NationMaster - Encyclopedia: English teacher

English is a widely distributed language originating in England that is currently the primary language of a number of countries. It is extensively used as a second language and as an official language in many other countries. English is the most widely taught and understood language in the world, and sometimes is described as a lingua franca[1]. Although Modern Standard Chinese, Hindi and Spanish have more mother-tongue speakers, English is used by more people as a second or foreign language, putting the total number of people with a knowledge of English worldwide at well over one billion[2]. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ... The Germanic languages in Europe are divided into North (blue) and West Germanic (green and orange) Languages Low Saxon-Low Franconian (Dutch) High German (standard German, SchwyzerdÃ¼tsch) Insular Anglo-Frisian (English, Scots) Continental Anglo-Frisian (Frisian) East North Germanic (Danish, BokmÃ¥l Norwegian, Swedish) West North Germanic (Nynorsk Norwegian... The Anglo-Frisian languages (also known as Ingvaeonic languages or North Sea Germanic languages) are a group of West Germanic languages consisting of Old English, Old Frisian, and their descendants. ... The Anglic languages (also called Anglian languages) are one of the two branches of Anglo-Frisian languages, itself a branch of West Germanic. ... Writing systems of the world today. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... The Commonwealth of Nations (CN), usually known as the Commonwealth, is a voluntary association of 53 independent sovereign states, the majority of which are former colonies of the United Kingdom. ... For other uses of the name Kosovo, see Kosovo (disambiguation). ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages â€” Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1357x628, 36 KB) Summary Colored by me from public domain Wikimedia Commons source Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word Ï†Ï‰Î½Î®, phone meaning sound, voice) is the study of sounds and the human voice. ... Because of technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... This is a concise version of the International Phonetic Alphabet for English sounds. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification - by Athelstan AD 927 Area - Total 130,395 kmÂ² (1st in UK) 50,346 sq mi Population - 2005 est. ... A second language is any language other than the first, or native, language learned; it is typically used because of geographical or social reasons. ... An official language is a language that is given a privileged legal status in a state, or other legally-defined territory. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... Standard Mandarin is the official Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Malaysia and Singapore. ... Hindi (Devanagari: à¤¹à¤¿à¤¨à¥à¤¦à¥€ or à¤¹à¤¿à¤‚à¤¦à¥€; IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in northern and central India, is the official language of the Union government of India [1][2]. It is part of a dialect continuum of the Indic family, bounded on the northwest and west by Punjabi, Sindhi, Urdu, and Gujarati...

Over 300 million people speak English as their first language[3]. Estimates about second language speakers of English vary greatly between 150 million and 1.5 billion. English is the dominant international language in communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment, diplomacy and the Internet. It has been one of the official languages of the United Nations since its founding in 1945. It is widely said that English is today's universal language.^{[citation needed]} A second language is any language other than the first, or native, language learned; it is typically used because of geographical or social reasons. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... The idea of a universal language is at least as old as the Biblical story of Babel. ...

English is a West Germanic language that developed from Old English, the language of the Anglo-Saxons. English, having its major roots in Germanic languages, derives most of its grammar from Old English, although a Celtic substratal influence has also been postulated.^[1]^[2] As a result of the Norman Conquest, it has been heavily influenced, more than any other Germanic language, by Norman French, Latin and Greek. From England it spread to the rest of the British Isles, then to the colonies and territories of the British Empire (outside and inside the current Commonwealth of Nations) such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and others, particularly those in the Anglophone Caribbean. As a result of these historical developments English is the official language (sometimes one of several) in many countries formerly under British or American rule, such as Pakistan, Ghana, India, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, and the Philippines. The Germanic languages in Europe are divided into North (blue) and West Germanic (green and orange) Languages Low Saxon-Low Franconian (Dutch) High German (standard German, SchwyzerdÃ¼tsch) Insular Anglo-Frisian (English, Scots) Continental Anglo-Frisian (Frisian) East North Germanic (Danish, BokmÃ¥l Norwegian, Swedish) West North Germanic (Nynorsk Norwegian... Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... The famous parade helmet found at Sutton Hoo, probably belonging to King Raedwald of East Anglia circa 625. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family. ... Bayeux Tapestry depicting events leading to the Battle of Hastings The Norman Conquest of England was the conquest of the Kingdom of England by William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy), in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings and the subsequent Norman control of England. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Germanic languages form one of the branches of the Indo-European (IE) language family, spoken by the Germanic peoples who settled in northern Europe along the borders of the Roman Empire. ... The Anglo-Norman language is the name given to the variety of Norman spoken by the Anglo-Normans, the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the conquest by William of Normandy in 1066. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Location of the British Isles The British Isles is a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe consisting of Great Britain, Ireland, and a number of smaller surrounding islands and islets. ... The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps. ... The Commonwealth of Nations (CN), usually known as the Commonwealth, is a voluntary association of 53 independent sovereign states, the majority of which are former colonies of the United Kingdom. ... The term Anglophone Caribbean is used to refer to the independent English-speaking countries of the Caribbean region. ...

Mandarin Chinese, Hindi and Spanish have more native speakers than English does; however, the geographic distribution of Mandarin and Hindi, as both first and second languages, is more limited than that of English. Spanish is more widespread than Mandarin and Hindi, but not much present in Asia or Africa. English also is the most widely spoken Germanic language. English spread to many parts of the world through the expansion of the British Empire, but did not acquire lingua franca status in the world until the late 20th century, when American culture began to overpower that of others on the global scale^{[citation needed]}. Following World War II, the economic and cultural influence of the United States increased and English permeated other cultures, chiefly through development of telecommunications technology^[3]. Because a working knowledge of English is required in many fields, professions, and occupations, education ministries throughout the world mandate the teaching of English to, at least, a basic level (see English language learning and teaching). Standard Mandarin is the official Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Singapore. ... Hindi (Devanagari: à¤¹à¤¿à¤¨à¥à¤¦à¥€ or à¤¹à¤¿à¤‚à¤¦à¥€; IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in northern and central India, is the official language of the Union government of India [1][2]. It is part of a dialect continuum of the Indic family, bounded on the northwest and west by Punjabi, Sindhi, Urdu, and Gujarati... The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... Telecommunication involves the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

History

English is an Anglo-Frisian language brought to southeastern Great Britain in the 5th century AD by Germanic settlers from various parts of northwest Germany (Saxons, Angles) as well as Jutland (Jutes). English is a West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers and auxiliary troops under Roman tutelage from various parts of what is now northwest Germany and the Northern Netherlands. ... The Anglo-Frisian languages (also known as Ingvaeonic languages or North Sea Germanic languages) are a group of West Germanic languages consisting of Old English, Old Frisian, and their descendants. ... Europe in 450 The 5th century is the period from 401 - 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... The term Germanic tribes (or Teutonic tribes) applies to the ancient Germanic peoples of Europe. ... Map showing the Saxons homeland in traditional region bounded by the three rivers: Weser, Eider, and Elbe Src: Freemans Historical Geographys. The Saxons or Saxon people are (nowadays) part of the German people with its main areas of settlements in the German States of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Saxony... White cliffs of Dover in England White cliffs of Rugen down the Baltic coast from Schleswig The Angles is a modern English word for a Germanic-speaking people who took their name from the cultural ancestor of Angeln, a modern district located in Schleswig, Germany. ... Jutland Peninsula Jutland (Danish: Jylland; German: JÃ¼tland; Frisian JutlÃ¢n; Low German JÃ¶tlann) is a peninsula in northern Europe that forms the only non-insular part of Denmark and also the northernmost part of Germany, dividing the North Sea from the Baltic Sea. ... Jutland peninsula The Jutes were a Germanic people who are believed to have originated from Jutland in modern Denmark and part of the Frisian coast. ...

These Germanic invaders dominated the original Celtic-speaking inhabitants, whose languages survived in areas not under Germanic domination: Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall, and Ireland. The dialects spoken by the invaders dominated almost all of what is now called England and formed what is today called the Old English language, which resembled some coastal dialects in what are now northwest Germany and the Netherlands (i.e. Frisia). Later, it was influenced by the related North Germanic language Old Norse, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the north and the east coast down to London, the area known as the Danelaw. The Celtic languages are the languages descended from Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, spoken by ancient and modern Celts alike. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy - Queen Queen Elizabeth II - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification - by Kenneth I... Motto: (Welsh for Wales forever) Anthem: Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau Capital Cardiff Largest city Cardiff Official language(s) Welsh, English Government Constitutional monarchy - Queen Queen Elizabeth II - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP - First Minister Rhodri Morgan AM Unification - by Gruffudd ap Llywelyn 1056 Area - Total 20,779... Brittany has a spectacular coastline Flag of Brittany (Gwenn-ha-du) Historical province of Brittany rÃ©gion of Bretagne, see Bretagne. ... Cornwall (Cornish: Kernow) is a county in South West England on the peninsula that lies to the west of the River Tamar. ... Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... Satellite view of the German Bight (the Frisian Coast). ... The North Germanic 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 (including English, German, and Dutch) and the East Germanic languages (now extinct). ... Old Norse is the Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. ... The term Viking commonly denotes the ship-borne explorers, traders, and warriors of the Norsemen who originated in Scandinavia and raided the coasts of the British Isles, France and other parts of Europe from the late 8th century to the 11th century. ... Green: Danelaw The Danelaw (from the Old English Dena lagu, Danish: Danelagen ) is an 11th century name for an area of northern and eastern England under the administrative control of the Vikings (or Danes, or Norsemen) from the late 9th century. ...

Then came the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. For about 300 years following, the Norman kings and the high nobility spoke only Anglo-Norman, which was very close to Old French. A large number of Norman words found their way into Old English, leaving a parallel vocabulary that persists into modern times. The Norman influence strongly affected the evolution of the language over the following centuries, resulting in what is now referred to as Middle English. Bayeux Tapestry depicting events leading to the Battle of Hastings The Norman conquest of England was the invasion of the Kingdom of England by William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy), in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings and the subsequent Norman control of England. ... Events January 6 - Harold II is crowned September 20 - Battle of Fulford September 25 - Battle of Stamford Bridge September 29 - William of Normandy lands in England at Pevensey. ... The Anglo-Norman language is the name given to the variety of Norman spoken by the Anglo-Normans, the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the conquest by William of Normandy in 1066. ... Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300 A.D. It was known at the time as the langue doÃ¯l to distinguish it from the langue... Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of 1066 and the mid-to-late 15th century, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the...

During the 15th century, Middle English was transformed by the Great Vowel Shift, the spread of a standardised London-based dialect in government and administration, and the standardising effect of printing. Early Modern English can be traced back to around the time of William Shakespeare. (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of 1066 and the mid-to-late 15th century, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the... The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English language, generally accomplished in the 15th century, although evidence suggests it began as early as the 14th century. ... Early Modern English refers to the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period (the later half of the 1400s) to 1650. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Classification and related languages

The English language belongs to the western sub-branch of the Germanic branch, which is itself a branch of the Indo-European family of languages. The Germanic languages are a group of related languages constituting a branch of the Indo-European (IE) language family. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ...

The question as to which is the nearest living relative of English is a matter of some discussion. Apart from such English-lexified creole languages such as Tok Pisin, Scots — which is spoken primarily in Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland — is the Germanic variety most closely associated with English. Like English, Scots ultimately descends from Old English, also known as Anglo-Saxon. The closest relative to English after Scots is Frisian, which is spoken in the Northern Netherlands and Northwest Germany. Other less closely related living West Germanic languages include German itself, Low German, Dutch and Afrikaans. The North Germanic languages of Scandinavia are less closely related to English than the West Germanic languages. A creole language, or just creole, is a well-defined and stable language that originated from a non-trivial combination of two or more languages, typically with many distinctive features that are not inherited from either parent. ... Tok Pisin (tok means word or speech, pisin means pidgin) is the creole spoken in Papua New Guinea (PNG). ... Scots is an Anglic variety spoken in Scotland, where it is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic spoken by some in the Highlands and Islands (especially the Hebrides). ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy - Queen Queen Elizabeth II - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification - by Kenneth I... Motto: (Latin for Who would separate us?)[1] Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (de facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official language(s) English (de facto), Irish, Ulster Scots 3, NI Sign Language Government Constitutional monarchy - Queen Queen Elizabeth II - Prime Minister of the UK Tony... Frisian is a Germanic group of closely related languages, spoken by about half a million members of Frisian ethnic groups living on the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. ... The Germanic languages in Europe are divided into North (blue) and West Germanic (green and orange) Languages Low Saxon-Low Franconian (Dutch) High German (standard German, SchwyzerdÃ¼tsch) Insular Anglo-Frisian (English, Scots) Continental Anglo-Frisian (Frisian) East North Germanic (Danish, BokmÃ¥l Norwegian, Swedish) West North Germanic (Nynorsk Norwegian... Low German (also called Plattdeutsch, PlattdÃ¼Ã¼tsch or Low Saxon) is a name for the regional language varieties of the West Germanic languages spoken mainly in Northern Germany where it is officially called Niederdeutsch (Low German), and in Eastern Netherlands where it is officially called Nedersaksisch (Low Saxon). Low refers... Afrikaans is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia. ... The North Germanic 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 (including English, German, and Dutch) and the East Germanic languages (now extinct). ...

Many French words are also intelligible to an English speaker (though pronunciations are often quite different) because English absorbed a large vocabulary from French, via the Norman after the Norman Conquest and directly from French in further centuries. As a result, a substantial share of English vocabulary is quite close to French, with some minor spelling differences (word endings, use of old French spellings, etc.), as well as occasional divergences in meaning. Norman is a Romance language and one of the OÃ¯l languages. ... Bayeux Tapestry depicting events leading to the Battle of Hastings The Norman conquest of England was the invasion of the Kingdom of England by William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy), in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings and the subsequent Norman control of England. ...

About 60% of all English words come from Latin, since Latin is the parent language of French.

Geographical distribution

According to the World Factbook and the Guinness World Records English is currently the 2nd most commonly spoken language in the world. It has over 500 million speakers. It is behind only Mandarin, which has over 1 billion speakers. English is today the third most widely distributed language as a first spoken language in the world, after Mandarin and Hindi (see the ranking). Something around 600 million people use the various dialects of English regularly. About 377 million people use one of the versions of English as their mother tongue, and a similar number of people use one of them as their second or foreign language as well. English is used widely in either the public or private sphere in more than 100 countries all over the world. In addition, the language has occupied a prominent place in international academic and business communities. The current status of the English language at the start of the new millennium compares with that of Latin in most of Western Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire. English is also the most widely used language for young backpackers who travel across continents, regardless of whether it is their mother tongue or a secondary language. This is a list of countries of the world sorted by the total English-speaking population in that country. ... Ive created this diagram as an update for [1]. The previous chart didnt take into account several varieties, which is why the Others percentage was too small. ... Ive created this diagram as an update for [1]. The previous chart didnt take into account several varieties, which is why the Others percentage was too small. ... Some world record attempts are more unusual than others. ... This article is on all of the Northern Chinese dialects. ... This article is on all of the Northern Chinese dialects. ... Hindi (Devanagari: à¤¹à¤¿à¤¨à¥à¤¦à¥€ or à¤¹à¤¿à¤‚à¤¦à¥€; IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in northern and central India, is the official language of the Union government of India [1][2]. It is part of a dialect continuum of the Indic family, bounded on the northwest and west by Punjabi, Sindhi, Urdu, and Gujarati... The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Two Danish backpackers in front of the Vienna State Opera in July 2005 Backpacking is a term used to denote a form of low-cost international travel, differentiating it from other forms of tourism. ...

Although the language is named after England, the United States now has more first-language English speakers than the rest of the world combined. The United Kingdom comes second, with England indeed having as many English speakers as the rest of the world combined (aside from the USA). Canada is third, and Australia fourth, with those four comprising 95% of native English speakers. Of those nations where English is spoken as a second language, India has the most such speakers ('Indian English') and now has more people who speak or understand English than any other country. Following India are the People's Republic of China, the Philippines, Germany and the United States (by way of immigrant communities and other enclaves in which English is necessary for communication with their English-speaking countrymen). This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

English is also an important minority language of South Africa (South African English), and in several other former colonies or current dependent territories of the United Kingdom and the United States, for example Hong Kong, Singapore, Mauritius, and the Philippines. A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a country. ... South African English is a dialect of English spoken in South Africa and in neighbouring countries with a large number of Anglo-Africans living in them, such as Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. ... This article is about a political topic. ... A dependent territory, dependent area or dependency is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a State. ...

In Asia, former British colonies like Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia use English as either an official language or a de facto common language, and it is taught in all private and public schools as a mandatory subject. There are a considerable number of native English speakers in urban areas in both countries. In Hong Kong, English is co-official with Chinese, and is widely used in business activities. It is taught from infant school and kindergarten, and is the medium of instruction for a few primary schools, many secondary schools and all universities. Substantial numbers of students reach native-speaker fluency. It is so widely used that it is inadequate to say that it is merely a second or foreign language, though there is still a percentage of people in Hong Kong with poor or little command of English. An official language is a language that is given a privileged legal status in a state, or other legally-defined territory. ... Primary or elementary education is the first years of formal, structured education that occurs during childhood. ... A kindergarten classroom in Afghanistan. ... A large elementary school in Magome, Japan. ... Secondary education - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Representation of a university class, 1350s. ... First language (native language, mother tongue) is the language a person learns first. ... A foreign language is a language not spoken by the indigenous people of a certain place: for example, English is a foreign language in Japan. ...

The majority of English native speakers (67 to 70 per cent) live in the United States (Crystal, 1997). Although the U.S. Federal government has no official languages, English has been given official status by 27 of the 50 state governments, all but three of which (Hawaii, New Mexico and Louisiana) have declared English their sole official language. The U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1789 by a constitutional convention, sets down the basic framework of American government in its seven articles. ...

English is the most widely learned and used foreign language, and as such, some linguists believe that it is no longer the exclusive cultural sign of 'native English speakers', but is rather a language that is absorbing aspects of cultures worldwide as it continues to grow. Others believe there are limits to how well English can go in suiting everyone for communication purposes. 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%), and Spanish (8%). [4] It is also the most studied in the People's Republic of China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. English is also compulsory for most secondary school students in the PRC and Taiwan. See English as an additional language. Secondary school is the term used to describe an institution where the final stage of compulsory schooling, known as secondary education, takes place. ... It has been suggested that Teaching English as a Second Language be merged into this article or section. ...

English as a global language

Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a "global language", the lingua franca of the modern era. While English is not an official language in many countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a second language around the world. It is also, by international treaty, the official language for aircraft/airport and maritime communication, as well as being one of the official languages of both the European Union and the United Nations, and of most international athletic organizations, including the Olympic Committee. 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. 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. The predominance of English on the Internetâ€”English language content and English language usersâ€”has fueled the rise of the Internet as a means of communication, information dissemination and entertainment. ... International English is the concept of the English language as a global means of communication in numerous dialects, and the movement towards an international standard for the language. ... International English is the concept of the English language as a global means of communication in numerous dialects, and the movement towards an international standard for the language. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... A second language is any language other than the first, or native, language learned; it is typically used because of geographical or social reasons. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... Bold textralf is gay IOC redirects here. ...

Dialects and regional varieties

The influence of the British Empire, and Commonwealth of Nations, as well as the primacy of the United States, especially since WWII, has spread English throughout the globe. Because of that global spread, English has developed a host of English dialects and English-based creole languages and pidgins. This is a list of varieties of the English language. ... This is a list of varieties of the English language. ... A creole language, or just creole, is a well-defined and stable language that originated from a non-trivial combination of two or more languages, typically with many distinctive features that are not inherited from either parent. ... A pidgin, or contact language, is the name given to any language created, usually spontaneously, out of a mixture of other languages as a means of communication between speakers of different tongues. ...

The major varieties of English each include, in most cases, several subvarieties, such as Cockney slang within British English, Newfoundland English, and the English spoken by Anglo-Québecers 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 although no variety is clearly considered the only standard, there are a number of accents considered as more formal, such as Received Pronunciation in Britain or, formerly, the upper-class Bostonian dialect in the U.S. A variety of a language is a form that differs from other forms of the language systematically and coherently. ... Cockneys are, in the present-day sense of the word, white working-class inhabitants of London. ... Diagram showing the geographical locations of selected languages and dialects of the British Isles. ... Newfoundland English is a name for several dialects of English specific to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, distinct from Canadian English. ... This article may contain original research or unverified claims. ... African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also called African American English, Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular (BEV), Black Vernacular English (BVE), or Jive (JVE), is a type variety (dialect, ethnolect and sociolect) of the American English language. ... African American Vernacular English (AAVE), known colloquially as Ebonics, also called Black English, Black Vernacular or Black English Vernacular, is a dialect and ethnolect of American English. ... The Southern United States Red states show the core of the American South. ... English language spread in the United States. ... A pluricentric language is a language with several standard versions. ... The AcadÃ©mie franÃ§aise In the French educational system an acadÃ©mie The AcadÃ©mie franÃ§aise, or French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area - City 232. ...

Scots developed — largely independently — from the same origins, but following the Acts of Union 1707 a process of language attrition began, whereby successive generations adopted more and more features from English causing dialectalisation. Whether it is now a separate language or a dialect of English better described as Scottish English is in dispute. The pronunciation, grammar and lexis of the traditional forms differ, sometimes substantially from other varieties of English. Scots is an Anglic variety spoken in Scotland, where it is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic spoken by some in the Highlands and Islands (especially the Hebrides). ... The Acts of Union were a pair of Acts of Parliament passed in 1706 and 1707 (taking effect on 1 May 1707) by, respectively, the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. ... Language attrition is the loss of a first or second language or a portion of that language by either a community or an individual. ... A dialect (from the Greek word Î´Î¹Î¬Î»ÎµÎºÏ„Î¿Ï‚, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ... Scottish English is usually taken to mean the standard form of the English language used in Scotland, often termed Scottish Standard English. ...

Because of English's wide use as a second language, 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 speakers, and for the more distinctive characteristics of regional dialects, see List of dialects of the English language. In linguistics, an accent is a pronunciation characteristic of a particular group of people relative to another group. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... This is a list of varieties of the English language. ...

Just as English itself has borrowed words from many different languages over its history, English loanwords now appear in a great many languages around the world, indicative of the technological and cultural influence of its speakers. Several pidgins and creole languages have formed using an English base, for example Tok Pisin began as one. There are many words in English coined to describe forms of particular non-English languages that contain a very high proportion of English words. Franglais, for example, is used to describe French with a very high English word content; it is found on the Channel Islands. Another variant, spoken in the border bilingual regions of Québec in Canada, is called Frenglish. Norwenglish is a form of English containing many words or expressions directly copied from Norwegian. A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. ... A pidgin, or contact language, is the name given to any language created, usually spontaneously, out of a mixture of other languages as a means of communication between speakers of different tongues. ... A creole language, or just creole, is a well-defined and stable language that originated from a non-trivial combination of two or more languages, typically with many distinctive features that are not inherited from either parent. ... Tok Pisin (tok means word or speech, pisin means pidgin) is the creole spoken in Papua New Guinea (PNG). ... Franglais, a portmanteau made by mixing the words franÃ§ais (French) and anglais (English), is a slang term for types of speech, although the word has different overtones in the English and French languages. ... The Channel Islands are a group of islands off the coast of Normandy, France, in the English Channel. ... Franglais, a portmanteau made by mixing the words franÃ§ais (French) and anglais (English), is a slang term for types of speech, although the word has different overtones in the English and French languages. ... Norwenglish is a pidgin language formed by mixing Norwegian with English. ...

Constructed varieties of English

Look up Appendix:Basic English word list in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Special English is a simplified version of the English language used by the United States broadcasting service Voice of America in daily broadcasts. ... The Voice of America (VOA) is the official international broadcasting service of the Government of the United States. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Seaspeak is a simplified language designed to facilitate communication between ships whose captains native tongues differ. ... The NATO phonetic alphabet is a common name for the radiotelephony spelling alphabet of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which assigned words to the letters of the English alphabet so that critical combinations of letters could be pronounced and understood by aircrew and air traffic controllers regardless of their... Edward Johnson may refer to: Edward Johnson (general) (1816â€“1873), American Civil War Edward H. Johnson (born 1846?), inventor, electric Christmas tree lights Edward Johnson (soccer) (born 1984), American Edward Mead Johnson (1852â€“1934), co-founder of Johnson and Johnson Edward Johnson (finance) Edward Johnson (mayor), former mayor of Baltimore... The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ... Tunnelspeak is a constructed language used by workers in the Channel Tunnel, using a limited vocabulary of French and English for ease of communication between workers with different native languages. ... Map of the Channel Tunnel. ... It has been suggested that Euro-English be merged into this article or section. ... Euro-English (also Euroenglish or Euro-Englisch) terms are English translations of European concepts that are not native to English-speaking countries. ... Manually Coded English (MCE) is a general term used to describe a variety of visual communication methods expressed through the hands which attempt to represent the English language. ... British Sign Language (BSL) is the sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK), and is the first or preferred language of an unknown number of deaf people in the UK (published estimates vary from 30,000 to 250,000 but the actual number is likely to be closer to... American Sign Language (ASL; less commonly Ameslan) is the dominant sign language of the Deaf community in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in parts of Mexico. ...

Phonology

English phonology is the study of the phonology (ie the sound system) of the English language. ...

Vowels

Notes: Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels Vowels For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... A monophthong (in Greek Î¼Î¿Î½ÏŒÏ†Î¸Î¿Î³Î³Î¿Ï‚ = single note) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation; compare diphthong. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... In phonetics, a diphthong (in Greek δίφθογγος) is a vowel combination usually involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ...

Where symbols appear in pairs, the first corresponds to the sounds used in North American English; the second corresponds to English spoken elsewhere.

// Father-bother merger The father-bother merger is a merger of the Early Modern English vowels and that occurs in almost all varieties of North American English (exceptions are accents in Eastern New England (such as the Boston accent) and New York-New Jersey English. ... In phonetics, an r-colored vowel or rhotacized vowel is a vowel either with the tip or blade of the tongue turned up during at least part of the articulation of the vowel (a retroflex articulation) or with the tip of the tongue down and the back of the tongue... Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Iotation is a form of palatalisation which occurs in Slavic languages. ... In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. ... Australian English (AuE) is the form of the English language used in Australia. ... New Zealand English is the English spoken in New Zealand. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English language, generally accomplished in the 15th century, although evidence suggests it began as early as the 14th century. ... The English language has undergone a number of phonological changes before the historic phoneme . ...

See also

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 and irony, or to change a statement into a question. Intonation, in linguistics, is the variation of pitch when speaking. ... Pitch is the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. ... The human voice consists of sound made by a human using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, screaming. ... For other uses, see Syntax (disambiguation). ... Look up surprise in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Irony is a literary or rhetorical device in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says, and what is generally understood (either at the time, or in the later context of history). ... The term statement can have several meanings: In programming, a statement is an instruction to execute something that will not return a value. ... A question may be either a linguistic expression used to make a request for information, or else the request itself made by such an expression. ...

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. The structure of tone groups can have a crucial impact on the meaning of what is said. For example:

Characteristics of intonation (stress accent)

English is a stress-timed language, i.e., certain syllables in each multi-syllabic word 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. All good dictionaries of English mark the accentuated syllable(s) by either placing an apostrophe-like ( ˈ ) sign either before (as in IPA, Oxford English Dictionary, or Merriam-Webster dictionaries) or after (as in many other dictionaries) the syllable where the stress accent falls. In general, for a two-syllable word in English, it can be broadly said that if it is a noun or an adjective, the first syllable is accentuated; but if it is a verb, the second syllable is accentuated. In linguistics, the timing in a language comprises the rhythmic qualities of speech, in particular how syllables are distributed across time. ... For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is generally regarded as the most comprehensive and scholarly dictionary of the English language. ... Merriam-Webster, originally known as the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, is a United States company that publishes reference books, especially dictionaries that are descendants of Noah Websters An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). ...

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:

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:

The nuclear syllable is spoken louder than all 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. For example:

Grammar

English grammar displays 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 Germanic has declined in importance and the remnants of inflection (such as plural marking) have become more regular. English grammar is a body of rules specifying how meanings are created in English. ... In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification or marking of a word (or more precisely lexeme) to reflect grammatical (that is, relational) information, such as gender, tense, number or person. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ... The Romance languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, comprise all languages that descended from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. ... In linguistics, grammatical gender is a morphological category associated with the expression of gender through inflection or agreement. ... In languages, agreement is a form of cross-reference between different parts of a sentence or phrase. ... In linguistics, declension is a feature of inflected languages: generally, the alteration of a noun to indicate its grammatical role. ... In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun phrase. ... A strong inflection is an irregular inflection, in which the stem of a word changes. ... In Germanic languages, weak verbs are those verbs that form their preterites and past participles by means of a dental suffix, an inflection that contains a /t/ or /d/ sound. ... Look up Plural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Plural is a grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the referent in the real world. ...

At the same time as inflection has declined in importance in English, the language has developed a greater reliance on features such as modal verbs and word order to convey grammatical information. Auxiliary verbs are used to mark constructions such as questions, negatives, the passive voice and progressive tenses. A modal verb (also modal, modal auxiliary verb, modal auxiliary) is a type of auxiliary verb that is used to indicate modality. ... Word order, in linguistic typology, refers to the order in which words appear in sentences across different languages. ... In linguistics, an auxiliary (also called helping verb, auxiliary verb, or verbal auxiliary) is a verb whose function it is to give further semantic or syntactic information about the main or full verb which follows it. ... In grammar, voice is the relationship between the action or state expressed by a verb, and its arguments (subject, object, etc. ... Grammatical tense is a way languages express the time at which an event described by a sentence occurs. ...

Vocabulary

Germanic words (which include all the basics such as pronouns and conjunctions) tend to be shorter than the Latinate words of English, and more common in ordinary speech. The longer Latinate words are regarded by many as more elegant or educated. However, the excessive use of Latinate words is considered by some to be either pretentious (as in the stereotypical policeman's talk of "apprehending the suspect") or an attempt to obfuscate an issue. George Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language" gives a thorough treatment of this feature of English. In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun phrase. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Obfuscation refers to the concept of concealing the meaning of communication by making it more confusing and harder to interpret. ... Eric Arthur Blair (June 25, 1903[1][2] â€“ January 21, 1950), better known by the pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. ... An essay is a short work of writing that treats a topic from an authors personal point of view. ... Politics and the English Language (1946) is one of George Orwells most famous essays. ...

An English speaker is often able to choose between Germanic and Latinate synonyms: "come" or "arrive"; "sight" or "vision"; "freedom" or "liberty." Often there is a choice between a Germanic word (oversee), a Latin word (supervise), and a French word derived from the same Latin word (survey). The richness of the language arises from the variety of different meanings and nuances such synonyms have from each other, 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. Look up Synonym in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Not to be confused with Entomology, the study of insects. ... In linguistics, a register is a subset of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. ... This list contains Germanic elements of the English language which have a close corresponding Latinate form. ...

An exception to this and a peculiarity perhaps unique to English 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; or swine/pig and pork. This is assumed to be a result of the aftermath of the Norman invasion, where a French-speaking elite were the consumers of the meat, produced by English-speaking lower classes. Subfamilies Odocoilinae Cervinae Hydropotinae Muntiacinae A deer is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. ... Venison is the modern term for the meat of deer, elk, red deer, moose, caribou, and pronghorn. ... COW is an acronym for a number of things: Can of worms The COW programming language, an esoteric programming language. ... A cut of beef. ... Binomial name Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1758 Synonyms The domestic pig is usually given the scientific name Sus scrofa, though some authors call it , reserving for the wild boar. ... Species Sus barbatus Sus bucculentus Sus cebifrons Sus celebensis Sus domesticus(Sus scrofa domesticus) Sus heureni Sus philippensis Sus salvanius Sus scrofa Sus timoriensis Sus verrucosus Pigs, also called hogs, swine, boars (male) or sows (female), are ungulates native to Eurasia collectively grouped under the genus Sus within the Suidae... Two halves of a pig being delivered Pork is the meat taken from pigs. ...

In everyday speech, the majority of words will normally be Germanic. If a speaker wishes to make a forceful point in an argument in a very blunt way, Germanic words will usually be chosen. A majority of Latinate words (or at least a majority of content words) will normally be used in more formal speech and writing, such as a courtroom or an encyclopedia article. However, there are other Latinate words that are used normally in everyday speech and do not sound formal; these are mainly words for concepts that no longer have Germanic words, and are generally assimilated better and in many cases do not appear Latinate. For instance, the words mountain, valley, river, aunt, uncle, push and stay are all Latinate. A trial at the Old Bailey in London as drawn by Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin for Ackermanns Microcosm of London (1808-11). ... Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon, 1902 An encyclopedia, encyclopaedia or (traditionally) encyclopÃ¦dia,[1] is a comprehensive written compendium that contains information on all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge. ...

English is noted for the vast size of its active vocabulary and its fluidity. English easily accepts technical terms into common usage and imports new words and phrases that often come into common usage. Examples of this phenomenon include: cookie, Internet and URL (technical terms), as well as genre, über, lingua franca and amigo (imported words/phrases, from French, German, modern Latin, 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. HTTP cookies, sometimes known as web cookies or just cookies, are parcels of text sent by a server to a web browser and then sent back unchanged by the browser each time it accesses that server. ... A Uniform Resource Locator, URL (spelled out as an acronym, not pronounced as earl), or Web address, is a standardized address name layout for resources (such as documents or images) on the Internet (or elsewhere). ... Look up genre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... Amigo (female form: Amiga) is a Spanish word for friend. ... Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ... Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used. ...

Number of words in English

Main article: Number of words in English This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

As the General Explanations at the beginning of the Oxford English Dictionary state:

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, there is no Academy to define officially accepted words. Neologisms are coined regularly in medicine, science and 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". This is a list of bodies that regulate languages. ... A neologism (from Greek Î½ÎµÎ¿Î»Î¿Î³Î¹ÏƒÎ¼ÏŒÏ‚ Î½ÎÎ¿Ï‚ [neos] = new; Î»ÏŒÎ³Î¿Ï‚ [logos] = word) is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) â€” often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. ... Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ...

The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (OED2) includes over 600,000 definitions, following a rather inclusive policy: The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is generally regarded as the most comprehensive and scholarly dictionary of the English language. ...

The difficulty of defining the number of words is compounded by the emergence of new versions of English, such as Indo-Pakistani English. The editors of Merriam Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged (475,000 definitions) in their preface, estimate the number to be much higher. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

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 Old English) and those which are "Latinate" (Latin-derived, either directly from Norman French or other Romance languages). Image File history File links Influencegraph. ... Image File history File links Influencegraph. ... . ... Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ...

Numerous sets of statistics have been proposed to demonstrate the various origins of English vocabulary. None, as yet, are considered definitive by a majority of 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) that estimated the origin of English words as follows:

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: The geographical spread of the OÃ¯l languages (except French) can be seen in shades of green in this map The Langues doÃ¯l language family in linguistics comprises Romance languages originating in territories now occupied by northern France, part of Belgium and the Channel Islands. ... Old Norman was one of many langue doÃ¯l dialects. ... A great amount of words of French origin have entered the English language. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Germanic languages form one of the branches of the Indo-European (IE) language family, spoken by the Germanic peoples who settled in northern Europe along the borders of the Roman Empire. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ...

The majority of the most commonly-used words in English are Anglo-Saxon in origin[9].

Dutch origins

Words describing the navy, types of ships, and other objects or activities on the water are often from Dutch origin. Yacht (Jacht) and cruiser (kruiser) are examples. This is a list of words of Dutch language origin. ...

French origins

There are many words of French origin in English, such as competition, art, table, publicity, police, role, routine, machine, force, and many others that have been and are being anglicised; they are now pronounced according to English rules of phonology, rather than French. Approximately 40% of English vocabulary is of French or Oïl language origin, most derived from, or transmitted via, the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest [10]. It has been suggested that List of French phrases be merged into this article or section. ... A great amount of words of French origin have entered the English language. ... Anglicisation (CwE) or Anglicization (NAE) is a process of making something English. ... The vowels of modern (Standard) Arabic and (Israeli) Hebrew from the phonological point of view. ... The geographical spread of the OÃ¯l languages (except French) can be seen in shades of green in this map The OÃ¯l language family in linguistics comprises Romance languages originating in territories now occupied by northern France, part of Belgium and the Channel Islands. ... The Anglo-Norman language is the name given to the variety of Norman spoken by the Anglo-Normans, the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the conquest by William of Normandy in 1066. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification - by Athelstan AD 927 Area - Total 130,395 kmÂ² (1st in UK) 50,346 sq mi Population - 2005 est. ... Bayeux Tapestry depicting events leading to the Battle of Hastings The Norman Conquest of England was the conquest of the Kingdom of England by William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy), in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings and the subsequent Norman control of England. ...

Writing system

English has been written using the Latin alphabet since around the ninth century. (Before that, Old English had been written using the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc.) The spelling system or orthography of English is historical, not phonological. The spelling of words often diverges considerably from how they are spoken, and English spelling is often considered to be one of the most difficult to learn of any language that uses an alphabet. See English orthography. The modern English alphabet consists of the 26 letters[1] of the Latin alphabet: // Old English The English language has been written using the Latin alphabet from ca. ... English orthography (or spelling), has relatively complicated rules when compared to other orthographic systems written with alphabetic scripts and contains many inconsistencies between spelling and pronunciation, necessitating rote learning for most people learning to read or write English. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... (8th century - 9th century - 10th century - other centuries) Events Beowulf might have been written down in this century, though it could also have been in the 8th century Viking attacks on Europe begin Oseberg ship burial The Magyars arrive in what is now Hungary, forcing the Serbs and Bulgars south... The Anglo-Saxon Futhorc are a runic alphabet, extended from the Elder Futhark, consisting of 29, and later even 33 characters. ... The orthography of a language is the set of symbols (glyphs and diacritics) used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to write these glyphs correctly, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. ... The vowels of modern (Standard) Arabic and (Israeli) Hebrew from the phonological point of view. ... English spelling (or orthography), although largely phonemic, has more complicated rules than many other spelling systems used by languages written in alphabetic scripts and contains many inconsistencies between spelling and pronunciation, necessitating rote learning for anyone learning to read or write English. ...

Basic sound-letter correspondence

The voiceless bilabial plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. ... The voiced bilabial plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The voiceless alveolar plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. ... African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also called African American English, Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular (BEV), Black Vernacular English (BVE), or Jive (JVE), is a type variety (dialect, ethnolect and sociolect) of the American English language. ... New York Dialect is the variety of the English language spoken by most European Americans in New York City and much of its metropolitan area including Northern New Jersey, Westchester and Rockland counties, and all of Long Island. ... The voiced alveolar plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also called African American English, Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular (BEV), Black Vernacular English (BVE), or Jive (JVE), is a type variety (dialect, ethnolect and sociolect) of the American English language. ... New York Dialect is the variety of the English language spoken by most European Americans in New York City and much of its metropolitan area including Northern New Jersey, Westchester and Rockland counties, and all of Long Island. ... The voiceless velar plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. ... The voiced velar plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The bilabial nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The alveolar nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The velar nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The voiceless labiodental fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... English English is a term that has been applied to the English language as spoken in England. ... The voiced labiodental fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. ... Cockneys are, in the present-day sense of the word, white working-class inhabitants of London. ... Estuary English is a name given to the form of English widely spoken in South East England, especially along the river Thames and its estuary. ... The voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. ... The voiced dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The voiceless alveolar fricatives are a type of consonantal sound. ... The voiced alveolar fricatives are consonantal sounds. ... The voiceless palato-alveolar fricative or domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The voiced palato-alveolar fricative or domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. ... Scottish English is usually taken to mean the standard form of the English language used in Scotland, often termed Scottish Standard English. ... Welsh English, Anglo-Welsh, or Wenglish (see below) refer to the dialects of English spoken in Wales by Welsh people. ... The voiceless glottal fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The voiceless palato-alveolar fricative or domed postalveolar affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... The voiced postalveolar affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The alveolar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. ... The palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in very many spoken languages. ... The alveolar lateral approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. ... The labial-velar approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in certain spoken languages. ... The voiceless labial-velar approximant (traditionally called a fricative) is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ...

Written accents

English includes some words that can be written with accent marks. These words have mostly been imported from other languages, usually French. But it is increasingly rare for writers of English to actually use the accent marks for common words, even in very formal writing. The strongest tendency to retain the accent is in words that are atypical of English morphology and therefore still perceived as slightly foreign. For example, café and animé both have a pronounced final e, which would be "silent" by the normal English pronunciation rules.

Some examples: ångström, animé, appliqué, attaché, blasé, bric-à-brac, café, cliché, crème, crêpe, façade, fiancé(e), flambé, naïve, naïveté, né(e), papier-mâché, passé, piñata, protégé, raison d'être, résumé, risqué, über-, vis-à-vis, voilà. For a more complete list, see List of English words with diacritics. This is a list of loan words adopted into the English language that have letters with diacritical marks. ...

Some words such as rôle and hôtel were first seen with accents when they were borrowed into English, but now the accent is almost never used. The words were considered very French borrowings when first used in English, even accused by some of being foreign phrases used where English alternatives would suffice, but today their French origin is largely forgotten. The accent on "élite" has disappeared from most publications today, though Time magazine still uses it. For some words such as "soupçon" however, the only spelling found in English dictionaries (the OED and others) uses the diacritic. (Clockwise from upper left) Time magazine covers from May 7, 1945; July 25, 1969; December 31, 1999; September 14, 2001; and April 21, 2003. ... The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is generally regarded as the most comprehensive and scholarly dictionary of the English language. ...

Italics, with appropriate accents, are generally applied to foreign terms that are uncommonly used in or have not been assimilated into English: for example, adiós, coup d'état, crème brûlée, pièce de résistance, raison d'être, über (übermensch), vis-à-vis. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... AdiÃ³s is Spanish for GoodBye. ... A coup dâ€™Ã‰tat (pronounced ), or simply coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government through unconstitutional means by a part of the state establishment â€” mostly replacing just the high-level figures. ... CrÃ¨me brÃ»lÃ©e (French, burnt cream, pronounced (IPA) in English; in French) is a dessert consisting of a custard-like base whose sugar topping has been burnt into a delicate, glass-like caramelized layer. ... PiÃ¨ce de rÃ©sistance is a French term (circa 1839), translated into English literally as piece of resistance, referring to the best part or feature of something (as in a meal), a showpiece, or highlight. ... Raison dÃªtre is the reason or justification for existing. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche The concept of the â€” (homo superior; equivalent English: overman, super-human or trans-human; see below) â€” was expounded by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in the 1883 book Thus Spoke Zarathustra, whose eponymous protagonist contends that man is something which ought to be overcome. Zarathustra thus announces the coming... Look up Vis-Ã -vis on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Vis-Ã -vis from the French language, literally face to face, is a type of carriage where the occupants face each other. ...

It was formerly common in English to use a diaeresis to indicate a syllable break: for example, coöperate, daïs, reëlect. One publication that still uses a diaeresis for this function is the New Yorker magazine. However, this is increasingly rare in modern English. Nowadays the diaeresis is normally left out (cooperate), or a hyphen is used (co-operate). It is, however, still common in loanwords such as naïve and noël. In linguistics, a, diaeresis, or dieresis (AE) (from Greek (diaerein), to divide) is the modification of a syllable by distinctly pronouncing one of its vowels. ... The New Yorker is an American magazine that publishes reportage, criticism, essays, cartoons, poetry and fiction. ...

Written accents are also used occasionally in poetry and scripts for dramatic performances to indicate that a certain normally unstressed syllable in a word should be stressed for dramatic effect, or to keep with the metre of the poetry. This use is frequently seen in archaic and pseudoarchaic writings with the "-ed" suffix, to indicate that the "e" should be fully pronounced, as with cursèd. The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poiesis, making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

In certain older texts (typically British), the use of ligatures is common in words such as archæology, œsophagus, and encyclopædia. Such words have Latin or Greek origin. Nowadays, the ligatures have been generally replaced in British English by the separated letters "ae" and "oe" ("archaeology", "oesophagus") and in American English by "ae" and "e" ("archaeology", "esophagus"), however, the spellings "oeconomy" and "oecology" are now generally replaced by "economy" and "ecology" outside the U.S. as well. In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more letterforms are written or printed as a unit. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... English language spread in the United States. ...

For further information on how one can type diacritics and ligatures, see British and American keyboards, keyboard layouts. There are two major English language keyboard layouts, the United States layout and the United Kingdom layout. ... Computers and other typing devices offer many different keyboard layouts, for people to be able to input data in different languages. ...

Formal written English

A version of the language, which is almost universally agreed upon by educated English speakers around the world, is called Formal written English. It takes virtually the same form no matter where in the English-speaking world it is written. In spoken English, by contrast, there are a vast number of differences between dialects, accents, and varieties of slang, colloquial and regional expressions. In spite of this, local variations in the formal written version of the language are quite limited. Note: this article may be of particular interest to non-native users of English. ... Note: this article may be of particular interest to non-native users of English. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος) is a variant, or variety, of a language spoken in a certain geographical area. ... In linguistics, an accent is a pronunciation characteristic of a particular group of people relative to another group. ... Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ...

Learners of English are in danger of being misled by native speakers who refer to American English, Australian English, British English or other varieties of English. While it is true that many regional differences among the forms of spoken English can be documented, the learner can easily fall into the trap of believing that these are different languages. They are instead mostly regional variations of the spoken language and such variations occur within these countries as well as between them. English language spread in the United States. ... Australian English (AuE) is the form of the English language used in Australia. ... Diagram showing the geographical locations of selected languages and dialects of the British Isles. ...

The differences in formal writing that occur in the various parts of the English-speaking world are so slight that many dozens of pages of formal English can be read without the reader coming across any clues as to the origin of the writer, far less any difficulties of comprehension.

A popular American website about errors in English, written by a professor at a west coast U.S. university guiding his students towards preferred constructions of written English, contains almost nothing among its hundreds of entries with which a counterpart thousands of miles away in Sydney or London would disagree. Certainly, disputes about pronunciation and colloquial expressions used in speech abound, but in the written language these are relatively few. A website (or Web site) is a collection of web pages, typically common to a particular domain name or subdomain on the World Wide Web on the Internet. ...

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, comparable with Ido. Thus Basic English is used by companies who need to make complex books for international use, and by language schools that need to give people some knowledge of English in a short time. Look up Appendix:Basic English word list in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... An artificial or constructed language (known colloquially as a conlang among aficionados), is a language whose phonology, grammar and vocabulary are specifically devised by an individual or small group, rather than having naturally evolved as part of a culture the way natural languages do. ... Charles Kay Ogden (June 1, 1889 Fleetwood - March 21, 1957 London) was a British linguist, philosopher, and writer, now mostly remembered as the inventor and propagator of Basic English, a constructed language, his primary activity from 1925 until his death. ... Look up Esperanto in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Ido (pronounced ), a constructed language, was created to become a universal second language for speakers of different linguistic backgrounds, easier to learn than any ethnic language. ...

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. Although it was not built into a programme, similar simplifications were devised for various international uses. Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...

Another version, Simplified English, exists, which is a controlled language originally developed for aerospace industry maintenance manuals. It offers a carefully limited and standardised 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". Simplified English is a controlled language originally developed for aerospace industry maintenance manuals. ... Controlled Natural Languages are subsets of natural languages whose grammars and dictionaries have been restricted in order to reduce or eliminate both ambiguity and complexity. ... Look up aerospace in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Contents

History

Classification and related languages

Geographical distribution

English as a global language

Dialects and regional varieties

Constructed varieties of English

Phonology

Vowels

See also

Consonants

Voicing and aspiration

See also

Supra-segmental features

Tone groups

Characteristics of intonation (stress accent)

Grammar

Vocabulary

Number of words in English

Word origins

Dutch origins

French origins

Writing system

Basic sound-letter correspondence

Written accents

Formal written English

Basic and simplified versions

See also

Pronunciation

Social, cultural or political

Grammar

Usage

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Dictionaries

Contents

History GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Classification and related languages

Geographical distribution

English as a global language

Dialects and regional varieties

Constructed varieties of English

Phonology

Vowels

See also

Consonants

Voicing and aspiration

See also

Supra-segmental features

Tone groups

Characteristics of intonation (stress accent)

Grammar

Vocabulary

Number of words in English

Word origins

Dutch origins

French origins

Writing system

Basic sound-letter correspondence

Written accents

Formal written English

Basic and simplified versions

See also

Pronunciation

Social, cultural or political

Grammar

Usage

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Dictionaries

History