English language
English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the
ignificance
Modern English, sometimes described as the first global A working knowledge of English has become a requirement in a number of fields, occupations and professions such as medicine and as a consequence over a billion people speak English to at least a basic level (see Linguists such as English is one of six official languages of the History English is a West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers and Roman auxiliary troops from various parts of what is now northwest Germany and the Northern Cohabitation with the Scandinavians resulted in a significant grammatical simplification and 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 Italic branch of the European languages. This Norman influence entered English largely through the courts and government. Thus, English developed into a "borrowing" language of great flexibility and with a huge vocabulary. Classification and related languages The English language belongs to the western sub-branch of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. The closest living relative of English is Scots, spoken primarily in Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland, which is viewed by linguists as either a separate language or a group of dialects of English. The next closest relative to English after Scots is Frisian, spoken in the Northern Netherlands and Northwest Germany, followed by the other Lexical differences with the other Germanic languages arise predominately because of the heavy usage of Latin (for example, "exit", vs. Dutch "uitgang") and French ("change" vs. German "Änderung", "movement" vs. German "Bewegung") words in English, although this is also true for purely Germanic words ("after" vs. German "nach", "already" vs. German "schon"). The syntax of German and Dutch is also significantly different from English, with different rules for setting up sentences (for example, German "Ich habe noch nie etwas auf dem Platz gesehen", vs. English "I have still never seen anything in the square"). Semantics causes a number of Many written French words are also intelligible to an English speaker (though pronunciations are often quite different) because English absorbed a large vocabulary from Norman and French, via Geographical distribution Approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language. [Curtis, Andy. "Color, Race, And English Language Teaching: Shades of Meaning". 2006, page 192.] English today is probably the third largest language by number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. [http://web.archive.org/web/19990429232804/www.sil.org/ethnologue/top100.html Ethnologue, 1999] ] [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2098.html CIA World Factbook] , Field Listing - Languages (World).] However, when combining native and non-native speakers it is probably the most commonly spoken language in the world, though possibly second to a combination of the The countries with the highest populations of native English speakers are, in descending order: United States (215 million),cite web|url=http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/06statab/pop.pdf|title=U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2003, Section 1 Population|format=pdf|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|pages=59 pages|language=English Table 47 gives the figure of 214,809,000 for those five years old and over who speak exclusively English at home. Based on the American Community Survey, these results exclude those living communally (such as college dormitories, institutions, and group homes), and by definition exclude native English speakers who speak more than one language at home.] United Kingdom (58 million), [http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521530334 The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, Second Edition, Crystal, David; Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, [1995] (2003-08-03).] ] Canada (18.2 million), [http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/highlights/language/Table401.cfm Population by mother tongue and age groups, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories – 20% sample data] , Census 2006, Countries in order of total speakers # The Voicing and aspiration Voicing and aspiration of 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 In English, intonation patterns are on groups of words, which are called tone groups, tone units, intonation groups or sense groups. Tone groups are said on a single breath and, as a consequence, are of limited length, more often being on average five words long or lasting roughly two seconds. For example: : -IPA | /duː juː niːd ˈɛnɪˌθɪŋ/ "Do you need anything?": -IPA | Characteristics of intonation English is a strongly stressed language, in that certain syllables, both within words and within phrases, get a relative prominence/loudness during pronunciation while the others do not. The former kind of syllables are said to be "accentuated/stressed" and the latter are "unaccentuated/unstressed". Hence in a sentence, each tone group can be subdivided into syllables, which can either be stressed (strong) or unstressed (weak). The stressed syllable is called the nuclear syllable. For example: : "That | was | the | best | thing | you | could | have | done!" Here, all syllables are unstressed, except the syllables/words "best" and "done", which are stressed. "Best" is stressed harder and, therefore, is the nuclear syllable. The nuclear syllable carries the main point the speaker wishes to make. For example: : "John" had not stolen that money. (... Someone else had.): John "had not" stolen that money. (... Someone said he had. or ... Not at that time, but later he did.): John had not "stolen" that money. (... He acquired the money by some other means.): John had not stolen "that" money. (... He had stolen some other money.): John had not stolen that "money". (... He had stolen something else.) Also : "I" did not tell her that. (... Someone else told her): I "did not" tell her that. (... You said I did. or ... but now I will): I did not "tell" her that. (... I did not say it; she could have inferred it, etc): I did not tell "her" that. (... I told someone else): I did not tell her "that". (... I told her something else) This can also be used to express emotion: : "Oh", really? (...I did not know that): Oh, "really"? (...I disbelieve you. or ... That is blatantly obvious) The nuclear syllable is spoken more loudly than the others and has a characteristic change of pitch. The changes of pitch most commonly encountered in English are the rising pitch and the falling pitch, although the fall-rising pitch and/or the rise-falling pitch are sometimes used. In this opposition between falling and rising pitch, which plays a larger role in English than in most other languages, falling pitch conveys certainty and rising pitch uncertainty. This can have a crucial impact on meaning, specifically in relation to polarity, the positive–negative opposition; thus, falling pitch means, "polarity known", while rising pitch means "polarity unknown". This underlies the rising pitch of yes/no questions. For example: : "When do you want to be paid?": "Now?" (Rising pitch. In this case, it denotes a question: "Can I be paid now?" or "Do you desire to pay now?"): "Now." (Falling pitch. In this case, it denotes a statement: "I choose to be paid now.") Grammar English grammar has minimal At the same time, the language has become more analytic, and has developed features such as Vocabulary The English vocabulary has changed considerably over the centuries. [For the processes and triggers of English vocabulary changes cf. [http://www1.ku-eichstaett.de/SLF/EngluVglSW/OnOnMon1.pdf "English and General Historical Lexicology" (by Joachim Grzega and Marion Schöner)] ] Like many languages deriving from Proto-Indo-European (PIE), many of the most common words in English can trace back their origin (through the Germanic branch) to PIE. Such words include the basic pronouns "I", from Old English "ic", (cf. Latin "ego", Greek "ego", Sanskrit "aham"), "me" (cf. Latin "me", Greek "eme", Sanskrit "mam"), numbers (e.g. "one", "two", "three", cf. Latin "unus, duo, tres", Greek "oinos" "ace (on dice)", "duo, treis"), common family relationships such as mother, father, brother, sister etc (cf. Greek "meter", Latin "mater", Sanskrit "matṛ"; "mother"), names of many animals (cf. Sankrit "mus", Greek "mys", Latin "mus"; "mouse"), and many common verbs (cf. Greek "gignōmi", Latin "gnoscere", Hittite "kanes";" to know"). Germanic words (generally words of Old English or to a lesser extent Norse origin) tend to be shorter than the Latinate words of English and more common in ordinary speech. This includes nearly all the basic pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, modal verbs etc. that form the basis of English syntax and grammar. The longer Latinate words are often regarded as more elegant or educated. However, the excessive use of Latinate words is considered at times to be either pretentious or an attempt to obfuscate an issue. An English speaker is in many cases able to choose between Germanic and Latinate 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: " Since the majority of words used in informal settings will normally be Germanic, such words are often the preferred choices when a speaker wishes to make a point in an argument in a very direct way. 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 English easily accepts technical terms into common usage and often imports new words and phrases. Examples of this phenomenon include: "cookie", " See also: Number of words in English The "General Explanations" at the beginning of the "Oxford English Dictionary" states: The vocabulary of English is undoubtedly vast, but assigning a specific number to its size is more a matter of definition than of calculation. Unlike other languages, such as French, German, Spanish and Italian there is no Academy to define officially accepted words and spellings. The " The editors of "Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged" (475,000 main headwords) in their preface, estimate the number to be much higher. It is estimated that about 25,000 words are added to the language each year. [Kister, Ken. "Dictionaries defined." "Library Journal," 6/15/92, Vol. 117 Issue 11, p43, 4p, 2bw] Word origins One of the consequences of the French influence is that the vocabulary of English is, to a certain extent, divided between those words which are Germanic (mostly West Germanic, with a smaller influence from the North Germanic branch) and those which are "Latinate" (Latin-derived, either directly or from Norman French or other Romance languages). Numerous sets of statistics have been proposed to demonstrate the origins of English vocabulary. None, as of yet, is considered definitive by most linguists. A computerised survey of about 80,000 words in the old "Shorter Oxford Dictionary" (3rd ed.) was published in "Ordered Profusion" by Thomas Finkenstaedt and Dieter Wolff (1973) [cite book |last=Finkenstaedt |first=Thomas |coauthors=Dieter Wolff |title=Ordered profusion; studies in dictionaries and the English lexicon |publisher=C. Winter |year=1973 |id=ISBN 3-533-02253-6] that estimated the origin of English words as follows: A survey by However, 83% of the 1,000 most-common, and all of the 100 most-common English words are Germanic. [ [http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/engol-0-X.html Old English Online] ] 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. 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 Idiomatic The multiple origins of words used in English, and the willingness of English speakers to innovate and be creative, has resulted in many expressions that seem somewhat odd to newcomers to the language, but which can convey complex meanings in sometimes-colorful ways. Consider, for example, the common idiom of using the same word to mean an activity and those engaged in that activity, and sometimes also a verb. Here are a few examples: Writing system English has been written using the 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. [Abbott, M. (2000). Identifying reliable generalizations for spelling words: The importance of multilevel analysis. The Elementary School Journal 101(2), 233-245.] Some phonics spelling advocates claim that English is more than 80% phonetic. [ Moats, L. M. (2001). Speech to print: Language essentials for teachers. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Company.] In general, the English language, being the product of many other languages and having only been codified orthographically in the 16th century, has fewer consistent relationships between sounds and letters than many other languages. The consequence of this orthographic history is that reading can be challenging. [Diane McGuinness, "Why Our Children Can’t Read" (New York: Touchstone, 1997) pp. 156-169] It takes longer for students to become completely fluent readers of English than of many other languages, including French, Greek, and Spanish. [ Ziegler, J. C., & Goswami, U. (2005). Reading acquisition, developmental dyslexia, and skilled reading across languages. "Psychological Bulletin, 131"(1), 3-29.] Basic sound-letter correspondence Only the consonant letters are pronounced in a relatively regular way: Written accents Unlike most other Germanic languages, English has almost no Some English words retain the diacritic to distinguish them from others, such as "animé, exposé, lamé, Formal written English A version of the language almost universally agreed upon by educated English speakers around the world is called Basic and simplified versions To make English easier to read, there are some simplified versions of the language. One basic version is named " 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 program, similar simplifications were devised for various international uses. Another version, See also * Notes References * External links * Dictionaries * [http://www.m-w.com Merriam-Webster's online dictionary] Template group
# The
# In some dialects, such as
# The sounds IPA | /ʃ/, /ʒ/, and /ɹ/ are labialised in some dialects. Labialisation is never contrastive in initial position and therefore is sometimes not transcribed. Most speakers of
# The
# The
# Voiceless w IPA | [ʍ] is found in Scottish and Irish English, as well as in some varieties of American, New Zealand, and English English. In most other dialects it is merged with /w/, in some dialects of Scots it is merged with /f/.
* Voiceless plosives and affricates (/IPA | p/, /IPA | t/, /IPA | k/, and /IPA | tʃ/) are aspirated when they are word-initial or begin a stressed syllablendash compare "pin" IPA | [pʰɪn] and "spin" IPA | [spɪn] , "crap" IPA | [kʰɹ̥æp] and "scrap" IPA | [skɹæp] .
** In some dialects, aspiration extends to unstressed syllables as well.
** In other dialects, such as
* Word-initial voiced plosives may be devoiced in some dialects.
* Word-terminal voiceless plosives may be unreleased or accompanied by a glottal stop in some dialects (e.g. many varieties of
* Word-terminal voiced plosives may be devoiced in some dialects (e.g. some varieties of
*"Langue d'oïl", including French and
*Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%
*Other
*Greek: 5.32%
*No etymology given: 4.03%
*Derived from proper names: 3.28%
*All other languages contributed less than 1%
*French (langue d'oïl): 41%
*"Native" English: 33%
*Latin: 15%
*Danish: 2%
*Dutch: 1%
*Other: 10%
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* [http://www.archive.org/details/readerandwriter030101mbp]
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*Kenyon, John Samuel and Knott, Thomas Albert, "A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English", G & C Merriam Company, Springfield, Mass, USA,1953.
* [http://www.ncela.gwu.edu National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition]
* [http://www.soundcomparisons.com Accents of English from Around the World] Hear and compare how the same 110 words are pronounced in 50 English accents from around the world - instantaneous playback online
* [http://www.global-english.co.nr/ The Global English Survey Project] A survey tracking how non-native speakers around the world use English
* [http://arael.shtooka.net/swf/english/ 6000 English words recorded by a native speaker]
* [http://itcansay.com More than 20000 English words recorded by a native speaker]
* [http://www.askoxford.com Oxford's online dictionary]
* [http://www.dict.org dict.org]
* [http://www.prefixsuffix.com English language word roots, prefixes and suffixes (affixes) dictionary]
* [http://dicts.info/dictlist1.php Collection of English bilingual dictionaries]
* [http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/dare/dare.html Dictionary of American Regional English]
title=Linguistics
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title=Geopolitical use
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