English language

English
Pronunciation	/ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/[1]
Spoken in	(see below)
Total speakers	First language: 309–400 million Second language: 199–1,400 million[2][3] Overall: 500 million–1.8 billion[4][3]
Ranking	3 (native speakers)[5] Total: 1 or 2 [6]
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Anglo–Frisian English
Writing system	Latin (English variant)
Official status
Official language in	53 countries United Nations European Union Commonwealth of Nations CoE NATO NAFTA OAS OIC PIF UKUSA
Regulated by	No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1	en
ISO 639-2	eng
ISO 639-3	eng
Countries where English is a majority language are dark blue; countries where it is an official but not a majority language are light blue. English is also one of the official languages of the European Union.
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

English is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,^{[7][8][9][10]} it has become the lingua franca in many parts of the world.^[11][12] It is used extensively as a second language and as an official language in Commonwealth countries and many international organisations.

Historically, English originated from several dialects, now collectively termed Old English, which were brought to the island of Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers beginning in the 5th century. English was further influenced by the Old Norse language of Viking invaders.

At the time of the Norman conquest, Old English developed into Middle English, borrowing heavily from the Norman (Anglo-French) vocabulary and spelling conventions. The etymology of the word "English" is a derivation from the 12th century Old English englisc or Engle, plural form Angles ("of, relating to, or characteristic of England").^[13]

Modern English developed with the Great Vowel Shift that began in 15th-century England, and continues to adopt foreign words from a variety of languages, as well as coining new words. A significant number of English words, especially technical words, have been constructed based on roots from Latin and ancient Greek.

Significance

Modern English, sometimes described as the first global lingua franca,^[14][15] is the dominant language or in some instances even the required international language of communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy.^[16] Its spread beyond the British Isles began with the growth of the British Empire, and by the late nineteenth century its reach was truly global.^[17] Following the British colonisation of North America, it became the dominant language in the United States and in Canada. The growing economic and cultural influence of the United States and its status as a global superpower since World War II have significantly accelerated the language's spread across the planet.^[15]

A working knowledge of English has become a requirement in a number of fields, occupations and professions such as medicine and computing; as a consequence over a billion people speak English to at least a basic level (see English language learning and teaching). It is also one of six official languages of the United Nations.

Linguists such as David Crystal recognise that one impact of this massive growth of English, in common with other global languages, has been to reduce native linguistic diversity in many parts of the world, most particularly in Australasia and North America, and its huge influence continues to play an important role in language attrition.^[18] Similarly, historical linguists, aware of the complex and fluid dynamics of language change, are always aware of the potential English contains through the vast size and spread of the communities that use it and its natural internal variety, such as in its creoles and pidgins, to produce a new family of distinct languages over time.^[19]

History

English is a West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian and Lower Saxon dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers and Roman auxiliary troops from various parts of what is now northwest Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands in the 5th century.^{[citation needed]} One of these Germanic tribes was the Angles,^[20] who may have come from Angeln, and Bede wrote that their whole nation came to Britain,^[21] leaving their former land empty. The names 'England' (from Engla land "Land of the Angles") and English (Old English Englisc) are derived from the name of this tribe.

The Anglo-Saxons began invading around 449 AD from the regions of Denmark and Jutland.^[22][23] Before the Anglo-Saxons arrived in England the native population spoke Brythonic, a Celtic language.^[24] Although the most significant changes in dialect occurred after the Norman invasion of 1066, the language retained its name and the pre-Norman invasion dialect is now known as Old English.^[25]

Initially, Old English was a diverse group of dialects, reflecting the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms of Great Britain.^[26] One of these dialects, Late West Saxon, eventually came to dominate. One of the most prevalent forces in the evolution of the English language was the Roman Catholic Church. Beginning with the Rule of St Benedict in 530 and continuing until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, the Roman Catholic Church instructed monasteries and Catholic officials like Augustine of Canterbury to preserve intellectual culture within their schools, scriptoria, and libraries.

During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had a monopoly on intellectual property in British society, which they used to exert great influence on the English language.^{[citation needed]} Catholic monks mainly wrote or copied text in Latin, the prevalent Medieval lingua franca of Europe.^[27] When monks occasionally wrote in the vernacular, it was common to substitute or derive English-like words from Latin to describe or refer to things in which there was no English word. Extensive vocabulary, a derivative of Latin vocabularium, in the English language largely comprises Latin word derivatives. It is believed that the intellectual elite in British society over the years perpetuated vocabulary that Catholic monks contributed to English; furthermore, they continued the custom of deriving new words from Latin long after the waning of Catholic Church.^{[citation needed]}

Old English vernacular was also influenced by two waves of invasion. The first was by language speakers of the North Germanic branch of the Germanic family; they conquered and colonised parts of the British Isles in the 8th and 9th centuries. The second was the Normans in the 11th century, who spoke Old Norman and developed an English variety of this called Anglo-Norman. (Over the centuries, this lost the specifically Norman element under the influence of Parisian French and, later, of English, eventually turning into a distinctive dialect of Anglo-French.) These two invasions caused English to become "mixed" to some degree (though it was never a truly mixed language in the strict linguistic sense of the word; mixed languages arise from the cohabitation of speakers of different languages, who develop a hybrid tongue for basic communication).

Cohabitation with the Scandinavians resulted in a lexical supplementation of the Anglo-Frisian core of English; the later Norman occupation led to the grafting onto that Germanic core of a more elaborate layer of words from the Romance languages. This Norman influence entered English largely through the courts and government. Thus, English developed into a "borrowing" language of great flexibility and a huge vocabulary.

With the emergence and spread of the British Empire, the English language was adopted in North America, India, Africa, Australia and other regions. The emergence of the United States as a superpower has also helped the spread of English.

Classification and related languages

The English language belongs to the Anglo-Frisian sub-group of the West Germanic branch of the Germanic Family, a member of the Indo-European languages. The closest living relatives of English are the Scots language, spoken primarily in Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland, and Frisian. As Scots is viewed by some linguists to be a group of English dialects rather than a separate language, Frisian is often considered to be the closest living relative.

After Scots and Frisian come those Germanic languages which are more distantly related, namely the non-Anglo-Frisian West Germanic languages (Low German, Dutch, Afrikaans, High German), and the North Germanic languages (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese). With the exception of Scots, and on an extremely basic level, Frisian, none of the other languages is mutually intelligible with English, due in part to the divergences in lexis, syntax, semantics, and phonology, and to the isolation afforded to the English language by the British Isles, although some such as Dutch do show strong affinities with English. This isolation has allowed English and Scots to develop independently of the Continental Germanic languages and their influences over time.^[28]

Lexical differences with the other Germanic languages can arise from several causes, such as natural semantic drift caused by isolation, and heavy usage in English of words taken from Latin (for example, "exit", vs. Dutch uitgang) (literally "out-gang" with "gang" as in "gangway") and French "change" vs. German Änderung, "movement" vs. German Bewegung (literally "othering" and "be-way-ing" ("proceeding along the way")). Preference of one synonym over another can also cause a differentiation in lexis, even where both words are Germanic (for instance, both English care and German Sorge descend from Proto-Germanic *karo and *surgo respectively, but *karo became the dominant word in English for "care" while in German, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages, the *surgo root prevailed. *Surgo still survives in English as sorrow).

Although the syntax of German is significantly different from that of English and other Germanic languages, with different rules for setting up sentences (for example, German Ich habe noch nie etwas auf dem Platz gesehen, vs. English "I have never seen anything in the square"), English syntax remains extremely similar to that of the North Germanic languages, which are believed to have influenced English syntax during the Middle English Period (eg., Norwegian Jeg har likevel aldri sett noe i torget; Swedish Jag har ännu aldrig sett något på torget). It is for this reason that despite a lack of mutual intelligibility, English-speakers and Scandinavians can learn each others' languages relatively easily.^{[citation needed]}

Dutch syntax is intermediate between English and German (eg. Ik heb nog nooit iets gezien op het plein). In spite of this difference, there are more similarities between English and other Germanic languages than differences (eg. English bring/brought/brought, Dutch brengen/bracht/gebracht, Norwegian bringe/brakte/brakt; English eat/ate/eaten, Dutch eten/at/gegeten, Norwegian ete/åt/ett), with the most similarities occurring between English and the languages of the Low Countries (Dutch and Low German) and Scandinavia.

Semantic differences cause a number of false friends between English and its relatives (eg. English time vs Norwegian time "hour"), and differences in Phonology can obscure words which actually are genetically related ("enough" vs. German genug, Danish nok). Sometimes both semantics and phonology are different (German Zeit, "time", is related to English "tide", but the English word, through a transitional phase of meaning "period"/"interval", has come primarily to mean gravitational effects on the ocean by the moon, though the original meaning is preserved in forms like tidings and betide, and phrases such as to tide over).^{[citation needed]} These differences, though minor, preclude mutual intelligibility, yet English is still much closer to other Germanic languages than to languages of any other family.

Finally, English has been forming compound words and affixing existing words separately from the other Germanic languages for over 1500 years and has different habits in that regard. For instance, abstract nouns in English may be formed from native words by the suffixes "‑hood", "-ship", "-dom" and "-ness". All of these have cognate suffixes in most or all other Germanic languages, but their usage patterns have diverged, as German "Freiheit" vs. English "freedom" (the suffix "-heit" being cognate of English "-hood", while English "-dom" is cognate with German "-tum"). Icelandic and Faroese are other Germanic languages which follow English in this respect, since, like English, they developed independent of German influences.

Many written French words are also intelligible to an English speaker (though pronunciations are often quite different) because English absorbed a large vocabulary from Norman and French, via Anglo-Norman after the Norman Conquest and directly from French in subsequent centuries. As a result, a large portion of English vocabulary is derived from French, with some minor spelling differences (word endings, use of old French spellings, etc.), as well as occasional divergences in meaning of so-called false friends (for example, "library", vs. French "librarie", meaning bookstore) (in French, "library" is "bibliotheque").

The pronunciation of most French loanwords in English (with exceptions such as mirage or phrases like coup d’état) has become completely anglicised and follows a typically English pattern of stress.^{[citation needed]} Some North Germanic words also entered English because of the Danish invasion shortly before then (see Danelaw); these include words such as "sky", "window", "egg", and even "they" (and its forms) and "are" (the present plural form of "to be").^{[citation needed]}

Geographical distribution

v • d • e The English-speaking world The "Anglosphere" English as an official language – clickable map Dark blue: Countries and territories where English is spoken natively by a significant population. Light blue: Countries where English is an official language but not native. English is also one of the official languages of the European Union. Click on the coloured regions to view the related article.     Regions where English is an official language and spoken by a significant population: Africa Nigeria · Mauritius · Saint Helena · South Africa  Americas Anguilla · Antigua and Barbuda · The Bahamas · Barbados · Belize · Bermuda · British Virgin Islands · Canada · Cayman Islands · Dominica · Falkland Islands · Grenada · Guyana · Jamaica · Montserrat · Netherlands Antilles (Saba, Saint Eustatius, Saint Maarten)  · Saint Kitts and Nevis · Saint Lucia · Saint Vincent and the Grenadines · Trinidad and Tobago · Turks and Caicos Islands · United States · United States Virgin Islands Asia Hong Kong · Philippines · Singapore Europe Guernsey · Isle of Man · Jersey · Malta · Republic of Ireland · United Kingdom Oceania Australia · Marshall Islands · Federated States of Micronesia · Nauru · New Zealand · Palau   Regions where English is an official language but not widely spoken: Africa Botswana · Cameroon · Ghana · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Madagascar · Malawi · Namibia · Rwanda · Sierra Leone · Sudan · Swaziland · Tanzania · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe Americas Puerto Rico Asia India · Malaysia · Pakistan    Oceania Fiji · Papua New Guinea · Solomon Islands English Wiktionary

Pie chart showing the relative numbers of native English speakers in the major English-speaking countries of the world

Approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language.^[29] English today is probably the third largest language by number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.^[30][31] However, when combining native and non-native speakers it is probably the most commonly spoken language in the world, though possibly second to a combination of the Chinese languages (depending on whether or not distinctions in the latter are classified as "languages" or "dialects").^[6][32]

Estimates that include second language speakers vary greatly from 470 million to over a billion depending on how literacy or mastery is defined and measured.^[33][34] Linguistics professor David Crystal calculates that non-native speakers now outnumber native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1.^[35]

The countries with the highest populations of native English speakers are, in descending order: United States (215 million),^[36] United Kingdom (61 million),^[37] Canada (18.2 million),^[38] Australia (15.5 million),^[39] Nigeria (4 million),^[40] Ireland (3.8 million),^[37] South Africa (3.7 million),^[41] and New Zealand (3.6 million) 2006 Census ^[42]. No figure is given for the number of South African native speakers, but it would be somewhere between the number of people who spoke English only (3,008,058) and the total number of English speakers (3,673,623), if one ignores the 197,187 people who did not provide a usable answer^{[citation needed]}.

Countries such as the Philippines, Jamaica and Nigeria also have millions of native speakers of dialect continua ranging from an English-based creole to a more standard version of English. Of those nations where English is spoken as a second language, India has the most such speakers ('Indian English'). Crystal claims that, combining native and non-native speakers, India now has more people who speak or understand English than any other country in the world.^[43][44]

Countries in order of total speakers

Countries where English is a major language

English is the primary language in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia (Australian English), the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize (Belizean Kriol), Bermuda, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the British Virgin Islands, Canada (Canadian English), the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey (Channel Island English), Guyana, Ireland (Hiberno-English), The Isle of Man (Manx English), Jamaica (Jamaican English), Jersey, Montserrat], Nauru, New Zealand (New Zealand English), Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the United States.

In some countries where English is not the most spoken language, it is an official language; these countries include Botswana, Cameroon, Dominica, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines (Philippine English), Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, the Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

It is also one of the 11 official languages that are given equal status in South Africa (South African English). English is also the official language in current dependent territories of Australia (Norfolk Island, Christmas Island and Cocos Island) and of the United States (Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa and Puerto Rico),^[50] the former British colony of Hong Kong, and Netherlands Antilles. (See List of countries where English is an official language for more details.)

English is not an official language in either the United States or the United Kingdom.^[51][52] Although the United States federal government has no official languages, English has been given official status by 30 of the 50 state governments.^[53] Although falling short of official status, English is also an important language in several former colonies and protectorates of the United Kingdom, such as Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Malaysia]], and the United Arab Emirates. English is not a de jure official language of Israel; however, the country has maintained official language use^{[clarification needed]} a de facto role for English since the British mandate.^[54]

English as a global language

Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a "world language", the lingua franca of the modern era.^[15] While English is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a second language around the world. Some linguists (such as David Graddol) believe that it is no longer the exclusive cultural property of "native English speakers", but is rather a language that is absorbing aspects of cultures worldwide as it continues to grow.^[15] It is, by international treaty, the official language for aerial and maritime communications.^[55] English is an official language of the United Nations and many other international organisations, including the International Olympic Committee.

English is the language most often studied as a foreign language in the European Union (by 89% of schoolchildren), followed by French (32%), German (18%), Spanish (8%), and Russian; while the perception of the usefulness of foreign languages amongst Europeans is 68% English, 25% French, 22% German, and 16% Spanish.^[56] Among non-English speaking EU countries, a large percentage of the population claimed to have been able to converse in English in the Netherlands (87%), Sweden (85%), Denmark (83%), Luxembourg (66%), Finland (60%), Slovenia (56%), Austria (53%), Belgium (52%), and Germany (51%).^[57] Norway and Iceland also have a large majority of competent English-speakers.^{[citation needed]}

Books, magazines, and newspapers written in English are available in many countries around the world. English is also the most commonly used language in the sciences.^[15] In 1997, the Science Citation Index reported that 95% of its articles were written in English, even though only half of them came from authors in English-speaking countries.

Dialects and regional varieties

The expansion of the British Empire and—since World War II—the influence of the United States have spread English throughout the globe.^[15] Because of that global spread, English has developed a host of English dialects and English-based creole languages and pidgins.

Two educated native dialects of English have wide acceptance as standards in much of the world—one based on educated southern British and the other based on educated Midwestern American. The former is sometimes called BBC (or the Queen's) English, and it may be noticeable by its preference for "Received Pronunciation"; it typifies the Cambridge model, which is the standard for the teaching of English to speakers of other languages in Europe, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and other areas influenced either by the British Commonwealth or by a desire not to be identified with the United States.

The latter dialect, General American, which is spread over most of the United States and much of Canada, is more typically the model for the American continents and areas (such as the Philippines) which have had either close association with the United States or desire to be so identified. Aside from those two major dialects are numerous other varieties of English, which include, in most cases, several subvarieties, such as Cockney, Scouse and Geordie within British English; Newfoundland English within Canadian English; and African American Vernacular English ("Ebonics") and Southern American English within American English. English is a pluricentric language, without a central language authority like France's Académie française; and therefore no one variety is considered "correct" or "incorrect" except in terms of the expectations of the particular audience to which the language is directed.

Scots has its origins in early Northern Middle English^[58] and developed and changed during its history with influence from other sources, but following the Acts of Union 1707 a process of language attrition began, whereby successive generations adopted more and more features from Standard English, causing dialectalisation. Whether it is now a separate language or a dialect of English better described as Scottish English is in dispute, although the UK government now accepts Scots as a regional language and has recognised it as such under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.^[59] There are a number of regional dialects of Scots, and pronunciation, grammar and lexis of the traditional forms differ, sometimes substantially, from other varieties of English.

English speakers have many different accents, which often signal the speaker's native dialect or language. For the more distinctive characteristics of regional accents, see Regional accents of English, and for the more distinctive characteristics of regional dialects, see List of dialects of the English language. Within England, variation is now largely confined to pronunciation rather than grammar or vocabulary. At the time of the Survey of English Dialects, grammar and vocabulary differed across the country, but a process of lexical attrition has led most of this variation to die out.^[60]

Just as English itself has borrowed words from many different languages over its history, English loanwords now appear in many languages around the world, indicative of the technological and cultural influence of its speakers. Several pidgins and creole languages have been formed on an English base, such as Jamaican Patois, Nigerian Pidgin, and Tok Pisin. There are many words in English coined to describe forms of particular non-English languages that contain a very high proportion of English words.

Constructed varieties of English

• Basic English is simplified for easy international use. Manufacturers and other international businesses tend to write manuals and communicate in Basic English. Some English schools in Asia teach it as a practical subset of English for use by beginners.
• E-Prime excludes forms of the verb to be.
• English reform is an attempt to improve collectively upon the English language.
• Manually Coded English – a variety of systems have been developed to represent the English language with hand signals, designed primarily for use in deaf education. These should not be confused with true sign languages such as British Sign Language and American Sign Language used in Anglophone countries, which are independent and not based on English.
• Seaspeak and the related Airspeak and Policespeak, all based on restricted vocabularies, were designed by Edward Johnson in the 1980s to aid international cooperation and communication in specific areas. There is also a tunnelspeak for use in the Channel Tunnel.
• Special English is a simplified version of English used by the Voice of America. It uses a vocabulary of only 1500 words.

Phonology

Vowels

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. (December 2008)

It is the vowels that differ most from region to region. Length is not distinctive in most varieties of North American English.

Notes

Consonants

This is the English consonantal system using symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Notes

Voicing and aspiration

Voicing and aspiration of stop consonants in English depend on dialect and context, but a few general rules can be given:

• Voiceless plosives and affricates (/p/, /t/, /k/, and /tʃ/) are aspirated when they are word-initial or begin a stressed syllable – compare pin [pʰɪn] and spin [spɪn], crap [kʰɹ̥æp] and scrap [skɹæp].
  • In some dialects, aspiration extends to unstressed syllables as well.
  • In other dialects, such as Indian English, all voiceless stops remain unaspirated.
• Word-initial voiced plosives may be devoiced in some dialects.
• Word-terminal voiceless plosives may be unreleased or accompanied by a glottal stop in some dialects; examples: tap [tʰæp̚], sack [sæk̚].
• Word-terminal voiced plosives may be devoiced in some dialects (e.g. some varieties of American English) – examples: sad [sæd̥], bag [bæɡ̊]. In other dialects, they are fully voiced in final position, but only partially voiced in initial position.

Supra-segmental features

Tone groups

English is an intonation language. This means that the pitch of the voice is used syntactically; for example, to convey surprise or irony, or to change a statement into a question.

In English, intonation patterns are on groups of words, which are called tone groups, tone units, intonation groups, or sense groups. Tone groups are said on a single breath and, as a consequence, are of limited length, more often being on average five words long or lasting roughly two seconds. For example:

/duː juː ˈniːd ˈɛnɪθɪŋ/ Do you need anything?

/aɪ ˈdoʊnt | ˈnoʊ/ I don't, no

/aɪ doʊnt ˈnoʊ/ I don't know (contracted to, for example, [ˈaɪ doʊnoʊ] or [ˈaɪdənoʊ] I dunno in fast or colloquial speech that de-emphasises the pause between 'don't' and 'know' even further)

Characteristics of intonation

English is a strongly stressed language, in that certain syllables, both within words and within phrases, get a relative prominence/loudness during pronunciation while the others do not. The former kind of syllables are said to be accentuated/stressed and the latter are unaccentuated/unstressed.

Hence in a sentence, each tone group can be subdivided into syllables, which can either be stressed (strong) or unstressed (weak). The stressed syllable is called the nuclear syllable. For example:

That | was | the | best | thing | you | could | have | done!

Here, all syllables are unstressed, except the syllables/words best and done, which are stressed. Best is stressed harder and, therefore, is the nuclear syllable.

The nuclear syllable carries the main point the speaker wishes to make. For example:

John had not stolen that money. (... Someone else had.)

John had not stolen that money. (... Someone said he had. or... Not at that time, but later he did.)

John had not stolen that money. (... He acquired the money by some other means.)

John had not stolen that money. (... He had stolen some other money.)

John had not stolen that money. (... He had stolen something else.)

Also

I did not tell her that. (... Someone else told her)

I did not tell her that. (... You said I did. or... but now I will)

I did not tell her that. (... I did not say it; she could have inferred it, etc)

I did not tell her that. (... I told someone else)

I did not tell her that. (... I told her something else)

This can also be used to express emotion:

Oh, really? (...I did not know that)

Oh, really? (...I disbelieve you. or... That is blatantly obvious)

The nuclear syllable is spoken more loudly than the others and has a characteristic change of pitch. The changes of pitch most commonly encountered in English are the rising pitch and the falling pitch, although the fall-rising pitch and/or the rise-falling pitch are sometimes used. In this opposition between falling and rising pitch, which plays a larger role in English than in most other languages, falling pitch conveys certainty and rising pitch uncertainty. This can have a crucial impact on meaning, specifically in relation to polarity, the positive–negative opposition; thus, falling pitch means, "polarity known", while rising pitch means "polarity unknown". This underlies the rising pitch of yes/no questions. For example:

When do you want to be paid?

Now? (Rising pitch. In this case, it denotes a question: "Can I be paid now?" or "Do you desire to pay now?")

Now. (Falling pitch. In this case, it denotes a statement: "I choose to be paid now.")

Grammar

English grammar has minimal inflection compared with most other Indo-European languages. For example, Modern English, unlike Modern German or Dutch and the Romance languages, lacks grammatical gender and adjectival agreement. Case marking has almost disappeared from the language and mainly survives in pronouns. The patterning of strong (e.g. speak/spoke/spoken) versus weak verbs inherited from its Germanic origins has declined in importance in modern English, and the remnants of inflection (such as plural marking) have become more regular.

At the same time, the language has become more analytic, and has developed features such as modal verbs and word order as resources for conveying meaning. Auxiliary verbs mark constructions such as questions, negative polarity, the passive voice and progressive aspect.

Vocabulary

The English vocabulary has changed considerably over the centuries.^[62]

Look up Appendix:List of Proto-Indo-European roots in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Like many languages deriving from Proto-Indo-European (PIE), many of the most common words in English can trace back their origin (through the Germanic branch) to PIE. Such words include the basic pronouns I, from Old English ic, (cf. German Ich, Gothic ik, Latin ego, Greek ego, Sanskrit aham), me (cf. German mich, mir, Gothic mik, mīs, Latin me, Greek eme, Sanskrit mam), numbers (e.g. one, two, three, cf. Dutch een, twee, drie, Gothic ains, twai, threis (þreis), Latin unus, duo, tres, Greek oinos "ace (on dice)", duo, treis), common family relationships such as mother, father, brother, sister etc (cf. Dutch moeder, Greek meter, Latin mater, Sanskrit matṛ; mother), names of many animals (cf. German Maus, Dutch muis, Sankrit mus, Greek mys, Latin mus; mouse), and many common verbs (cf. Old High German knājan, Old Norse knā, Greek gignōmi, Latin gnoscere, Hittite kanes; to know).

Germanic words (generally words of Old English or to a lesser extent Old Norse origin) tend to be shorter than Latinate words in Modern English, and are more common in ordinary speech, and include nearly all the basic pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, modal verbs etc. that form the basis of English syntax and grammar. The shortness of the words is generally due to syncopation in Middle English (eg. OldEng hēafod > ModEng head, OldEng sāwol > ModEng soul) and to the loss of final syllables due to stress (eg. OldEng gamen > ModEng game, OldEng ǣrende > ModEng errand), not because Germanic words are inherently shorter than Latinate words. (The lengthier, higher-register words of Old English were largely forgotten following the subjugation of English after the Norman Conquest, and most of the Old English lexis devoted to literature, the arts, and sciences ceased to be productive when it fell into disuse.) Longer Latinate words in Modern English are often regarded as more elegant or educated. However, the excessive use of Latinate words is considered at times to be either pretentious or an attempt to obfuscate an issue. George Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language", considered an important scrutinisation of the English language, is critical of this, as well as other perceived misuse of the language.

An English speaker is in many cases able to choose between Germanic and Latinate synonyms: come or arrive; sight or vision; freedom or liberty. In some cases, there is a choice between a Germanic derived word (oversee), a Latin derived word (supervise), and a French word derived from the same Latin word (survey); or even words derived from Norman French (e.g., warranty) and Parisian French (guarantee), and even choices involving multiple Germanic and Latinate sources are possible: sick (Old English), ill (Old Norse), infirm (French), afflicted (Latin). Such synonyms harbor a variety of different meanings and nuances, enabling the speaker to express fine variations or shades of thought. Familiarity with the etymology of groups of synonyms can give English speakers greater control over their linguistic register. See: List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents in English, Doublet (linguistics).

An exception to this and a peculiarity perhaps unique to a handful of languages, English included, is that the nouns for meats are commonly different from, and unrelated to, those for the animals from which they are produced, the animal commonly having a Germanic name and the meat having a French-derived one. Examples include: deer and venison; cow and beef; swine/pig and pork; and sheep and mutton. This is assumed to be a result of the aftermath of the Norman invasion, where an Anglo-Norman-speaking elite were the consumers of the meat, produced by lower classes, which happened to be largely Anglo-Saxon.^{[citation needed]}

There are Latinate words that are used in everyday speech. These words no longer appear Latinate and oftentimes have no Germanic equivalents. For instance, the words mountain, valley, river, aunt, uncle, move, use, push and stay ("to remain") are Latinate. Likewise, the inverse can occur: acknowledge, meaningful, understanding, mindful, behaviour, forbearance, behoove, forestall, allay, rhyme, starvation, embodiment come from Anglo-Saxon, and allegiance, abandonment, debutant, feudalism, seizure, guarantee, disregard, wardrobe, disenfranchise, disarray, bandolier, bourgeoisie, debauchery, performance, furniture, gallantry are of Germanic origin, usually through the Germanic element in French, so it is oftentimes impossible to know the origin of a word based on its register.

English easily accepts technical terms into common usage and often imports new words and phrases. Examples of this phenomenon include contemporary words such as cookie, Internet and URL (technical terms), as well as genre, über, lingua franca and amigo (imported words/phrases from French, German, Italian, and Spanish, respectively). In addition, slang often provides new meanings for old words and phrases. In fact, this fluidity is so pronounced that a distinction often needs to be made between formal forms of English and contemporary usage.

See also: sociolinguistics.

Number of words in English

The General Explanations at the beginning of the Oxford English Dictionary states:

The Vocabulary of a widely diffused and highly cultivated living language is not a fixed quantity circumscribed by definite limits... there is absolutely no defining line in any direction: the circle of the English language has a well-defined centre but no discernible circumference.

The vocabulary of English is undoubtedly vast, but assigning a specific number to its size is more a matter of definition than of calculation. Unlike other languages such as French (the Académie française), German (Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung), Spanish (Real Academia Española) and Italian (Accademia della Crusca), there is no academy to define officially accepted words and spellings. Neologisms are coined regularly in medicine, science, technology and other fields, and new slang is constantly developed. Some of these new words enter wide usage; others remain restricted to small circles. Foreign words used in immigrant communities often make their way into wider English usage. Archaic, dialectal, and regional words might or might not be widely considered as "English".

The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (OED2) includes over 600,000 definitions, following a rather inclusive policy:

It embraces not only the standard language of literature and conversation, whether current at the moment, or obsolete, or archaic, but also the main technical vocabulary, and a large measure of dialectal usage and slang (Supplement to the OED, 1933).^[63]

The editors of Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged (475,000 main headwords) in their preface, estimate the number to be much higher. It is estimated that about 25,000 words are added to the language each year.^[64]

The Global Language Monitor announced that the English language had crossed the 1,000,000-word threshold on June 10, 2009.^[65] The announcement was met with strong skepticism by linguists and lexicographers,^[66] though a number of non-specialist reports^[67][68] accepted the figure uncritically.

Word origins

One of the consequences of the French influence is that the vocabulary of English is, to a certain extent, divided between those words which are Germanic (mostly West Germanic, with a smaller influence from the North Germanic branch) and those which are "Latinate" (Latin-derived, either directly or from Norman French or other Romance languages).

The majority (83%) of the 1,000 most common English words, and all of the 100 most common, are Germanic.^[69] Conversely, a vast majority of more advanced words from subjects such as the sciences, philosophy, math, etc. come from Latin or Greek. A noticeable number of words from astronomy, mathematics, and chemistry are from Arabic.

Numerous sets of statistics have been proposed to demonstrate the proportionate origins of English vocabulary. None, as of yet, is considered definitive by most linguists.

A computerised survey of about 80,000 words in the old Shorter Oxford Dictionary (3rd ed.) was published in Ordered Profusion by Thomas Finkenstaedt and Dieter Wolff (1973)^[70] that estimated the origin of English words as follows:

Influences in English vocabulary

• Langue d'oïl, including French and Old Norman: 28.3%
• Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%
• Other Germanic languages (including words directly inherited from Old English; does not include Germanic words coming from the Germanic element in French, Latin or other Romance languages): 25%
• Greek: 5.32%
• No etymology given: 4.03%
• Derived from proper names: 3.28%
• All other languages: less than 1%

A survey by Joseph M. Williams in Origins of the English Language of 10,000 words taken from several thousand business letters gave this set of statistics:^[71]

• French (langue d'oïl): 41%
• "Native" English: 33%
• Latin: 15%
• Old Norse: 2%
• Dutch: 1%
• Other: 10%

Dutch and Low German origins

Many words describing the navy, types of ships, and other objects or activities on the water are of Dutch origin. Yacht (jacht), skipper (schipper) and cruiser (kruiser) are examples. Other words pertain to art and daily life: easel (ezel), etch (etsen), slim (slim), staple (Middle Dutch stapel "market"), slip (Middle Dutch slippen). Dutch has also contributed to English slang, e.g. spook, and the now obsolete snyder (tailor) and stiver (small coin).

Words from Low German include trade (Middle Low German trade), smuggle (smuggeln), and dollar (daler/thaler).

French origins

A large portion of English vocabulary is of French or Langues d'oïl origin, and was transmitted to English via the Anglo-Norman language spoken by the upper classes in England in the centuries following the Norman Conquest. Words of French origin include competition, mountain, art, table, publicity, police, role, routine, machine, force, and thousands of others, most of which have been anglicised to fit English rules of phonology, pronunciation and spelling, rather than those of French (with a few exceptions, for example, façade and affaire de cœur.)

Writing system

Since around the ninth century, English has been written in the Latin alphabet, which replaced Anglo-Saxon runes. The spelling system, or orthography, is multilayered, with elements of French, Latin and Greek spelling on top of the native Germanic system; it has grown to vary significantly from the phonology of the language. The spelling of words often diverges considerably from how they are spoken.

Though letters and sounds may not correspond in isolation, spelling rules that take into account syllable structure, phonetics, and accents are 75% or more reliable.^[72] Some phonics spelling advocates claim that English is more than 80% phonetic.^[73] However, English has fewer consistent relationships between sounds and letters than many other languages; for example, the sound sequence ough can be pronounced in 10 different ways. The consequence of this complex orthographic history is that reading can be challenging.^[74] It takes longer for students to become completely fluent readers of English than of many other languages, including French, Greek, and Spanish.^[75]

Basic sound-letter correspondence

Written accents

Unlike most other Germanic languages, English has almost no diacritics except in foreign loanwords (like the acute accent in café), and in the uncommon use of a diaeresis mark (often in formal writing) to indicate that two vowels are pronounced separately, rather than as one sound (e.g. naïve, Zoë). Words such as décor, café, résumé/resumé, entrée, fiancée and naïve are frequently spelt both with or without diacritics.

Some English words retain diacritics to distinguish them from others, such as animé, exposé, lamé, öre, øre, pâté, piqué, and rosé, though these are sometimes also dropped (for example, résumé/resumé is often spelt resume in the United States). To clarify pronunciation, a small number of loanwords may employ a diacritic that does not appear in the original word, such as maté, from Spanish yerba mate, or Malé, the capital of the Maldives, following the French usage.

Formal written English

A version of the language almost universally agreed upon by educated English speakers around the world is called formal written English. It takes virtually the same form regardless of where it is written, in contrast to spoken English, which differs significantly between dialects, accents, and varieties of slang and of colloquial and regional expressions. Local variations in the formal written version of the language are quite limited, being restricted largely to the spelling differences between British and American English, along with a few minor differences in grammar and lexis.

Basic and simplified versions

To make English easier to read, there are some simplified versions of the language. One basic version is named Basic English, a constructed language with a small number of words created by Charles Kay Ogden and described in his book Basic English: A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar (1930). The language is based on a simplified version of English. Ogden said that it would take seven years to learn English, seven months for Esperanto, and seven weeks for Basic English. Thus, Basic English may be employed by companies which need to make complex books for international use, as well as by language schools that need to give people some knowledge of English in a short time.

Ogden did not put any words into Basic English that could be said with a few other words and he worked to make the words work for speakers of any other language. He put his set of words through a large number of tests and adjustments. He also made the grammar simpler, but tried to keep the grammar normal for English users.

The concept gained its greatest publicity just after the Second World War as a tool for world peace.^{[citation needed]} Although it was not built into a program, similar simplifications were devised for various international uses.

Another version, Simplified English, exists, which is a controlled language originally developed for aerospace industry maintenance manuals. It offers a carefully limited and standardised^{[by whom?]} subset of English. Simplified English has a lexicon of approved words and those words can only be used in certain ways. For example, the word close can be used in the phrase "Close the door" but not "do not go close to the landing gear".

See also

Wikipedia:Books has a book on: English language

• Changes to Old English vocabulary
• English for Academic Purposes
• English language learning and teaching
• Language Report
• Lists of English words
• Teaching English as a foreign language
• The Story of English
• The Adventure of English (film)

References

Bibliography

• Ammon, Ulrich (2006). Sociolinguistics: an international handbook of the science of language and society. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3110184184. http://books.google.com/books?id=LMZm0w0k1c4C&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 
• Baugh, Albert C.; Thomas Cable (2002). A history of the English language (5th ed.). Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28099-0. 
• Bragg, Melvyn (2004). The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language. Arcade Publishing. ISBN 1-55970-710-0. 
• Crystal, David (1997). English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-53032-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=d6jPAKxTHRYC&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 
• Crystal, David (2003). The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-53033-4. 
• Crystal, David (2004). The Stories of English. Allen Lane. ISBN 0-7139-9752-4. 
• Halliday, MAK (1994). An introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed.). London: Edward Arnold. ISBN 0-340-55782-6. 
• Hayford, Harrison; Howard P. Vincent (1954). Reader and Writer. Houghton Mifflin Company.  [4]
• Howatt, Anthony (2004). A history of English language teaching. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0194421856. http://books.google.com/books?id=g2e7iw_F-ZcC&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 
• Kenyon, John Samuel and Knott, Thomas Albert, A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English, G & C Merriam Company, Springfield, Mass, USA,1953.
• Mazrui, Alamin (1998). The power of Babel: language & governance in the African experience. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0852558074. http://books.google.com/books?id=6lQTPxdYx8kC&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 
• McArthur, T. (ed.) (1992). The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-214183-X. 
• McCrum; Robert MacNeil, William Cran (1986). The Story of English (1st ed.). New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-80467-3. 
• Plotkin, Vulf (2006). The Language System of English. BrownWalker Press. ISBN 1-58112-993-9. 
• Robinson, Orrin (1992). Old English and Its Closest Relatives. Stanford Univ. Press. ISBN 0-8047-2221-8. 
• Schneider, Edgar (2007). Postcolonial English: varieties around the world. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521831407. http://books.google.com/books?id=QIE6zGSd8okC&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 
• Wardhaugh, Ronald (2006). An introduction to sociolinguistics. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 140513559X. http://books.google.com/books?id=0J2VOzNYtKQC&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 

Notes

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2009)

External links

Wikiversity has learning materials about Topic:English Language

English language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: English language

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: English language

English language edition of Wiktionary, the free dictionary/thesaurus

• Accents of English from Around the World (University of Edinburgh) Hear and compare how the same 110 words are pronounced in 50 English accents from around the world – instantaneous playback online
• Mathematical Words: Origins and Sources (John Aldrich, University of Southampton) Contains an account of the origins of the English mathematical lexicon.

Dictionaries

• Collection of English bilingual dictionaries
• dict.org
• Dictionary of American Regional English
• English language word roots, prefixes and suffixes (affixes) dictionary
• Oxford's online dictionary
• Merriam-Webster's online dictionary
• Macquarie Dictionary Online

Articles Related to the English language   Linguistics v • d • e Modern Germanic languages North Germanic West Scandinavian Faroese • Icelandic • Norwegian (Nynorsk) East Scandinavian Danish • Norwegian (Bokmål) • Swedish West Germanic Anglo-Frisian English • North Frisian • Saterland Frisian • Scots • West Frisian Low Franconian Afrikaans • Brabantian  • Dutch • Flemish • Limburgish • Zeelandic Low German/ Dutch Low Saxon Achterhooks • Drèents • East Frisian Low Saxon • Gronings • Low German • Plautdietsch • Sallaans • Stellingwarfs • Tweants • Veluws • Westphalian High German Central German German • Kölsch • Luxembourgish • Main-Franconian • Palatinate German • Pennsylvania German • Riograndenser Hunsrückisch • Silesian German • Upper Saxon • Vilamovian Upper German Alemán Coloniero • Austro-Bavarian • Cimbrian • Hutterite German • Mócheno • Swabian • Swiss German • Walser Yiddish Yiddish v • d • e History of the English language Old English · Anglo-Norman language – Middle English · Early Modern English · Modern English   Phonological history Vowels Great Vowel Shift · short A · low back vowels · high back vowels · high front vowels · diphthongs · changes before historic l · changes before historic r Consonants rhoticity · flapping · l-vocalization · consonant clusters · wh · fricatives and affricates · th · th-alveolarization · th-fronting · þ (thorn) · th-debuccalization · th-stopping · then-thyn split v • d • e Dialects and accents of English by continent Africa Cameroon · Liberian · Malawian · Namibian · Nigerian · South African · Ugandan Asia Burmese · Chinese · Hong Kong · Indian (regional/occupational dialects) · Malaysian (Manglish) · Pakistani · Philippine · Singaporean · Sri Lankan Europe Great Britain Black British · Black Country · Brummie · Channel Island · Cockney · Cumbrian · East Anglian · East Midlands · Estuary · Geordie · Gibraltarian (Llanito) · Kentish · Lancashire · Mackem · Mancunian · Multicultural London · Norfolk · Northern · Pitmatic · Potteries · Received Pronunciation · Scottish (Cromarty · Glaswegian · Highland) · Scouse · Southern · West Midlands · Welsh · West Country · Yorkshire Other Czech · French · Guernsey · Dutch (Dunglish) · Irish (Cork · Dublin · Mid Ulster) · Jersey · Manx · Maltese · Swedish North America United States African American Vernacular · Appalachian · Baltimorese · Boston · Buffalonian · Cajun · California · Chicano · General American · Hudson Valley · Inland Northern American · Midland · New England · New Jersey · New York City · North Central American · Northeast Pennsylvania · Pacific Northwest · Pennsylvania Dutch English · Philadelphia · Pittsburgh · Southern American · Tidewater · Western · Yat · Yooper Canada Cape Breton · Lunenburg · Maritimer · Newfoundland · Ottawa Valley Twang · Quebec · West/Central Canadian Other Belizean · Bermudian · Caribbean (Bahamian · Jamaican · Trinidadian) South America Falkland Islands · Guyanese Oceania Australia Australian Aboriginal · South Australian · Torres Strait · Western Australian Other New Zealand · Norfuk · Pitkern Related Anglish · Basic · International · Engrish · English as a lingua franca · Globish · Pidgin · Mid-Atlantic · Plain · Simplified · Special · Standard · American and British English differences · Non-native pronunciations of English · E-Prime   Geopolitical use v • d • e Languages of the African Union Working Arabic · English · French · Portuguese · Spanish · Swahili Transnational Hausa · Somali · Yoruba · Igbo · Oromo · Kinyarwanda/Kirundi · Swati · Tswana · Sotho · Wolof · Kongo/Kituba · Kanuri · Fula · Chichewa · Lingala · Malagasy · Afrikaans · Shona · Tigrinya · Mòoré · Zulu National Amharic · Sango v • d • e Official languages of the United Nations Arabic · Chinese · English · French · Russian · Spanish v • d • e Official languages of the European Union Bulgarian · Czech · Danish · Dutch · English · Estonian · Finnish · French · German · Greek · Hungarian · Irish · Italian · Latvian · Lithuanian · Maltese · Polish · Portuguese · Romanian · Slovak · Slovene · Spanish · Swedish v • d • e Official languages of South America by language Aymara Dutch English French Guaraní  Bolivia  Peru  Aruba  Netherlands Antilles  Suriname  Falkland Islands  Guyana  French Guiana  Paraguay Papiamento Portuguese Quechua Spanish  Aruba  Netherlands Antilles  Brazil  Bolivia  Colombia  Ecuador  Peru  Argentina  Bolivia  Chile  Colombia  Ecuador  Paraguay  Peru  Uruguay  Venezuela In Peru, any native Peruvian language is official in areas where it is used by a majority of the population. In Bolivia, all 30 native languages of Bolivia are official languages of the state. v • d • e The English-speaking world The "Anglosphere" English as an official language – clickable map Dark blue: Countries and territories where English is spoken natively by a significant population. Light blue: Countries where English is an official language but not native. English is also one of the official languages of the European Union. Click on the coloured regions to view the related article.     Regions where English is an official language and spoken by a significant population: Africa Nigeria · Mauritius · Saint Helena · South Africa  Americas Anguilla · Antigua and Barbuda · The Bahamas · Barbados · Belize · Bermuda · British Virgin Islands · Canada · Cayman Islands · Dominica · Falkland Islands · Grenada · Guyana · Jamaica · Montserrat · Netherlands Antilles (Saba, Saint Eustatius, Saint Maarten)  · Saint Kitts and Nevis · Saint Lucia · Saint Vincent and the Grenadines · Trinidad and Tobago · Turks and Caicos Islands · United States · United States Virgin Islands Asia Hong Kong · Philippines · Singapore Europe Guernsey · Isle of Man · Jersey · Malta · Republic of Ireland · United Kingdom Oceania Australia · Marshall Islands · Federated States of Micronesia · Nauru · New Zealand · Palau   Regions where English is an official language but not widely spoken: Africa Botswana · Cameroon · Ghana · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Madagascar · Malawi · Namibia · Rwanda · Sierra Leone · Sudan · Swaziland · Tanzania · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe Americas Puerto Rico Asia India · Malaysia · Pakistan    Oceania Fiji · Papua New Guinea · Solomon Islands English Wiktionary

Additional info - part 2

Auxiliary verb

In linguistics, an auxiliary (also called helping verb, helper verb, auxiliary verb, or verbal auxiliary) is a verb functioning to give further semantic or syntactic information about the main or full verb following it. In English, the extra meaning an auxiliary verb imparts alters the basic form of the main verb to have one or more of the following functions: passive, progressive, perfect, modal, or dummy.

Aymara language

Aymara (Aymar aru) is an Aymaran language spoken by the Aymara people of the Andes. It is one of only a handful of Native American languages with over a million speakers.^[1][2] Aymara, along with Quechua and Spanish, is an official language of Peru and Bolivia. It is also spoken to a much lesser extent in Chile and in Northwest Argentina.

Bahamian English

Bahamian English is a dialect of English spoken in the Bahamas and by Bahamian diasporas. It should not be confused with Bahamian Creole (which is however also an English based dialect).

Baltimorese

Baltimorese (sometimes pseudophonetically written Bawlmerese or Ballimerese) is a dialect of American English in the Mid-Atlantic United States that originated among the white blue-collar residents of South and Southeast Baltimore. During World War II, migrant workers from the Carolinas working in defense plants brought the southern dialect which further contributed to Baltimorese. The most notorious characteristics of Baltimore English are the fronted "oh" sound (occasionally written out as "eh-ew") and the usage of the endearment "hon". The films of John Waters, many of which have been filmed in and around Baltimore, often attempt to portray this Baltimore accent, particularly the early films. John Travolta's character in the 2007 version of John Waters' Hairspray spoke with an exaggerated Baltimore accent.

Barbados

Barbados (pronounced /bɑrˈbeɪdoʊz, bɑrˈbeɪdɒs/), situated just east of the Caribbean Sea, is an independent West Indian continental island-nation in the western Atlantic Ocean. For over three centuries Barbados was a colony and protectorate of the United Kingdom, and still currently maintains Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. Located at roughly 13° North of the equator and 59° West of the prime meridian, it is considered a part of the Lesser Antilles. Its closest island neighbours are Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent & the Grenadines to the west. To the south lies Trinidad and Tobago—with which Barbados now shares a fixed official maritime boundary—and also the South American mainland. Barbados's total land area is about 430 square kilometres (166 square miles), and is primarily low-lying, with some higher in the country's interior. The highest point in Barbados is Mount Hillaby in the parish of Saint Andrew.

Basic English

Basic English, also known as Simple English, is an English-based controlled language created by Charles Kay Ogden (in essence a simplified subset of English) as an international auxiliary language, and as an aid for teaching English as a Second Language. It was presented in Ogden's book Basic English: A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar (1930). Capitalised, BASIC is sometimes taken as an acronym that stands for British American Scientific International Commercial.^[1]

Bede

Bede (pronounced /biːd/); also Saint Bede, the Venerable Bede, in Old English Baeda or Bēda, in Latin Beda; 672/673–May 26, 735), was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow (see Wearmouth-Jarrow), both in the Kingdom of Northumbria.

Belize

Belize (formerly British Honduras), is a country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, composed of many cultures and speaking many languages. Although Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official language. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the south and west, and the Caribbean sea to the east. With 8,867 square miles (22,960 km²) of territory and 320,000 people (2008 est.),^[4] the population density is the lowest in the Central American region and one of the lowest in the world. However, the country's population growth rate, 2.21% (2008 est.),^[4] is the highest in the region and one of the highest in the western hemisphere. Belize's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contribute to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot.

Belizean Kriol language

Belizean Creole English, known as Kriol by its speakers, is an English Creole most closely related to Miskito Coastal Creole, Limón Coastal Creole, Colón Creole, San Andrés and Providencia Creole, Guyanese Creole and English creoles of the Caribbean show similarity as well. Kriol has about 400,000 speakers, in Belize (where it is the lingua franca and is spoken by 70% of the population) and in the Belizean diaspora, mostly in the United States.^[2]

Bermuda

Bermuda (pronounced /bɜrˈmjuːdə/; officially, the Bermuda Islands or the Somers Isles) is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, it is situated around 1,770 kilometres (1,100 mi) northeast of Miami, Florida, and 1,350 kilometres (840 mi) south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about 1,030 kilometres (640 mi) west-northwest. Its capital city is Hamilton.

Bermudian English

Bermudian English is a regional accent of English found in Bermuda, a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic. "Standard English is used in professional settings and in writing, while vernacular Bermudian English is spoken on more casual occasions".^[1] The Bermudian accent began to develop following settlement in the early 17th century, and retains traits of Elizabethan English.^[2]

Bilabial consonant

In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are:

Bilabial nasal

The bilabial nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is m, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is m. The bilabial nasal occurs in English, and it is the sound represented by "m" in map and rum.

Boston accent

Boston English is a dialect of American English spoken in the city of Boston, Massachusetts and much of eastern Massachusetts. The Boston accent and closely related accents can be heard commonly in an area stretching into much of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. These regions are frequently grouped together with Rhode Island by sociolinguists under the cover term Eastern New England accent. The best-known features of the Boston accent are non-rhoticity and broad A. It is most prominent in blue collar—and often traditionally Irish or Italian—Boston neighborhoods, such as Charlestown, South Boston, West Roxbury, Hyde Park, Dorchester, East Boston and Brighton, as well as in nearby cities such as Somerville, Revere, Saugus, Woburn, and Medford. The accent is also quite prevalent in the South Shore suburbs, the North Shore (The north region of Boston) , as well as working-class cities throughout the Greater Boston area, such as Quincy, Lowell, Dracut, Lynn, Brockton, Worcester, Haverhill, Beverly, Salem, Gloucester, and Peabody.

Botswana

The Republic of Botswana (Tswana: Lefatshe la Botswana) is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Citizens of Botswana are called "Batswana" (singular: Motswana), regardless of ethnicity. Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It meets Zambia at a single point.

Brazil

Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil^[7] (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil) listen (help·info), is the largest country and the only Portuguese-speaking country in South America.^[8]

British Black English

British Black English (BBE) is a variety of the English language spoken by a large number of the Black British population of Afro-Caribbean ancestry.^[1] The British Black dialect is heavily influenced by Jamaican English owing to the large number of British immigrants from Jamaica, but it is also spoken by those of different ancestry.

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1922, the British Empire held sway over a population of about 458 million people, one-quarter of the world's population,^[1] and covered more than 13,000,000 square miles (33,670,000 km²): approximately a quarter of the Earth's total land area.^[2] As a result, its political, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was often said that "the sun never sets on the British Empire" because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories.

British Indian Ocean Territory

The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) or Chagos Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Africa and Indonesia. The territory comprises the six atolls of the Chagos Archipelago with over 1,000 individual islands.

British Isles

The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include Great Britain, Ireland and over six-thousand smaller islands.^[7] There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Ireland.^[8] The British Isles also include the Crown Dependencies of the Isle of Man and, by tradition, the Channel Islands, although the latter are not physically a part of the island group.^[9][10]

British Sign Language

British Sign Language (BSL) is the sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK), and is the first or preferred language of deaf people in the UK; the number of signers has been put at 30,000 to 70,000. The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands, body, face and head. Many thousands of people who are not Deaf also use BSL, as hearing relatives of Deaf people, sign language interpreters or as a result of other contact with the British Deaf community.

British Virgin Islands

The British Virgin Islands (BVI), also called The Virgin Islands is a British overseas territory, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the remaining islands constituting the U.S. Virgin Islands. Technically the official name of the Territory is simply the "Virgin Islands", but in practice since 1917 they have been almost universally referred to as the "British Virgin Islands" to distinguish the islands from the American Territory.^[1] To add to the regional confusion, the Puerto Rican islands of Culebra, Vieques and surrounding islands began referring to themselves as the "Spanish Virgin Islands" as part of a tourism drive in the early 2000s.

British overseas territories

The British overseas territories are fourteen territories that the United Kingdom considers to be its sovereign territory, but which do not form part of the United Kingdom itself.^[1]

Brummie

Brummie (sometimes Brummy) is a colloquial term for the inhabitants, accent and dialect of Birmingham, England, as well as being a general adjective used to denote a connection with the city, locally called Brum. The terms are all derived from Brummagem or Bromwichham, historical variants or alternatives to 'Birmingham'.

Brythonic languages

The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages or British languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic.^[1] The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael. The name Brittonic derives ultimately from the name Prettanic recorded by Greek authors for the British Isles. Some authors reserve the term Brittonic for the modified later Brythonic languages after about AD 600.

Burmese English

Burmese English is an English language dialect used in Burma (also known as Myanmar). After Britain successfully conquered the Burmese Empire and designated it a colony of British India, education in English became highly regarded, although it did not fully replace Burmese as the vernacular. Burmese English resembles Indian English to a degree, because of historical ties to India during British colonisation.

Cajun English

Cajun English is the dialect of English spoken by Cajuns living in southern Louisiana and, to some extent, in eastern Texas. Cajun English is significantly influenced by Cajun French, the historical language of the Cajun people, a direct descendant of Acadian French, which differs somewhat from Metropolian or Parisian French in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary, particularly because of the long isolation of Acadians, and even more so Cajuns, from the Francophone world. English is now spoken by the vast majority of the Cajun population, but French influence remains strong in terms of inflection and vocabulary, and the accent is quite distinct from the General American^[1].

California English

California English (or Californian, Californian English) is a dialect of the English language spoken in the U.S. state of California. The most populous state of the United States, California is home to a highly diverse populace, which is reflected in the historical and continuing development of California English.

Cambridge English Language Teaching Accreditation

The Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults, or CELTA (pronounced /ˈsɛl.tə/), is a professional credential held by many teachers of English as a foreign language.

Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted a Royal Letters Patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest continually operating book publisher. Cambridge is both an academic and educational publishing house, with a regional structure operating in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); the Americas; and Asia-Pacific.

Cameroon

The Republic of Cameroon (French: République du Cameroun) is a unitary republic of central and western Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The country is called "Africa in miniature" for its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas. The highest point is Mount Cameroon in the southwest, and the largest cities are Douala, Yaoundé, and Garoua. Cameroon is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. The country is well known for its native styles of music, particularly makossa and bikutsi, and for its successful national football team. English and French are the official languages.

Canada

Canada (pronounced /ˈkænədə/) is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area^[7] and its common border with the United States to the south and northwest is the world's longest.

Canadian English

Canadian English (CanE, en-CA^[1]) is the variety of English used in Canada. More than 26 million Canadians (85% of the population) have some knowledge of English (2006 census).^[2] Approximately 17 million speak English as their native language. Outside Quebec, 76% of Canadians speak English natively. Canadian English contains elements of British English in its vocabulary, as well as several distinctive Canadianisms. In many areas, speech is influenced by French, and there are notable local variations. However, Canada has very little dialect diversity compared to the United States.^[3] The phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon for most of Canada are similar to that of the Western and Midland regions of the United States,^[3] while the phonological system of western Canadian English is identical to that of the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and the phonetics are similar.^[4] As such, Canadian English and American English are sometimes grouped together as North American English. Canadian English spelling is largely a blend of British and American conventions.

Cape Breton accent

The Cape Breton accent describes variants of Canadian English spoken on Cape Breton Island, a large island on the north-eastern coast of the province of Nova Scotia in Canada, comprising about one-fifth of the province's area as well as population. Most of the inhabitants of European ancestry descend from people long resident on the island, and the community has had time to develop a local dialect. Many on the Island are descended from Highland Scottish settlers fleeing the Highland Clearances. But there has long been a French-Acadian element on the island, as well as Irish.^[1]

Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands (pronounced /ˈkeɪmæn/ or /ˈkeɪmən/) is a British overseas territory located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica. The territory is a major offshore financial centre in the Caribbean.

Central German

Central German (in German: Mitteldeutsch, or rarely Zentraldeutsch) is a group of High German dialects spread from the Rhineland to Thuringia, south of Low German and Low Franconian and north of Upper German. In older books, Central German is sometimes called Middle German.

Changes to Old English vocabulary

Many words that existed in Old English did not survive into Modern English. There are also many words in Modern English that bear little or no resemblance in meaning to their Old English etymons. Some linguists estimate that as much as 80 percent of the lexicon of Old English was lost by the end of the Middle English period.^{[citation needed]} Certain categories of words seem to have been especially vulnerable. Nearly all words relating to sexual intercourse and sexual organs were supplanted by words of Latin or Ancient Greek origin. Many, if not most, of the words in Modern English that are used in polite conversation to describe body parts and bodily functions are of Latin or Greek origin. The words which were used in Old English for these same purposes are now mostly either extinct or considered crude or vulgar, such as arse/ass.

Channel Tunnel

The Channel Tunnel (French: Le tunnel sous la Manche), known colloquially as the Chunnel, is a 50.5-kilometre (31.4 mi) undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent near Dover in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point it is 75 metres (250 ft) deep.^[1][2][3] At 37.9 kilometres (23.5 mi), the Channel Tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world although the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is both longer overall, at 53.85 kilometres (33.46 mi) and deeper, at 240 metres (790 ft) below sea level.

Charles Kay Ogden

Charles Kay Ogden (1889–1957) was an English linguist, philosopher, and writer. Described as a polymath but also an eccentric and outsider,^[1][2][3] he took part in many ventures related to literature, politics, the arts and philosophy, having a broad impact particularly as an editor, translator, and activist on behalf of a reformed version of the English language. He is typically defined as a linguistic psychologist, and is now mostly remembered as the inventor and propagator of Basic English.

Chicano English

Chicano English is a dialect of American English used by Chicanos. One major variation of Chicano English is Tejano English, used mainly in south Texas. It is mistakenly referred to as Spanglish, which is not a recognized dialect of English but rather a mixing of the Spanish and English languages.

Chichewa language

Chinyanja also known as Chichewa is a language of the Bantu language family widely spoken in south-central Africa. The prefix chi- means "the language of" so that "Chichewa" means "language of the Chewa tribe", and hence the language is also known simply as Chewa.

Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile (Spanish: República de Chile Spanish pronunciation: [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈʧile]), is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. It is one of two countries in South America (with Ecuador) which do not border Brazil. The Pacific coastline of Chile is 6,435 kilometres.^[4] Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas and Easter Island. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica, although all claims are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty.

Chinglish

Chinglish (simplified Chinese: 中式英语; traditional Chinese: 中式英語; pinyin: zhōng shì yīng yǔ) is a portmanteau of the words Chinese and English and refers to spoken or written English which is influenced by Chinese^[1]. There are an estimated 300 to 500 million users and/or learners of English in the People's Republic of China^[2].

Christmas Island

The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, 500 km (310 mi) south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and 975 km (606 mi) ENE of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Cimbrian language

Cimbrian (German: Zimbrisch or Tzimbrisch) refers to any of several local Upper German dialects spoken in northeastern Italy. The speakers of the language are known as Zimbern.

Close-mid back rounded vowel

The close-mid back rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is o, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is o.

Close-mid front unrounded vowel

The close-mid front unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is e, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is e.

Close back rounded vowel

The close back rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is u, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is u.

Close central unrounded vowel

The close central unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɨ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 1. The IPA symbol is the letter i with a horizontal bar. Both the symbol and the sound are commonly referred to as "barred-i".

Close front unrounded vowel

The close front unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is i, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is i.

Cockney

The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End. Linguistically, it refers to the form of English spoken by this group.

Cocos Island

Cocos Island (Spanish: Isla del Coco) is an uninhabited island located off the shore of Costa Rica. It constitutes the 11th district^[1] (one of 13) of Puntarenas Canton of the province of Puntarenas.^[2]. It is one of the National Parks of Costa Rica. It is located in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 550 km (340 mi) from the Pacific shore of Costa Rica,^[3] at 05°31′08″N 087°04′18″W / 5.51889°N 87.07167°W / 5.51889; -87.07167. With an area of approximately 23.85 km² (9.2 mi²), about 8×3 km (5×1.9 mi) and a perimeter of around 23.3 km^[4] this island is more or less rectangular in shape.

Colombia

Colombia (pronounced /kəˈlʌmbiə/), officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish: República de Colombia, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðe koˈlombja]  ( listen)), is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela^[8] and Brazil;^[9] to the south by Ecuador and Peru;^[10] to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the northwest by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia also shares maritime borders with Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.^[11][12] With a population of nearly 45 million people, Colombia has the 29th largest population in the world and the second largest in South America, after Brazil. Colombia has the third largest Spanish-speaking population in the world after Mexico and Spain.

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states, all but two of which were formerly part of the British Empire. The member states co-operate within a framework of common values and goals as outlined in the Singapore Declaration.^[1] These include the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, egalitarianism, free trade, multilateralism and world peace.^[2]

Constructed language

A planned or constructed language—known colloquially or informally as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary have been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally. There are many possible reasons to create a constructed language: to ease human communication (see international auxiliary language and code); to bring fiction or an associated constructed world to life; for linguistic experimentation; for artistic creation; and for language games.

Controlled natural language

Controlled natural languages (CNLs) are subsets of natural languages, obtained by restricting the grammar and vocabulary in order to reduce or eliminate ambiguity and complexity. Traditionally, controlled languages fall into two major types: those that improve readability for human readers (e.g. non-native speakers), and those that enable reliable automatic semantic analysis of the language.

Council of Europe

The Council of Europe (French: Conseil de l'Europe) is the oldest international organisation working towards European integration, having been founded in 1949. It has a particular emphasis on legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation. It has 47 member states with some 800 million citizens.

Creole language

A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable language that originated from a mixture of various languages. The vocabulary of a creole language consists of cognates from the parent languages, though there are often clear phonetic and semantic shifts. On the other hand, the grammar often has original features and may differ substantially from those of the parent languages.

Cromarty fisher dialect

Cromarty fisher dialect is a variety of Northern Scots spoken by fishermen in the town of Cromarty, north of Inverness. While the dialect has always been extremely localised and the number of speakers low, as of 2007^[update] there are only two fluent speakers of Cromarty fisher dialect; two elderly brothers in their eighties.^[1]

Cumbrian dialect

The Cumbrian dialect is a local dialect spoken in Cumbria in northern England, not to be confused with the extinct Celtic language Cumbric that used to be spoken in Cumbria. As in any county, there is a gradual drift in accent towards its neighbours. Barrow-in-Furness (within the historic boundaries of Lancashire) has a similar accent to much of Lancashire whilst the northern parts of Cumbria have a more North-East English sound to them. Whilst clearly being an English accent approximately between Lancashire and Geordie it shares much vocabulary with Scots.

Czenglish

Czenglish, a portmanteau of the words Czech and English, is a poor or 'broken' English spoken by native Czech speakers. Examples include confusing verbatim translations (such as "basic school" for "základní škola", which should be "primary school" or "elementary school"), incorrect word order in a sentence and use of inappropriate prepositions and conjunctions because of the influence of their Czech equivalents.

Danelaw

The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (also known as the Danelagh; Old English: Dena lagu; Danish: Danelagen), is a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway^[1] and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. It is contrasted with "West Saxon Law" and "Mercian law". The term has been extended by modern historians to be geographical. The areas that comprised the Danelaw are in northern and eastern England. The origins of the Danelaw arose from the Viking expansion of the 9th century, although the term was not used to describe a geographic area until the 11th century. With the increase in population and productivity in Scandinavia, Viking warriors sought treasure and glory in nearby Britain.

David Graddol

David Graddol (born 1953) is a British linguist^[1] who has worked in applied linguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and history of linguistics. He is perhaps best known for his 1997 book The future of English?, published by the British Council, in which he offers scenarios for how English as a world language may develop. Most notably, he points out that native speakers of English are or will soon be outnumbered by those who speak English as a second or foreign language. In an article that focuses more specifically on this issue, he states the following:

Diacritic

A diacritic (pronounced /daɪəˈkrɪtɪk/) (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign) is an ancillary glyph added to a letter, or basic glyph. The term derives from the Greek διακριτικός (diakritikós, "distinguishing"). Diacritic is both an adjective and a noun, whereas diacritical is only an adjective. Some diacritical marks, such as the acute ( ´ ) and grave ( ` ) but not the cedilla ( ¸ ), are often called accents. Diacritical marks may appear above or below a letter, or in some other position such as within the letter or between two letters.

Diaeresis

In linguistics, diæresis, diaeresis, or dieresis, is the pronunciation of two adjacent vowels in two separate syllables rather than as a diphthong, and also the name of the diacritic mark ( ¨ ) used to prompt the reader to pronounce adjacent vowels in this manner.

Dialect

The term dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is used in two distinct ways, even by scholars of language. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers.^[1] The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class.^[2] A dialect that is associated with a particular social class can be termed a sociolect; a regional dialect may be termed a regiolect or topolect. The other usage refers to a language socially subordinate to a regional or national standard language, often historically cognate to the standard, but not a variety of it or in any other sense derived from it. This more precise usage enables distinguishing between varieties of a language, such as the French spoken in Nice, France, and local languages distinct from the superordinate language, e.g. Nissart, the traditional native Romance language of Nice, known in French as Niçard.

Digital object identifier

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) System is a managed system for persistent identification of content-related entities on digital networks.^[1] These entities may be content items (digital files, physical objects, abstract works), or any related entities in a content transaction (e.g. licenses, parties, etc.). "DOI" is sometimes used to mean the identifiers within this system; hence the use of the term alone is deprecated unless the meaning is sufficiently clear from an earlier mention or the specific context: instead it should always be used in conjunction with a specific noun. The DOI name is the identifier string that specifies a unique object (the referent) within the DOI System; the DOI syntax is the form and sequence of characters comprising any DOI name, specifically the prefix element, separator, and suffix element; and the DOI System is the functional deployment of DOI names as identifiers in computer sensible form through assignment, resolution, referent description, administration, etc. Hence DOI is not primarily a numbering system - it is primarily a globally consistent persistent identifier resolution system combined with a coherent approach to creating the identifiers, plus metadata, and a social structure to back up the persistence which is enabled by the technology.

Diphthong

In phonetics, a diphthong, pronounced /ˈdɪf.θɒŋ/ or /ˈdɪp.θɒŋ/, (also gliding vowel) (from Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally "two sounds" or "two tones") is a contour vowel—that is, a unitary vowel that changes quality during its pronunciation, or "glides", with a smooth movement of the tongue from one articulation to another, as in the English words eye, boy, and cow. This contrasts with "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, where the tongue is held still, as in the English word papa.^[1]

Dissolution of the Monasteries

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, denotes the administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their income, disposed of their assets and provided for their former members. He was given the authority to do this in England and Wales by the Act of Supremacy, passed by Parliament in 1534, which made him Supreme Head of the Church in England; and by the First Suppression Act (1536) and the Second Suppression Act (1539). Although some monastic foundations dated back to Anglo Saxon England, the overwhelming majority of the 825 religious communities dissolved by Henry VIII owed their existence to the wave of monastic enthusiasm that had swept England and Wales in the 11th and 12th centuries; in consequence of which religious houses in the 16th century controlled appointment to about a third of all parish benefices, and disposed of about half of all ecclesiastical income. The dissolution still represents the largest legal^{[citation needed]} transfer of property in English history since the Norman Conquest.

Dominica

Dominica, (French: Dominique) officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. To the north-northwest lies Guadeloupe, to the southeast Martinique. Its size is 754 square kilometres (291 sq mi) and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of 1,447 metres (4,750 ft). The Commonwealth of Dominica has an estimated population of 72,500. The capital is Roseau.

Doublet (linguistics)

In etymology, two or more words in the same language are called doublets or etymological twins (or possibly triplets, etc.) when they have the same etymological root but have entered the language through different routes. Because the relationship between words that have the same root and the same meaning is fairly obvious, the term is mostly used to characterize pairs of words that have diverged in meaning, at times making their shared root a point of irony.

Drèents

Drèents (also Dreins, Dreints, Drents, Drints; Dutch: Drents) is a collective term for the dialects which are spoken in Drenthe a province of The Netherlands. The dialects like they are still spoken by half the population of Drenthe are Nedersaksisch variants.

Dunglish

Dunglish is a portmanteau of Dutch and English, a name for Dutch English. The word is often used pejoratively to refer to the mistakes native Dutch speakers make when speaking English. They are closely related Germanic languages. English instruction in the Netherlands begins in elementary school, and Dutch-speaking Belgians are usually taught English from the age of twelve. In addition, like all foreign-language movies, English-spoken movies are subtitled instead of dubbed in the Netherlands and in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.

Dutch language

Countries and territories with a significant number of speakers:
 Australia
 Canada
 France
 Germany
 New Zealand
 United States
 United Kingdom

E-Prime

E-Prime (short for English-Prime) is a modified form of the English language which lacks the concepts and forms of the verb to be: "be", "is", "am", "are", "was", "were", "been" and "being" (and their equivalent contractions "'m", "'s", and "'re"). Sentences composed in E-Prime seldom contain the passive voice, which in turn may impel writers or speakers to envisage things differently than they might otherwise (compare the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis). By eliminating most uses of the passive voice, E-Prime encourages writers and speakers to make explicit the agent of a statement,^[1] possibly making the written text easier to read and understand.

Early Modern English

Early Modern English (often abbreviated EModE^[1]) is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period (the latter half of the 15th century) to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English, although the King James Bible intentionally keeps some archaisms that were not common even when it was published. Prior to and following the accession of James I to the English throne the emerging English standard began to influence the spoken and written Middle Scots of Scotland.

East Anglian English

East Anglian English is a dialect of English spoken in East Anglia. This easternmost area of England was probably home to the first-ever form of language which can be called English.^{[clarification needed]} East Anglian English has had a very considerable input into the formation of Standard English, and contributed importantly to the development of American English^{[citation needed]}; it has also experienced multilingualism on a remarkable scale. However, it has received little attention from the media and is not easily recognised by people from other parts of the UK. The UEA linguist Peter Trudgill has written at length about the Norfolk dialect in his work, and is a member of the Friends of Norfolk Dialect group.

East Frisian Low Saxon

East Frisian Low Saxon is a West Low German dialect spoken in the East Frisian peninsula of northwestern Lower Saxony. It is used quite frequently in everyday speech there. About half of the East Frisian population in the coastal region uses Platdüütsk. A number of individuals, despite not being active speakers of Low Saxon, are able to understand it to some extent. However, both active and passive language skills are in a state of decrease.

East Midlands English

East Midlands English is a dialect traditionally spoken in those parts of Mercia lying East of Watling Street (the A5 London - Shrewsbury Road). Today this area is represented by the counties of the East Midlands of England, (Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland and Northamptonshire, see below).

East Scandinavian languages

The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages, along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is sometimes referred to as the Nordic languages, a direct translation of the most common term used among Danish, Swedish and Norwegian scholars and laypeople. In Scandinavia, Scandinavian language(s) is also used as a term referring specifically to the mutually intelligible languages of the three Scandinavian countries.

Ecuador

Ecuador (pronounced /ˈɛkwədɔr/), officially the Republic of Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðel ekwaˈðor]), literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border with Brazil. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 kilometers (620 mi) west of the mainland.

English-based creole languages

An English-based creole language (often shortened to English creole) is a creole language that was significantly influenced by the English language. Most English creoles were formed in English colonies, following the great expansion of British naval military power and trade in the 17th,18th and 19th centuries.

English-language vowel changes before historic l

The salary-celery merger is a conditioned merger of /æ/ (as in bat) and /ɛ/ (as in bet) when they occur before /l/, thus making salary and celery homophones.^[1][2][3][4] The merger is not well studied. It is referred to in various sociolinguistic publications, but usually only as a small section of the larger change undergone by vowels preceding /l/ in articles about l-vocalisation.

English-language vowel changes before historic r

The English language has undergone a number of phonological changes before the historic phoneme /r/. In recent centuries, most or all of these changes have involved merging of vowel distinctions.

English as a lingua franca

English as a lingua franca or ELF refers to the use of English between speakers of different varieties of English. The term is used to describe communication that involves people who do not consider English their first language.

English for Academic Purposes

English for academic purposes (EAP) entails training students, usually in a higher education setting, to use language appropriately for study. It is a challenging and multi-faceted area within the wider field of English language learning and teaching (ELT), and is one of the most common forms of English for specific purposes (ESP). In common with most language teaching, EAP tutors teach vocabulary, grammar and the four skills (reading, writing, speaking - including pronunciation - and listening), but try to tie these to the study needs of students.

English grammar

English grammar is the body of rules describing the properties of the English language. A language is such that its elements must be combined according to certain patterns. This article is concerned with (and restricted to) morphology, the building blocks of language, and syntax, the construction of meaningful phrases, clauses and sentences with the use of morphemes and words.

English language in Europe

The English language in Europe, as a native language, is mainly spoken in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Outside of these countries, it has a special status in Jersey and Guernsey (two of the three Crown Dependencies), in Gibraltar (one of the British overseas territories), Malta and Cyprus (two former British colonies). In other parts of Europe, English is spoken mainly by those who have learned it as a second language, but also, to a lesser extent, natively by expatriates from the English speaking world.

English language in the Netherlands

English language in the Netherlands refers to the use of English in The Netherlands. Research states that about 86% of the Dutch population claims to be able to converse in English ^[1]. According to some, the main reasons for the high degree of English speakers is the country's small size, dependency on international trade and the use of subtitles for foreign languages on television rather than dubbing ^[2].

English language learning and teaching

ESL (English as a second language), ESOL (English for speakers of other languages), and EFL (English as a foreign language) all refer to the use or study of English by speakers with a different native language. The precise usage, including the different use of the terms ESL and ESOL in different countries, is described below. These terms are most commonly used in relation to teaching and learning English, but they may also be used in relation to demographic information.

English orthography

English orthography is the alphabetic spelling system used by the English language. English orthography, like other alphabetic orthographies, uses a set of rules that generally governs how speech sounds are represented in writing.

English phonology

English phonology is the study of the phonology (i.e., the sound system) of the English language. Like all other languages, spoken English has wide variation in its pronunciation both diachronically and synchronically from dialect to dialect. This variation is especially salient in English, because the language is spoken over such a wide territory, being the predominant language in Australia, Canada, the Commonwealth Caribbean, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, in addition to being spoken as a first or second language by people in countries on every continent, notably South Africa and India. In general, the regional dialects of English are mutually intelligible.

English spelling reform

English spelling reform is the collective term for various campaigns and efforts to change the spelling of the English language to make it simpler and more rationally consistent. There exists a small-scale movement among amateur and professional linguists, but one with a long history and some mixed successes.

English words with diacritics

Some English language words have letters with diacritical marks. Most of the words are loanwords from French, with others coming from Spanish, German, or other languages. Some are however originally English, or at least their diacritics are. Proper nouns are not generally counted, except when used as an eponym.

Engrish

Engrish refers to non-standard variations of English or Spelling used in East Asian countries. While the term may refer to spoken English, it is more often used to describe written English. The term arises from the lack of phonemes corresponding to the English l and r in the spoken Japanese language, which instead has an alveolar flap that roughly corresponds to the English r. Chinese frequently uses the "l" substituted for "r" in foreign loanwords. Engrish is found on a variety of things such as signs, menus, advertisements and t-shirt slogans. Usage of the term ranges from the affectionate to the pejorative. Country-specific terms, such as Japlish or Janglish for Japan, Konglish for Korea, Singlish for Singapore and Chinglish for China also exist.

Esperanto

Esperanto (help·info) is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language.^[2] Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto, the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887. The word esperanto means "one who hopes" in the language itself. Zamenhof's goal was to create an easy and flexible language that would serve as a universal second language to foster peace and international understanding.^[3] Esperanto has had continuous usage by a community estimated at between 100,000 and 2 million speakers for over a century, and approximately one thousand native speakers.^[4] However, no country has adopted the language officially. Today, Esperanto is employed in world travel, correspondence, cultural exchange, conventions, literature, language instruction, television,^[5] and radio broadcasting.^[6] At least one major search engine, Google, offers searching of Esperanto-related websites via an Esperanto portal.^[7]

Estonian language

Estonian (eesti keel; pronounced [ˈeːsti ˈkeːl]  ( listen)) is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities. It is an Uralic language and is closely related to Finnish.

Estuary English

Estuary English is a name given to the dialect(s) of English widely spoken in South East England, especially along the River Thames and its estuary. Phonetician John C. Wells defines Estuary English as "Standard English spoken with the accent of the southeast of England".^[1] The name comes from the area around the Thames Estuary, particularly London, Kent and Essex.

Ethnologue

Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, primarily to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language.

Eurobarometer

Eurobarometer is a series of surveys regularly performed on behalf of the European Commission since 1973. It produces reports of public opinion of certain issues relating to the European Union across the member states. The Eurobarometer results are published by the Public Opinion Analysis Sector [1] of the European Commission - Directorate General Communication.

Europe

Europe (/ˈjʊərəp/) is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains (or the Kuma-Manych Depression),^[1] and the Black Sea to the southeast.^[2] Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean and other bodies of water to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Black Sea and connected waterways to the southeast. Yet the borders for Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are somewhat arbitrary, as the term continent can refer to a cultural and political distinction or a physiographic one.

European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. It only applies to languages traditionally used by the nationals of the State Parties (thus excluding languages used by recent immigrants from other states), which significantly differ from the majority or official language (thus excluding what the state party wishes to consider as mere local dialects of the official or majority language) and which either have a territorial basis (and are therefore traditionally spoken by populations of regions or areas within the State) or are used by linguistic minorities within the State as a whole (thereby including such languages as Yiddish and Romani, which are used over a wide geographic area).

European Union

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27 member states,^[6] located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the European Economic Community.^[7] With over 500 million citizens^[8], the EU generates an estimated 30% share (US$18.4 trillion in 2008) of the nominal gross world product and about 22% (US$15.2 trillion in 2008) of the PPP gross world product.^[9]

Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands (pronounced /ˈfɔklənd/; Spanish: Islas Malvinas)^[4] are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located approximately 300 mi (480 km) from the coast of mainland South America, 700 mi (1,100 km)^[5] from mainland Antarctica, and 3,800 mi (6,100 km)^[6] from Africa. There are two main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, as well as 776 smaller islands.^[7] The islands are a self-governing Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom and Stanley, on East Falkland, is the capital.