteworthy that there is a very differentiated attitude to this fact on the part of scientists-representatives of different countries and different linguistic and cultural communities. Scientists from European countries with their own developed scientific and cultural traditions are most wary of the predominance of English in science and education (W. Ammon, Germany; C. Truchot, France; M. de Siguan, Spain). In Finland, by contrast, English has strong public support (X. Haarmann and J. Holman, Finland), as it is believed that it allows the country to actively participate in the processes of globalization. The ability to produce standards, methodologies, and new products is directly related to English proficiency. Scientists from a number of countries, for example, Malaysia (R. Jacobson, USA), the Philippines (E. Smolich, I. Nikal and M. Secombe,

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Australia), where English has historically become the language of socially regulated areas of communication, treats English as a neutral means of communication. In other countries, English is increasingly perceived as a means of connecting with the "Western world", which is associated with the idea of economic prosperity (V. L. M. de Oliveira, A. S. Pagano, Brazil) or the "leading edge" of science and culture (P. Mejis, M. Laszlo, Hungary).

In addition to assessments, the book contains an analysis of objective processes of functional activity of the English language in the field of scientific communication in various countries of the world. It is obvious that the degree of English language penetration in scientific communication (as well as in other communication spheres) varies from country to country. A number of articles analyze in detail the conditions and factors that may affect the activity of the English language in the internal communication of a particular country. Among them are the level of socio-economic development of the country, and, consequently, the degree of" social attractiveness " of the English language for its native speakers, the level of bi-and multilingualism in the country and region, the presence of its own developed national language and the stability of its use in the field of science; language policy of the state, the attitude towards English in society, the level of loyalty of the society.

Thus, A. Martel (Canada), emphasizing the special importance of state language policy aimed at language support, presents a general heuristic scheme of conditions for the success of language policy. The dynamics of language policy includes 5 components: socio-historical context (including the socio-political structure, economic and scientific-technical policy of the state, social values and the language situation), language ideology (linguistic loyalty of society, adaptation to English and its public recognition), type of knowledge (natural, technical, social and humanities), the stage of scientific and technical activity (innovation, public recognition, publication, commercialization) , and the language policy itself (creation of language infrastructures, measures to create software and databases in the language, creation of language resources, special vocabulary and terminology in the language, creation of training programs, etc.). This scheme is further illustrated in detail by the example of the language policy of the Government of the Province of Quebec, where from the 1950s to the 1980s. thanks to the" containment policy " of the English language and the policy of supporting the French language, the share of English in scientific communication has remained the same, while the share of French has slightly increased.

G. McConnell (Canada), creates a functional typology of Southeast Asian countries that takes into account the functional activity of the English language and national languages. It analyzes the specifics of language situations in different countries and the functional capacity of English and national languages in relation to the communicative areas in which languages are used. The classification of language situations by G. McConnell is based on the numerical (number of native speakers) and functional (use in the fields of science and education) ratio of any major, dominant language of the country (if it can be distinguished), other languages used along with it, and English. Quantitative calculations by G. McConnell, supported by cartographic material (samples of sociolinguistic atlases), confirm the following hypotheses: 1) a country with one dominant major language will be less open to the penetration of English than other types of countries; 2) in countries where English is predominant in education (both as a means of teaching and as a subject), it will also dominate in the field of science.

This thesis is supported by the research of other authors. For example, speaking about the spread of English in Russian science in the last decade, T. Kryuchkova (Russia) notes that Russian has been and continues to be the absolutely dominant language of scientific communication within Russia; English also serves the needs of international scientific communication (tables of contents, annotations, and articles are written in it in cases where authors and publishers interested in promoting their scientific achievements on the global market).

A number of articles in the collection contain a detailed study of the influence of numerous social, political, economic, traditional and other factors on the degree of spread of the English language. For example, a comparative analysis of the spread of English in universities in Sweden and Switzerland (X. Murray, S. Dingwall, Switzerland) shows that with similar demographic indicators, these two countries, firstly, are characterized by different degrees of centralization of the education system; secondly, the prevailing monolingualism in Sweden is contrasted with traditional multilingualism in Switzerland. English in Sweden plays the role of a "virtual second language" (taught starting from primary school), while in Switzerland its share is much smaller, although its social demand has been rapidly increasing recently. In the article by U. The use of English by different Swiss language communities is differentiated: the German language community is more open and tolerant than the French language community.

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The primacy of the English language in the field of science and in other communicative spheres has an impact on the intra-structural development of national languages. The terminological resources of many scientific disciplines are replenished not on the basis of national languages, but at the expense of borrowings from English. Inoue, Japan; W. Ammon, Germany). The share of English loanwords is also growing in other areas of communication, including everyday communication (Brazil).

In the language of science, there are phenomena of interference between English and the scientific functional style of national languages (for example, Finnish, Swedish) at all levels of the language. Some authors see this as a benefit rather than a threat to national languages (H. Haarman, E. Holman, Finland), while others believe that the national language of science shows a tendency to impoverish, lose its own terminological resources and simplify the style due to limited use (B.-L. Gunnarson, Sweden).

The global spread of English leads to the emergence of mixed speech in both scientific and everyday communication. R. Jacobson (USA) proves that in Malaysia, mixed Malay-English speech is the norm not only in informal communication, but also in conversations on professional topics, and in international scientific communication, and between Malaysians themselves. Studies of different types of code switching prove the phenomenon of nativization of the English language, which is more a neutral means of communication than a means of acculturation of Malaysians.

In many countries in the field of science (and a number of related fields - higher education, for example) there is a situation that many authors assess as diglossal: English is used mainly in formal situations of scientific communication (for example, in defending dissertations), in written speech (publishing articles, writing qualification papers), in exact and natural disciplines, in "interethnic" scientific communication (not always, as the example with Malaysian shows). scientists). National languages are mostly used in informal communication, partly in lectures and seminars (although lectures are increasingly given in English), in publications on "regional" topics, and in oral "intra-national" communication.

Thus, in Belgian linguistics (p. English is mostly used in publications devoted to the problems of general linguistics, while other languages are used in studies of "local" languages and dialects. The same pattern of language usage is also observed in Sweden: English is mainly used in the higher spheres of academic science, while Swedish is preferred for informal scientific communication and popular science prose (B.-L. Gunnarson, Sweden). A similar diglootic situation has developed in Hong Kong (V. I. Wu, D. V. K. Chen, B. H. Jernadd, China), where English is used along with Chinese (Cantonese), but Chinese prevails in oral informal conversations of Chinese researchers (intra-ethnic communication), and English is used when reading and writing, as well as when writing. also in situations of interethnic communication. The study of the language of science, based on publications on Chinese history and education, also showed the dependence of the predominant use of the language on the topic of publication. English prevails in theoretical studies; Chinese-in practically oriented research, as well as in publications on the topic of primary education and local education, on topics related to the Chinese language, history, etc. In the Philippines, a country with a traditional mass multilingualism , there is also a functional distribution between English, the national (state) language of the Philippines (Tagalog), and the ethnic languages of the Philippines (ie. Smolich, I. Nikal and M. Secombe, Australia). In the Philippines, bilingual education is available (the exact subjects are taught in English, the rest in Filipino and other languages). At the same time, Filipino and other local languages are mainly used in everyday oral communication, while English is used in written communication.

Researchers in almost all countries and regions of the world, without exception, note the predominance of English in the exact disciplines (mathematics), in computer science and computing, part of natural sciences, pharmacology, to a lesser extent - in sociology, economics-and the predominance of national languages in the humanities and philosophy (for example, W. Durmuller, Switzerland). this confirms the thesis about the cultural orientation and uniqueness of national humanities schools.

Not all researchers, however, note the relationship of functional complementarity between English and national languages. Many people regard the relations between English and national languages in science as conflicting: W. Ammon (for German), C. Truchot (for French).

At the same time, the expansion of the English language does not pass without a trace for it: according to R. Kaplan, the English language is rapidly breaking up into many ethnic and regional variants (Filipino, Indian, etc.), so that the very existence of standard English

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A. Martel (Canada) notes a tendency to merge different functional styles of English - the language of science, the language of technology and business.

The general conclusion about the role of English in world scientific communication and the assessment of this role can be as follows: the global spread of English as an international language of science (lingua franca) is recognized by all and receives universal support, but only if it is limited to the sphere of international scientific communication (especially technical and partly natural disciplines). If English remains only an additional means of communication in a limited field (i.e., in science), then the negative effect of its dissemination will disappear and the conflict relations with national languages will be eliminated. The displacement of national languages by the English language from the spheres of science and higher education, which leads to their marginalization, is assessed extremely negatively as contradicting the concept of pluralism of languages and cultures.

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