English

English (English) is an Anglo-Saxon England arisen West Germanic language that is closely related to other Indo-European languages ​​such as German, Frisian, Low Saxon and Dutch. It is in fact the lingua franca in many parts of the world, as a result of the military , economic , cultural , scientific and political influence of the British Empire during the 18th , 19th and early 20th century [2] and the influence of the United States from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. The joint English and their habits are sometimes referred to as Anglo-Saxon, to avoid confusion with the other meaning of 'English', viz. 'From England. "

English is used extensively as a second language or as an official in the Commonwealth and is the preferred language of many international organizations . It is also one of the six official languages ​​of the United Nations .

Content

 * 1 Meaning
 * 2 History
 * 3 Modern usage
 * 4 First language
 * 5 Second Language
 * 6 Vocabulary
 * 6.1 French origin
 * 6.2 Dutch words in English
 * 7 Spelling
 * 8 See also
 * 9 Notes
 * 10 External links

Meaning [ edit ]
Modern English, sometimes described as the first global lingua franca , [3] [4] is the main international language of communications , science , aviation , tourism , radio ,diplomacy and in the business world . [5] The expansion of the language from the British Isles over the world began simultaneously with the growth of the British Empire, and at the end of the 19th century was the language really spread worldwide. [6] The language is dominant in the United States and by its growing economic and cultural influence and status as a world power since the Second World War is the position of the language strengthened worldwide. [4]

A good knowledge of English is a requirement in a number of fields and professions such as medicine and computing ; as a result, controlling at least one billion people at least the standard of English.

Linguists as David Crystal indicate that one of the consequences of the growth of English (like other global languages) is that linguistic diversity is lost in many places in the world, particularly in Australasia and North America .

History [ edit ]
Originally, English originated from many dialects ( Old English ), which were brought to England by the Anglo-Saxon settlers beginning in the 5th century . The language was strongly influenced by the Old Norse language of the Vikings . After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Old English developed into Middle English . Part of that change was the large use of loanwords from the Norman vocabulary and use of Norman spelling rules. Contemporary English evolved from there, and went on to record foreign words, especially from the Latin and Greek .

English has its origins in the Germanic languages ​​in Britain were discussed, particularly the language of the Angles, the Saxony and the Jutes [7] . It is strongly influenced by the Old Norse (thanks to the many Vikings who settled there between 800-1000) and especially the Old French (after the conquest by the Normans in 1066). Thegrammatical structure of English is still predominantly Germanic few of the Romance languages ​​derived sentences after, but the total English vocabulary is much (approximately 60%) derived from the Old French and Latin . Called English therefore sometimes a language bridge between the world of the Germanic and the Romance languages ​​.

English is usually divided into periods as follows:
 * Old English, from the mid 5th century to the mid 12th century , also known as Anglo-Saxon, attested in Beowulf
 * Middle English , 12th - 15th century, the influence from the Norman (a French dialect ) after the Battle of Hastings
 * New English, about mid 16th century to the present day

Modern usage [ edit ]
The English language is from the 20th century 's most influential language in the world. This is partly the result of British expansion in the 19th century, making the Englishin many former colonies still the main (official and administrative) languages ​​but mostly by the cultural and scientific dominant United States.

First language [ edit ]
English is the official language of include Australia , Belize , New Zealand and Nigeria, and one of the official languages ​​include Canada , Ireland and South Africa .English de facto acts as the official language of the United Kingdom and the United States of America .

Countries of the world where English plays an official or de facto official function.

██ Countries where English is the official language or the mother tongue of the majority.

██ Countries where English is an official but not the most spoken language.

Second language [ edit ]
English is considered by many people as a second language spoken. If one considers only first language speakers than English is surpassed by the Mandarin and Spanish .[1] [8] The language serves as a lingua franca in communication in science, engineering and the international political and economic relations throughout the world.

An initiative of the University of Cambridge, the University of Cambridge ESOL examination is a series of exams that assesses the knowledge of the English language of people whom English is not the native language to speak. 2 million people worldwide each year take part in the exams and the exam is held in more than 130 countries.

English is in the Netherlands for many people their second language, and for some their first language. In Flanders, the third language. In secondary education English is a compulsory subject. Students should do exams here.

[Vocabulary edit ]
English has a very large vocabulary, this is mainly because there are often two words for one concept: a Germanic and Romance (such freedom and liberty mean both "freedom"). The difference in use is largely determined by the registry : the Germanic words are preferably used in daily life, the Romanesque synonyms in official written language . (This is also in Dutch so;. For example, 'appreciate' and 'appreciate') The total number of words in the English language is under discussion, but according to the Oxford Dictionary, there are at least 500,000.

Following a survey conducted on 80,000 words in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary (third edition) in 1973 [9], the origin of the English words estimated as follows:
 * Langues d'Oïl, including French and Old Norman : 28.3%
 * Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%
 * Other Germanic languages ​​, including Old English : 25%
 * Greek : 5.32%
 * Unknown: 4.03%
 * Derived from proper names: 3.28%
 * Other languages: less than 1%

French origin [ edit ]
A large part of the English vocabulary is of French or Langues d'Oïl origin and was transferred to English via the Anglo-Norman language spoken by the upper class in England in the centuries following the Norman conquest of England . Words of Norman-French origin include competition, mountain, art, table, publicity, police, role, routine, machine and force. Over time, these words also anglicized making them better suited to the English rules of phonology, pronunciation and spelling.

Some French words were adopted from the 17th to the 19th century, when French was the dominant language of Western international politics and trade. These words can normally be distinguished because they have retained the French rules for pronunciation and spelling, including diacritics. They are often phrases rather than single words. Examples include façade, table d'hote and the affair cœur. These words and phrases retain their French spelling and pronunciation because historically an emphasis on the French origin to emphasize that the user of the words well-educated and well-traveled was indicating a higher social status of the user.

Dutch words in English [ edit ]
The Dutch also made ​​a significant contribution to the English, especially in words that have to do with shipping. Some fairly ordinary English (often American) words with a Dutch origin: cookie (biscuit), Cruise (traverse), dike (dike), Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas), waffle (waffle) bourse (stock exchange) and yacht (yacht ( boat)). The word apartheid is a word that has moved from Dutch into English by South Africa.

[Spelling edit ]
English has a very deep orthography, ie, there is little correlation between pronunciation and spelling. Forty sounds are written in 1120 different ways. According to researcher Eraldo Paulesu from Milan university this is the reason that so many in English twice dyslexia be held diagnostics will be inhibited as in Italy . In Italian written 25 sounds just 33 different ways.

That irregularity of English spelling and pronunciation can be illustrated with the poem The Chaos of Gerard Nolst Trenité

See also [ edit ]

 * List of English loan words in Dutch
 * Ghoti
 * Estuary English
 * Cockney
 * Pidgin English
 * Engrish, Japanese English
 * Tinglish, Thai English
 * Singlish, English Singapore
 * Received Pronunciation
 * List of countries where English is an official language