Dominance of English Online and its Threat to Other Languages

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English Globalization
Introduction
The advancement in Internet technologies has made text-based communications through computers and mobile devices a commonplace phenomenon globally. The nature of such communication and, to a larger extent, how it impacts language has attracted increasing interest among researchers seeking to understand how text-based communication differs from speech as a linguistic output (Alsulami 257). While the Internet has become an important source of information among researchers, it has not always been fair as some face challenges finding sources published in their native languages. This limitation drives researchers to learn a different language of the sources they find online. Besides, other scholars have encountered issues during publication as their work cannot get published unless it is written in English. From the linguistic perspective, Mohammed (5) has attempted to understand the impact of globalization on people by considering the role of English and the state of other languages in a globalized world. Using theoretical and empirical approaches, this paper explores the impact of English globalization and provides suggestions to develop research in Arabic and increase the presence of Arabic online.
Theoretical Perspective
The dominance of English online as a phenomenon
Giannakoulopoulos et al. (9) note that more than 80 percent of content published on the Internet is in English. Since the beginning of the Internet and the Worldwide Web, English has been predominant compared to other languages. In the Western world and many other countries, the English language remains the most overriding language, and its impact can be manifested in almost every aspect of communication. Giannakoulopoulos et al. (1) have studied the use of different languages in websites among the European Union (EU) member states to gather data about the prevalence of English as a language. Results from more than 100,000 websites in EU member states indicate that more than a quarter of all websites in non-English speaking EU member states use English. Besides, the study reveals that English appears in a vast majority of websites with bilingual and multilingual functionalities. In addition, the findings show that English is the only language used in many monolingual websites.
Giannakoulopoulos et al. (1) have also found that in many cases, English has become a language of preference over the national languages in many EU member states. In another observation, the study shows a moderate association between the population of member states and the availability of English on their websites. A similar trend is observed with the levels of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). These associations demonstrate that smaller countries will tend to prefer English content in their websites to establish stronger ties and presence internationally. Linguistic researchers have expressed concern about the dominance of the English language online as language plays a critical role in national identity. However, to facilitate international communication, the EU member states, including Europe, have embraced English as a lingua franca for many years. A study by Giannakoulopoul...