Definition
English is a West Germanic language that developed in England
during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic,
scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire
during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United
States since the mid 20th century,it has become the lingua franca
in many parts of the world. It is used extensively as a second
language and as an official language in Commonwealth countries
and many international organisations.
History

English is a West Germanic language that originated
from the Anglo-Frisian and Lower Saxon dialects
brought to Britain by Germanic settlers and Roman
auxiliary troops from various parts of what is now
northwest Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands in
the 5th century. One of these Germanic tribes was the
Angles, who may have come from Angeln, and Bede
wrote that their whole nation came to Britain, leaving
their former land empty. The names 'England' (from
Engla land "Land of the Angles") and English (Old
English Englisc) are derived from the name of this tribe.
The Anglo-Saxons began invading around 449 AD from the
regions of Denmark and Jutland.Before the Anglo-Saxons
arrived in England the native population spoke Brythonic, a
Celtic language. Although the most significant changes in
dialect occurred after the Norman invasion of 1066, the
language retained its name and the pre-Norman invasion
dialect is now known as Old English.
Initially, Old English was a diverse group of dialects, reflecting
the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms of Great
Britain.One of these dialects, Late West Saxon, eventually came
to dominate. One of the most prevalent forces in the evolution
of the English language was the Roman Catholic Church.
Beginning with the Rule of St Benedict in 530 and continuing
until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, the Roman
Catholic Church instructed monasteries and Catholic officials
like Augustine of Canterbury to preserve intellectual culture
within their schools, scriptoria, and libraries.
During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had a monopoly on intellectual
property in British society, which they used to exert great influence on the
English language. Catholic monks mainly wrote or copied text in Latin, the
prevalent Medieval lingua franca of Europe.When monks occasionally wrote
in the vernacular, it was common to substitute or derive English-like words
from Latin to describe or refer to things in which there was no English word.
Extensive vocabulary, a derivative of Latin vocabularium, in the English
language largely comprises Latin word derivatives. It is believed that the
intellectual elite in British society over the years perpetuated vocabulary
that Catholic monks contributed to English; furthermore, they continued the
custom of deriving new words from Latin long after the waning of Catholic
Church.
Old English vernacular was also influenced by two waves of invasion. The
first was by language speakers of the North Germanic branch of the
Germanic family; they conquered and colonised parts of the British Isles in
the 8th and 9th centuries. The second was the Normans in the 11th century,
who spoke Old Norman and developed an English variety of this called AngloNorman. (Over the centuries, this lost the specifically Norman element under
the influence of Parisian French and, later, of English, eventually turning into
a distinctive dialect of Anglo-French.) These two invasions caused English to
become "mixed" to some degree (though it was never a truly mixed
language in the strict linguistic sense of the word; mixed languages arise
from the cohabitation of speakers of different languages, who develop a
hybrid tongue for basic communication).
Cohabitation with the Scandinavians resulted in a lexical supplementation of
the Anglo-Frisian core of English; the later Norman occupation led to the
grafting onto that Germanic core of a more elaborate layer of words from the
Romance languages. This Norman influence entered English largely through
the courts and government. Thus, English developed into a "borrowing"
language of great flexibility and a huge vocabulary.
With the emergence and spread of the British Empire, the English language
was adopted in North America, India, Africa, Australia and other regions. The
emergence of the United States as a superpower has also helped the spread
of English.
Modern English, sometimes described as the first global lingua franca,
is the dominant language or in some instances even the required
international language of communications, science, business, aviation,
entertainment, radio and diplomacy. Its spread beyond the British Isles
began with the growth of the British Empire, and by the late
nineteenth century its reach was truly global. Following the British
colonisation of North America, it became the dominant language in the
United States and in Canada. The growing economic and cultural
influence of the United States and its status as a global superpower
since World WarIIhavesignificantlyacceleratedthelanguage's spread
across the planet.
A working knowledge of English has become a requirement in a
number of fields, occupations and professions such as medicine
and computing; as a consequence over a billion people speak
English to at least a basic level (see English language learning
and teaching). It is also one of six official languages of the
United Nations.
Linguists such as David Crystal recognise that one impact of
this massive growth of English, in common with other global
languages, has been to reduce native linguistic diversity in
many parts of the world, most particularly in Australasia and
North America, and its huge influence continues to play an
important role in language attrition. Similarly, historical
linguists, aware of the complex and fluid dynamics of language
change, are always aware of the potential English contains
through the vast size and spread of the communities that use it
and its natural internal variety, such as in its creoles and
pidgins, to produce a new family of distinct languages over
time.
English is a global language
Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as
a "world language", the lingua franca of the modern era. While
English is not an official language in most countries, it is currently
the language most often taught as a second language around the
world. Some linguists (such as David Graddol) believe that it is no
longer the exclusive cultural property of "native English speakers",
but is rather a language that is absorbing aspects of cultures
worldwide as it continues to grow. It is, by international treaty, the
official language for aerial and maritime communications. English is
an official language of the United Nations and many other
international organisations, including the International Olympic
Committee.
English is the language most often studied as a foreign language in the
European Union (by 89% of schoolchildren), followed by French (32%),
German (18%), Spanish (8%), and Russian; while the perception of the
usefulness of foreign languages amongst Europeans is 68% English, 25%
French, 22% German, and 16% Spanish. Among non-English speaking EU
countries, a large percentage of the population claimed to have been able to
converse in English in the Netherlands (87%), Sweden (85%), Denmark
(83%), Luxembourg (66%), Finland (60%), Slovenia (56%), Austria (53%),
Belgium (52%), and Germany (51%). Norway and Iceland also have a large
majority of competent English-speakers.[citation needed]
Books, magazines, and newspapers written in English are available in many
countries around the world. English is also the most commonly used language
in the sciences. 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.
Writing sistem
Since around the ninth century, English has been written in the Latin
alphabet, which replaced Anglo-Saxon runes. The spelling system, or
orthography, is multilayered, with elements of French, Latin and
Greek spelling on top of the native Germanic system; it has grown to
vary significantly from the phonology of the language. The spelling of
words often diverges considerably from how they are spoken.
Though letters and sounds may not correspond in isolation, spelling
rules that take into account syllable structure, phonetics, and accents
are 75% or more reliable. Some phonics spelling advocates claim
that English is more than 80% phonetic. However, English has fewer
consistent relationships between sounds and letters than many other
languages; for example, the sound sequence ough can be
pronounced in 10 different ways. The consequence of this complex
orthographic history is that reading can be challenging. It takes
longer for students to become completely fluent readers of English
than of many other languages, including French, Greek, and Spanish.