The origin and the spread of the English language all over
the world
The present day status of English is the result of 2 factors:
1) The process of British colonization and inconsequence the
English language is now present in every continent.
2) The emergence of the United States, the leading economic power
in the 20th century and expectingly in the 21st century.
1. The origin of the English language.
English comes from a number of Germanic dialects. 3 of which the
Angles, the Jutes and the Saxons crossed the North Sea from North
Western Europe in 450 E.D.
We might name (term) this migration the "First Crossing", which
resulted in a merger production of what we now call Angle-Saxons or
Old English. In this period (from 450 to 1100) a number of phenomena
existed. English was fragmented, had multiple norms, and varied
considerably. It was used in multi-lingual settings and showed a fair
degree of borrowings from other languages.
English existed in the multilingual setting and mixed Celtic languages. It
was certainly influenced by Latin, which enjoyed prestige in British
cities during the Roman period and later in the context of the Roman
Catholic Church.
Towards the year 1000, there were signs of a written standard of English
emerging out of the monasteries in and around Winchester, and there
was such a quote which was written and read from Canterbury to York.
But with the fall of the Anglo-Saxons, we may state that it was the first
decline of the English language.
The early part of the period from 1100 to 1500 was dominated by the
linguistic consequences of the Norman Conquest.
French became the language of the new upper classes and English was
associated with ordinary (poor) people. After the Norman invasion of
1066, many nobles from England fled north to Scotland, where they
were made welcome, and eventually the language (in a distinctive Scots
variety) spread throughout the Scottish lowlands. From the 12th century,
Anglo-Norman knights were sent across the Irish Sea, and Ireland
gradually fell under the English rule.
Within the UK English spread further by conquest into Wales, Scotland
and Ireland (for the 2nd time). In the case of Wales, the political
dominance of England was established by 2 acts of Union, (in 1536 and
in 1542), when Welsh laws and customs were abolished and the English
language gained preemiance in law and administration.
English was also spread by the establishment of English-speaking
townships and the promotion of English in education. In the late 18th
century, most of the country was monolingual Welsh. But widespread
industrialization in the 19th century promoted the spread of English.
The history of the Scottish English is linked to that of Scots whose
history as an autonomous Germanic language dates from the 11th
century. Scots achieved its greatest prominence in the 15th and early 16th
century. But after the act of Union in 1603 a decline in its prestige and
used followed.
Throughout the 19th century English rapidly gained ground through the
expansions of education and eventually Scotts lost the status of an
autonomous language.
The earliest record of the use of English in Ireland dates from 1250, but
English only began to spread significantly after the establishment of
Ulster plantation in 1607 which introduced Scotts English onto the
Ireland. By the early 19th century language shift in Ireland toward
English continues and nowadays only 3% of the population claim that
they have a native speaker ability of Irish gallic
To sum up, we can say that here we described the spread of the English
language on the British islands.
2. Spread of the English language all over the world.
The global spread of English is viewed in terms of 2 diasporas.
In the first, English was transplanted by native speakers. In the second,
English was introduced as an official language alongside other national
languages.
I diaspora
The first diaspora of English took place with the movement of English-
speaking population to North America, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand.
Each of these countries adapted the English language as the language of
the new nation, which resulted in English becoming one of the major
languages of the world along with Arabic, French, Spanish, German and
Hindi.
II diaspora
The global status of English became established in the second diaspora.
This diaspora brought English to un-English countries (where English
wasn’t used at all) in South Asia, Latin America, Africa, which resulted
in a significant alteration of the earlier social linguistic profile of the
English language. It was in the second diaspora that English came in
contact with genetically and culturally unrelated languages. It resulted in
the development of regional contact varieties of English. For example,
Indian English, Malaysian English, Philippian English, Nigerian English
and so on.
It was also in the second diaspora that new ways of English teaching
were created in terms of methodology, norms and identity.
3. Some approaches to the study of world English by
different scholars
Several attempts have been made to model the spread and diffusion of
English as a global language. One of the most widely recognised is
Kachru’s concentric circle model which captures the historical,
sociolinguistic and literary contexts of the spread and (or the fusion)
diffusion of English. In this model the inner circle refers to the
traditional basis of English. English was first spread from England to
North America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where it is now
used as primary language representing the historic and sociolinguistic
basis of English. In these countries English is the native language and
the mother tongue of the majority of the countries’ inhabitants. The
inner circle is norm-providing which means that the language norms are
developed in these countries.
As the consequence of imperial expansion of England in Africa and
Asia the outer circle emerged where the English language is not their
mother tongue, but instead it is used as lingua franca between different
language and ethnic groups, for example, in India, Bangladesh and some
other countries. But it should be mentioned that some countries, for
instance, Singapore, is drifting towards the inner circle since English is
used more frequently as a native language there. Countries such as
Jamaica and others, for instance, Papua New Guinea are counted as an
outer circle since most people there speak an English-based creole
language instead of the standard.
The third circle is an expanding circle which includes countries where
English is not historically relevant but nevertheless it is widely spread
and is used as a means of international communication with an
estimated 100 to 1000 million speaker. This circle includes much of the
rest of the world’s countries. The inner circle comprises from 300 to 400
million people. The outer circle probably from 200 to 300 million
people.
The impact and extent of spread is not easily quantifiable, because many
varieties of English are used for international functions.
The continuum of Englishes is used all over the world extends from
pidgin forms at the lower level to standardized educated uses at the
upper end (level). So, by pidgin we mean a system of communication
which has grown up among people who do not share a common
language, but they need to talk to each other usually for reasons of trade.
Such languages typically have a limited vocabulary, a reduced grammar
structure and a narrow range of functions. When a pidgin language has
developed into the mother tongue of the community it is already a
Creole. But all the variants come from world standard English as the
common care of the different varieties.
Vocabulary differences can be traced in the dictionaries of American,
British and Australian English and they may have their own words to
denote the same notion. For example, тротуар – pavement (British),
sidewalk (American), pathway or footpath (in Australia, India, New
Zealand)
The other type (model) is the family tree which reveals the fact that
there are two major models: the British English and the American
English. In fact, they seem to have divided the world between
themselves with the western hemisphere belonging to American English
and the eastern to British. Due to historical reasons there are certain
discrepancies: the American English is spoken in Liberia, because some
of the American sleeves were repatriated from the US to Africa.
The Philippines also follows the American model due to the US
possession of the islands after the Spanish-American war. On the other
hand, British is dominant in a few places on the American continent, for
example: in former colonies of the Caribbean, in British Guiana and the
Falklands.
Historical background
The first steps towards the status of English as a world language were
taken under the reign of Elizabeth I. The first expedition from England
to the “new” world was undertaken by Walter Raleigh in 1584. A group
of explorers landed near Roanoke Island and established a small
settlement, but they got into conflict with the natives, so the ship
returned to England. Another expedition was in 1590, but none of the
original settlers could be found. The first permanent settlement was
founded in 1607, it was called Jamestown (the area was called Virginia).
In 1620 the first group of Puritans arrived on board “the Mayflower”,
they were later given the name “Pilgrim fathers”. By 1640
approximately 25 000 immigrants have arrived into the area, but that
was just the beginning – by 1790 the population was more than 4
million people and every year more than 20 000 immigrants arrived in
America. Then due to the famine in island in 1845 and the immense
political upheaval all over Europe more than 30 million people
immigrated to America in the 2nd half of the 19th century.
The language they used in communication and a lot of words were
introduced into English.
Vocabulary
The English language on the American continent had a lot of
borrowings from other languages.
Obviously, when English stepped out beyond the British Isles, its
speakers had to come up with the new words to describe the new
environment, and it was done in several ways.
First of all, it was partly achieved by borrowings from other languages.
The Indian languages provided the names of more than half the
American States and of course numerous rivers, lakes, towns and even
mountains.
For example:
- Arizona, Delaware, Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada. (Those words
are Indian origin).
On the other hand, three or four dozen Indian words were borrowed AS
NAMES OF EVERYDAY OBJECTS.
For example:
- canoe - raccoon
- chipmunk - tobacco
It should also be mentioned that there are some idioms in present
day American English which go back to the Indian languages.
For example:
- to go on a scalp hunt - to bury the hatchet
- to smoke a peace pipe - to go on a warpath
- to put on warpaint - Indian summer
From the Dutch language the settlers borrowed such words as
- boss - dope
- cookie - landscape
- caboose - Yankee
Plenty of words came from Spanish:
- buffalo - mustang
- canyon - patio
- chocolate - plaza
- cockroach - ranch
- coyote - rodeo
- fiesta
- stampede (wild animals - tequila
runs...) - tornado
- tomato
Well known places in the USA such as California, Florida, Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Sierra Nevada are also of Spanish
origin.
The French language gave the name of Indian tribes, territories, rivers,
and other geographical named, such as Apache, Detroit, Illinois, Maine,
New Orleans, St. Louis and others.
Besides, a lot of other words were borrowed from French, such as
Caribou, prairie, pumpkin, cent, dime.
The German language lent such words as
- check - noodle
- cookbook - semester
- delicatessen - seminar
- dollar - skating-rink
- kindergarten - Christmas tree also comes
- lager from German
Furthermore, some grammatical structures were also borrowed
from this language: that will do, it can be, let it be.
Several idioms were borrowed from Yiddish among them
- Enjoy (instead of good appetite)
- Give a look
- He knows from nothing
- I should worry
In addition to the borrowings a lot of new words were created. One
method was to combine already existing English words (composition in
Lexicology).
With the help of composition such words were created:
- bootlegger - grasshopper
- bullfrog - hitch-hike
- catfish - mockingbird
- egghead - rattlesnake
With the help of back formation (when we drop the suffix or prefix
fixation) such words were formed:
- to commute from communication
- to donate from donation
- to housekeep from housekeeper
With the help of clipping such words were formed:
- co-ed from coeducation
- fan from fanatic
- gas from gasoline
- movie from motion picture
There were some blends:
- medicare from medical care
- motel from motorists’ hotel
- smog from smoke+fog
Some English affixes are productive in American English:
- anti-freeze - supermarket
- co-ed - babysitter
- de-ice - finalize
- non-flammable - gangster
Besides America also preserved many dozens of words which
would have fallen out of the English language in that particular
meaning:
- got – refers to possession
- gotten – refers to coming into possession. (He is gotten a new car
– he bought a new car)
Though we may also say that forget-forgot-forgotten is preserved in
British language.
- fall for autumn - mad for angry
- assignment for task or job - slim for small
- bug for any small insect - trash for rubbish
- to loan for to lend
- hog for pig
While describing the lexicon of British and American English 3
distinctions have to be made:
Some words are found only in
American English:
- bookstore - gasoline
- bulletin board - installment plan
- candy - license plate
- diaper - salesclerk
- dormitory - truck stop
- flashlight - undershirt
On the other hand, these are words of British English:
- bookshop - petrol
- notice board - hire purchase
- sweets - number plate
- nappy - shop assistant
- hall of residence - transport café
- torch - vest
The third class contains items that are part of world standard
English:
American contributions are babysitter, beeline, currency (for
money), department store, hangover, grave yard, knowhow,
radio, raincoat, teenager, telephone and many others.
Cultural differences
There are words which reflect cultural differences between the
American and British English. For example: «current account»
in British English is «checking account» in American English
«Estate car» – British, «station vagon» – American
But sometimes words which have 1 meaning in World Standard
English have at least 1 additional meaning in British or
American English. F.e. the word «caravan» has the meaning of
group of people who travel in the desert. But in British English
it is also a vehicle towed by a car (фургон). In American English
they have the word trailer. As to the word «pharmacy» have
synonym in British English «chemist» and in American English
– «drug store»
In addition there are some words that belong to Word Standard
English, but they’re much more frequently used in one of the
variants. F.e. «post» is common in British English – «mail» is
more common in American English
And especially interesting area of the lexicon is represented by
idiomatic expressions. There are a number of idioms where the
difference between the 2 variants lies in just 1 word.
American English British English
to do smth on a shoestring to do smth on a shoelace
to step on the gas to step on the petrol
to blow one’s own horn to blow one’s own trumpet
take a look, bath, walk, sip have a look, bath, walk, sip
American English often uses «take» in set expressions «take a look,
bath, walk, sip» where the British English and other varieties use «have»
Spelling
There is a general tendency in American English towards simplification
Doughnut-donut
and moving closer to pronunciation. Some Through-thru
scholars put it down to the
protestant tradition of making an economical
Inflexion-inflection use of resources in all
Sceptical-skeptical
fields of life. In 1867 a spelling reform WORD was set up and they
Grey-gray
compiled a list of 300 words proposingVice-vise
to simplify the spelling and
bring it closer to
Moustache-mustache pronunciation. Some spelling differences can be
Cigarette-cigaret
applied to a large number or words.
Plough-plow
British-American
Pronunciation
The main features of American English pronunciation are following:
T voicing: matter – madder are homonyms
Yod dropping: tune, new tu:n, nu: instead of tju:n, nju:
Ask raising: ask, answer, dance are pronounced with a sound ae
instead of a:
The sound r is pronounced
This is due to the fact that American English has preserved the vowel
sound e which was common in British English in the South of England
in the 17th-18th century. The sound «r» is pronounced both before
consonants and at the end of words.
Furthermore there are many words where stress is different between
British English and American English.
American English British English
advertisement advertisement
laboratory laboratory
secretary secretary
and plenty more
Grammar
First of all, often we were told that have got is American. But that’s not
true.
Besides «got» (own), «gotten» (come to the possession) in American
English.
Take a look – have a look.
Subjunctive I is rather often used in American English (I asked that he
goes there).
«Were» (If I were you) is used in British English – in American is used
«was».
To work at smth (British English) – to work on smth (American
English).
To knock at the door – to knock on the door.
In the street (British English) – on the street (American English)
American English tries not to use complicated tenses: Present Perfect –
Past Simple; Present Perfect Continuous – Present Simple.
