English as a ‘global’ language in a geopolitically changing world – the telling patterns observable in historical precedents

A mid current geopolitical shifts, including “America First” tendencies in U.S. policy, the future dominance of English as a ‘global’ language is often questioned. Historical precedence, however, suggests that some ‘great’ languages expand and stabilise after their founding empires recede: Sanskrit, Latin and Classical Arabic each evolved from empire-driven lingua francas into durable lingua cosmopolitanas, marked by a fading centrality of native speakers, internally generated prestige and long-term supra-regional stability. This paper asks whether English is more likely to contract with U.S. hegemonic decline or to follow a similar consolidating path. Using historical sociolinguistic comparison, it examines three enabling conditions: initial spread through an inclusive empire, early embedding in core cultural frameworks (now secular infrastructures such as science, pop culture, standards and platforms), and a weakening of native-speaker reference. The analysis argues that English is more likely to consolidate as shared global infrastructure, with emerging Asian centres increasingly driving this cosmopolitan English.