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First LANGUAGE Roots: INTRA-SENTENTIAL LITERARY CODE-SWITCHING and accept their fluctuant new self as well as their physical, emotional and verbal memories, translingualism becomes a chance rather than an obstacle. As the borders between first and foreign language(s) dissolve, translingual literary strategies such as code-switching or language mixing arise and shape the writer’s voice. ENGLISH AND THE NON-NATIVE WRITER English is the world’s most spoken language, and furthermore the most widely spoken second or foreign’? language: According to an Ethnologue estimate, out of 1.35 billion English speakers in total, only 360 million speak English as their first language." This leaves about one billion people who have either learnt or acquired English after having been fluent in another language. The expansion of British colonial power and the rise of the United States of America as the leading economic power in the past century have turned the English language into the powerful global language and lingua franca it is today.“ While American, British and Australian standard varieties prevail, English has also become a language that bends itselfto the needs of its communities, as English Creole speakers and the movement from ‘the English’ to a multiplicity of ‘Englishes’ demonstrate. It serves as a tool for communication in various domains and spaces, which in consequence makes it increasingly significant for people experiencing migration. Various writers who have faced either forced or voluntary migration have found a fruitful field in the English language—predominantly those who have migrated into an English-speaking country. Exophonic writers such as Olaudah Equiano, Joseph Brodsky, Mary Antin or Eva Hoffman have found a new home and a new self in the English language. Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, who spent most of his life in Africa and migrated to the U.S. to teach and seek health treatment in old age, has spoken most explicitly about the potential of writing in English as a second language: So my answer to the question Can an African ever learn English well enough to be able to use it effectively in creative writing? is certainly yes. If on the other hand you ask Can he ever learn to use it like a native speaker? I should say, I hope not." 2 The notions of “second language” and “foreign language” will be used interchangeably in this essay. 8 Dylan Lyons: How Many People Speak English, And Where Is It Spoken?, Babbel Magazine, https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/how-many-people-speak-english-and-where-is-it-spoken, accessed 8 October 2022. 4 David Crystal: English as a global language. 2 edition, Stuttgart, Klett Sprachen, 2012, 12-13, 29 and 59. Chinua Achebe: English and the African Writer, Transition, 1965, 29. m a «736
