English language

2021-02-13T02:06:26Z

2605:8D80:5A0:B37C:6B36:73F8:574A:59EA:

{{complex|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox language
| name = English
| pronunciation = {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɪ|ŋ|ɡ|l|ɪ|ʃ}}{{sfn|Oxford |2015|loc=Entry: [http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/pronunciation/english/english_1 English – Pronunciation]}}
| region = [[British Isles]] (originally)<br/>[[English-speaking world|Worldwide]]
| speakers = 360{{ndash}}400{{nbsp}}million|
| ref = {{sfn|Crystal|2006|pp=424–426}}
| speakers2 = [[Second language|L2 speakers]]: 400{{nbsp}}million;<br />as a [[foreign language]]: 600–700 million{{sfn|Crystal|2006|pp=424–426}}
| familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2 = [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| fam3 = [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
| fam4 = [[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo-Frisian]]
| fam5 = [[Anglic languages|Anglic]]
| ancestor = [[Old English]]
| ancestor2 = [[Middle English]]
| ancestor3 = [[Early Modern English]]
| script = {{plainlist|
* [[Latin script]] ([[English alphabet]])
* [[English Braille]], [[Unified English Braille]]
}}
| nation = {{plainlist|
* [[List of territorial entities where English is an official language#Sovereign states|67 countries]]
* [[List of territorial entities where English is an official language#Non-sovereign entities|27 non-sovereign entities]]
{{Collapsible list |titlestyle= font-weight:normal; background:transparent; text-align:left; |title= Various organisations|
* [[United Nations]]
* [[European Union]]
* [[Commonwealth of Nations]]
* [[Council of Europe]]
* [[International Criminal Court|ICC]]
* [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]]
* [[International Olympic Committee|IOC]]
* [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]]
* [[NATO]]
* [[WTO]]
* [[North American Free Trade Agreement|NAFTA]]
* [[Organization of American States|OAS]]
* [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|OECD]]
* [[Organisation of Islamic Cooperation|OIC]]
* [[OPEC]]
* [[GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development]]
* [[Pacific Islands Forum|PIF]]
* [[UKUSA Agreement]]
* [[Association of Southeast Asian Nations|ASEAN]]
* [[ASEAN Economic Community]]
* [[South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation|SAARC]]
*[[Caribbean Community|CARICOM]]
* [[Turkic Council]]
* [[Economic Cooperation Organization|ECO]]
}}
}}
| iso1 = en
| iso2 = eng
| iso3 = eng
| lingua = 52-ABA
| notice = IPA
| sign = [[Manually coded English]]<br />(multiple systems)
| glotto = stan1293
| glottorefname = Standard English
| map = Anglospeak.svg
| mapcaption = {{legend|#0000ff|Countries of the world where English is a majority native language}}
{{legend|#8ddada|Countries where English is official but not a majority native language}}
}}
'''English''' is a West Germanic language that started in [[Anglo-Saxon]] [[England]]. It is originally from [[Anglo-Frisian languages|Anglo-Frisian]] and [[Old Saxon]] [[dialect|dialects]] brought to [[Britain]] by [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] settlers from [[Jutland]] and the Rhine Valley in the Early [[Middle Ages]]. It now has the status of a global [[lingua franca]] since it being used by traders and from the [[British Empire]]'s [[colony|colonies]]. word "English" is derived from the [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] tribes moved to [[England]] Anglo ([[Angles]]), after the Baltic Sea peninsula Anglia (Anglia).

[[Frisian language|Frisian]] is the language closest to English. The vocabulary of English was heavily influenced by other Germanic languages in the early [[Middle]] Ages and later by [[Romance languages|Romance]] languages, especially French. English is the only official language or one of the official [[language|languages]] of nearly 60 countries, and it is also the main language of the most countries in the [[world]], like in the [[United Kingdom]], [[Ireland]], the [[United States]], [[Canada]], [[Singapore]], [[India]], [[Hong Kong]], and [[South Africa]]. It is also the main languages in Australia and New Zealand and is widely spoken in parts of the Caribbean, Africa and South Asia.

There are about 375 million [[native]] [[speech|speakers]] (people who use it as their first language) in the world,<ref>Curtis, Andy. ''Color, race, and English language teaching: shades of meaning''. 2006, page 192.</ref> the largest number after [[Mandarin|Chinese Mandarin]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]].

English is the first foreign language most learners, and the official language of the [[United Nations]], [[European Union]], and many other [[international organization|international organizations]]. It is the most widely-spoken [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] language, with at least 70% of Germanic speakers speaking English. About 220 million others use it as their second language.

It is often used in work and travel and trade, and there are at least a billion people who are learning it. That makes English the second most-spoken language, and the most international language in the world.
[[File:EN English Language Symbol ISO 639-1 IETF Language Tag Icon.svg|thumb|right|upright|EN language code ([[ISO 639-1]])]]

English has changed and developed over time, like all other languages.<ref>Baugh, Albert C. & Cable, Thomas 2012. ''A history of the English language''. 6th ed, London: [[Routledge]]. {{ISBN|0-41-565596-X}}</ref> The most obvious changes are the many words taken from [[Latin]] and [[Old French]], which then came to Old English and then Modern English, which is used today.

[[English grammar]] has also become very different from other Germanic languages, but it stayed different from Romance languages. Because nearly 60% of the vocabulary comes from Latin, English is sometimes called the the Germanic languages that is the most Latin, and it is often mistaken for being a Romance language.<ref>[http://www.conexion-to.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=184:inglese-tedesco-e-olandese-a-confronto&catid=34:lingue-a-culture&Itemid=60 Comparison between English, German and Dutch (in Italian)]</ref>

== History ==
[[Germany|Germanic]] tribes ([[Saxons]], [[Anglo-Saxon|Angles]], and [[Jutes]]) came to Britain from around 449 [[AD]]. They made their home in the south and east of the island, pushing out the [[Britons (Celtic people)|Celtic Britons]] who were there before them, or making them speak the English language instead of the old [[Celtic languages]]. Some people still speak [[Celtic languages]] today, in [[Wales]] ([[Welsh language|Welsh]]) and elsewhere. [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]] is the Scottish Celtic language, still spoken by some in the Scottish [[Highlands and Islands]]. "[[Scots]]" is a dialect of English (although some call it a separate language). [[Irish Gaelic]] is spoken by very few people today.

The Germanic [[dialect]]s of these different tribes became what is now called [[Old English language|Old English]]. The word "English" comes from the name of the Angles: ''Englas''. Old English did not sound or look much like the English spoken today. If English speakers today were to hear or read a passage in Old English, they would understand just a few words.

The closest language to English that is still used today is [[Frisian]], spoken by about 500,000 people living in the [[Netherlands]], [[Germany]] and [[Denmark]]. It is much like English, and many words are the same. The two languages were even closer before Old English changed to [[Middle English]]). Today, speakers of the two languages would not be able to understand each other. [[Dutch language|Dutch]] is spoken by over 20 million people, and is more distant from English. [[German language|German]] is even bigger, and even more distant. All these languages belong to the same [[Germanic languages|West Germanic]] family as English.

Many other people came to England later at different times, speaking different languages, and these languages added more words to make today's English. For example, around 800 AD, many [[Denmark|Danish]] and [[Norse]] [[pirate]]s, also called [[Vikings]], came to the country, established [[Danelaw]]. So, English got many Norse [[loanword]]s. Their languages were [[Germanic languages]], like Old English, but are a little different. They are called the [[North Germanic languages]].

When [[William the Conqueror]] took over England in 1066 AD, he brought his [[noble]]s, who spoke [[Norman language|Norman]], a language closely related to [[French language|French]]. English changed a lot because it was mostly being spoken instead of written for about 300 years, because all official documents were written in Norman French. English borrowed many words from Norman at that time, and also began to drop the old [[Grammatical case|word endings]]. English of this time is called [[Middle English]]. [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] is a well known writer of Middle English. After more sound changes, Middle English became Modern English.

English continued to take new words from other languages, for example mainly from French (around 30% to 40% of its words), but also [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Hindi]] and [[Urdu]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], etc. Because scientists from different countries needed to talk to one another, they chose names for scientific things in the languages they all knew: [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Latin]]. Those words came to English also, for example, ''photography'' ("photo-" means "light" and "-graph" means "picture" or "writing", in Greek.<ref>These words come mostly from Greek, but are translated into the [[Latin script|Latin alphabet]], which English uses.</ref> A photograph is a picture made using light), or ''telephone''. So, English is made of Old English, Danish, Norse, and French, and has been changed by Latin, Greek, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Dutch and Spanish, and some words from other languages.

[[English grammar]] has also changed, becoming simpler and less Germanic. The classic example is the loss of [[Case (grammar)|case]] in grammar. Grammatical case shows the role of a noun, adjective or pronoun in a sentence. In Latin (and other [[Indo-European languages]]) this is done by adding [[suffix]]es, but English usually does not. The style of English is that meaning is made clear more by [[Context (language)|context]] and [[syntax]].

The history of the [[British Empire]] has added to the spread of English. English is an important language in many places today. In [[Australia]], [[Canada]], [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[South Africa]], and the [[United States]], among others (like those in the [[Commonwealth of Nations]]), English is the main language. Because the [[United Kingdom]] (the country where England is) and the [[United States]] have historically been powerful in [[commerce]] and [[government]], many people find it helpful to learn English to [[communication|communicate]] in science, business, and [[diplomacy]]. This is called learning English as an additional language, [[English as a second language|English as a Second Language]] (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

[[English literature]] has many famous stories and plays. [[William Shakespeare]] was a famous English writer of [[poem]]s and [[Play (theatre)|plays]]. His English is [[Early Modern English]], and not quite like what people speak or write today. Early Modern English sounded different, partly because the language was beginning a "great vowel shift". Later, many [[short story|short stories]] and [[novel]]s also used English. The novel as we know it is first seen in 18th century English.<ref>Ian Watt's ''The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding'' (London, 1957); John J. Richetti, Popular Fiction before Richardson. Narrative Patterns 1700–1739 (1969); Lennard J. Davis, ''Factual Fictions: The Origins of the English Novel'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983); J. Paul Hunter, ''Before Novels: The Cultural Contexts of Eighteenth-Century English Fiction'' (New York: Norton, 1990).</ref> Today, many famous [[song]]s and [[movie]]s (cinema films) use the English language.

== Spelling ==
Written English uses a strange [[Orthography|spelling]]. Different words can use the same letters and combinations for very different sounds. For example, "-ough" was once a [[guttural]] but has become different in "through" (threw), "rough" (ruff), "dough" (doe) or "cough" (coff). That can make it a difficult language to learn.<ref name="age">{{cite news|title=It's offishal - English iz darned hard to learn
|last=Smith, Bridie 2009
|publisher=The Age
|language=English|accessdate=2009-11-29}}</ref>

Many English-speaking countries spell words differently. Some words are spelled differently in the [[United States]] from in the [[United Kingdom]] and many other countries and others of the [[British Commonwealth]], where English is the main language. The different ways of spelling are sometimes called "American English" and "British English". For example, "colour" is spelled "color" in American English, and "programme" is spelled "program". Even the word "spelled" is different in British English, which uses "spelt".

==Vocabulary==
[[File:Origins of English PieChart 2D.svg|thumb|200px|Influences on English vocabulary]]
Nearly 60% of the [[vocabulary]] in the English language comes from Latin and its descendents, mainly French:

* ''[[Langues d'oïl|Langue d'oïl]] (French)'': 29.3%
* [[Latin]], including modern scientific and technical Latin and Frankish (Germanic language): 28.7%
* [[Germanic languages]]: 24% (inherited from [[Old English]]/Anglo-Saxon, Proto-Germanic, [[Old Norse]], etc. without including Germanic words borrowed from a Romance languages)
* Greek: 5.32%
* Italian, Spanish and Portuguese: 4.03%
* Derived from proper names: 3.28%
* All other languages: less than 1%

However, the most common words are more often those of Germanic origin. Also, expressions and typical short phrases are often of Germanic origin.

==Related pages==
* [[Indian English]]
* [[American English]]
* [[Australian English]]
* [[British English]]
* [[Canadian English]]
* [[Jamaican English]]
* [[South African English]]
* [[New Zealand English]]
* [[Pakistani English]]
* [[Scottish English]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Other websites==

{{InterWiki|code=en}}
* [http://bbclearningenglish.com/ BBC resources for English language students]
* [http://learnenglishfeelgood.com/ Resources for English language students]
* [http://linguapress.com/grammar/ The main points of English grammar, clearly presented with examples]
* [http://a4esl.org/ Activities for English language students]
* [http://www.online-utility.org/english/index.jsp Tools For English Language]

{{Official UN languages}}
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[[Category:English language| ]]
[[Category:Languages of India]]

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English language