English language

The English language is one of about 6,000 languages spoken throughout the world. It is notable for its historical development from the speech of a few Germanic tribes living on the island of Great Britain about 1,500 years ago, to its status today as a global language, used by people of very different backgrounds to communicate - most of whom have little to do with England, the country in which English first emerged.

Historical spread of English

The 'journey' of English around the world began with its movement throughout the British Isles, eventually becoming the language most commonly spoken throughout the modern states of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Meanwhile, the language reached North America though colonisation, and subsequently became widely spoken in Britain's colonies, such as the settlements of Australia and Canada. As these outposts developed in economic and political importance over the centuries, so the language became an essential lingua franca - to do business other peoples inside and outside the British Empire found it advantageous to learn English as a foreign or second language.

Old English

See also: Old English

English emerged from many Germanic dialects that were brought by Germanic invaders from northwestern Europe, from what is now Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. The previous, mostly Celtic languages of the British Isles were largely driven westwards as their speakers retreated or intermingled with the new settlers, and today there is little evidence of their presence in the vocabulary of English. Eventually, the Saxon tribes of Wessex came to dominate, and it was their dialects that provided most of the foundations of what later came to be seen as a new language, now called Old English.

English after 1066

Middle English

See also: Middle English

Later Old English became heavily influenced by Old Norse, brought with later Northern European Viking invaders, most of them from Denmark. The subjugation of the Anglo-Saxons in 1066 by the Normans led to swift change for their language. Its status declined quickly, as Norman French became the exclusive language of court and government. Latin has long been studied in England, but under the Normans its use also increased. English was still the everyday language of most people, however, as the country had entered a period of diglossia where the 'high' languages of French and Latin co-existed in separate levels of society from the 'low' language of English. However, as the centuries passed, Norman lords and barons adopted ever-more English, and Norman French fell out of favour. By the end of the fourteenth century, Richard II of England had taken his kingly oath in his native English tongue, and the language was restored to the dominant position it had enjoyed prior to the conquest. After 300 years of Norman French and Latin, however, plus the continued influence of Scandinavian dialects, the language had absorbed a tremendous amount of vocabulary from those languages, as well as shifting towards new patterns of syntax and phonology which would strongly distinguish Middle English from its later modern descendants.

Modern English

See also: Early Modern English

From about the middle of the fifteenth century, significant changes began in the phonology of English: the pronunciation of vowels in particular began to change. This 'Great Vowel Shift' saw the vowels of English move upwards in the mouth or diphthongise; for example, house was originally pronounced with the high back vowel [uː], as in ruse; it lowered and centralised slightly to [aʊ] over time, with the process most active in southern England and absent altogether in Scotland (where house is still [huːs]). In turn, as the highest vowels diphthongised, lower vowels moved up to replace them. The English lexicon also changed, with more words from Latin and modern French, plus a significant number from Greek. This has continued to the present day, with languages worldwide adding to the vocabulary of English.

English as a global language

See also: Varieties of English

An example of written English.

Speakers

Today, English may be identified as a global language, due to its widespread use in business, the internet and amongst diverse groups of people who wish to overcome a language barrier. Estimates put the number of fluent speakers at upwards of half a billion, a majority of whom are probably native speakers. However, there are many millions more with some knowledge of the language.

English as a threat to other languages

One argument concerning the apparent worldwide dominance of English is that it might be a threat to linguistic diversity, with many languages going extinct as speakers switch to English. However, evidence of this phenomenon is actually thin on the ground. Outside the 'English-speaking nations' (countries historically most closely associated with English, such as England, New Zealand and Australia), most speakers of English learn it in addition to or alongside a native language. In addition, English is by no means dominant in every sphere of influence; some evidence suggests that more blogs are written in Japanese, for example, and other tongues enjoy lingua franca status in various regions of the world. French and German, for example, are still much-used in Europe, and Swahili remains an important language for cross-cultural communication in East Africa.

See also

• English grammar
• History of the English language
• British English
• American English
• Varieties of English
• English phonemes
• Spelling pronunciation