The ‘First international conference on English language and linguistics’ on the theme, ‘Challenges and innovations in 21st century’ started at the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET), Jamshoro organized by the university’s English Language Development Centre, (ELDC).
Renowned national and international linguists talking at a two-day conference said that technology rumble was bringing about a lot of changes in English.
According to a UNESCO report, out of around 7,000 languages of the world, 90 per cent would peter out within this century.
ELDC director Dr Habibullah Pathan, who chaired the conference, said: “English speakers are rising day by day and they will increase to over four billion by 2050”. He termed English “a killer language that has overpowered the world”.
Prof Dr Madhu Sharma from the Mount Wachusett Community College, USA, said: “Everyone agrees that vocabulary knowledge is crucial for English as second language (ESL) learners to understand others or express their own ideas and to be successful in academic areas”.
Cadet College Petaro principal Commodore Mehboob Elahi Malik said that if somebody wanted to get higher and quality education, he have to be obliged to learn English to gain command on a precise subject.
To wrap up the symposium the linguists must develop a comprehensive strategy to save native languages but significance of English could not be ignored.