(MS. Ancarta) - English Language, primary language of the majority of people in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, other former colonies of Britain, and territories of the United States. It is also an official or semiofficial language of many countries with a colonial past, such as India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and South Africa.Even in countries where English is not a primary or official language, it is taught as a foreign language and used as the language of technology and diplomacy. English is spoken in more parts of the world than any other language and by more people than any other language except Chinese.
English is classified as an Indo-European language. It is part of the Germanic subfamily and is grouped with its most closely related language, Frisian, as part of the Anglo-Frisian group. Other related languages include Dutch, Flemish, and the Low German dialects, and, more distantly, Modern High German.
The English language spread as Britain expanded its colonial empire from the 1600s on and established legal, military, and educational systems in many countries along English lines. British expansion ended after World War II (1939-1945), when many of its colonies sought independence.
Since World War II American English has dominated as a world language, largely because of U.S. economic and political influence and the advance of technology, especially computing and the Internet. At the turn of the 21st century, English prevailed as the most widely used language internationally.
At the same time as English became a world language, the number of English speakers learning a second language dropped substantially.
Even more disturbingly, English was blamed for the “death” of some minority languages, such as Gaelic and various Australian aboriginal languages (see Aboriginal Australians). Various measures are needed to protect these smaller languages from disappearing.
The English language seems set to dominate world communications for some time to come. Although dominance brings with it a degree of standardization, it is not the case that English is losing its variety, either within countries or across the globe.
Current research suggests that, rather than dwindling, differences in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation continue to allow people to express multiple identities. The fear of some linguists that mass communications would lead to the death of English dialects appears to be unfounded.
