In an article that focuses more specifically on this issue, he stated the following: The decline of the native speaker in numerical terms is likely to be associated with changing ideas about the centrality of the native speaker to norms of usage.
[...] Large numbers of people will learn English as a foreign language in the 21st century and they will need teachers, dictionaries and grammar books.
But will they continue to look towards the native speaker for authoritative norms of usage?Graddol's views about English as a world language are similar to, though not identical with, those held by his linguist colleague David Crystal.
Graddol graduated from the University of York with a BA in Language and Linguistics in 1975, also in Sociology in 1983.
He married Margaret Keeton and they had triplet daughters.