species is divided into more than five thousand languagegroups that do not understand each other. And yet these groupsconstitute one coherent world language system, connected bymultilingual speakers in a surprisingly powerful way. The chancesof a language thriving depend on its position in the system. Thereare thousands of small, peripheral languages, each connected to oneof a hundred central languages. The entire system is held togetherby one global language: English. A language is a 'hypercollective'good: the more speakers it has, the higher its communication valuefor each one of them. Thus, when people think that a language isgaining new speakers, that in itself is a reason for them to wantto learn it too. That is why, in an age of globalization, only afew languages remain for transnational communication and theseoften prevail even in national societies. This important book discusses a number of specific constellationsin detail: India, Indonesia, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa andthe European Union. De Swaan concludes by providing a sober butilluminating view of language policy in multilingual societies.This book will be essential reading for those studying sociology,communication studies and linguistics.

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