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DigoPaul:
Comprehensive definitions of English in dictionary and
education as a subject. Sample sentences and example
pictures are used to illustrate exact meaning of English.
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and abbreviations related to English with their full
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English
English is a language that belongs to the Germanic branch of
the Indo-European language family. Within the Germanic languages, English
together with German, Dutch and Frisian constitute the West Germanic
language group.
Prevalence and variants of English
English is the mother tongue and main language of about 350 million people in
the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South
Africa. Furthermore, English is the official language, teaching and
administrative language of many countries in Africa, Asia, Oceania and
the Caribbean. English is also the most important foreign language in the school
in the other countries of the world, and it plays a vital role as an
international language of assistance.
The English language is used far beyond its original area in southern England
today. Over time, it has gained a foothold as the main language in the former
Celtic-speaking parts of the British Isles: Wales, Scotland and Ireland. With
the British colonization and the growth of the British Commonwealth, English was
widely used throughout much of the New World. The largest English-speaking
community today is the United States. Australia and New Zealand are also
practically English-speaking countries. The spoken languages in these new
areas have many distinctive features that distinguish them
from British-English. When it comes to the written language, the differences are
far less prominent, and this therefore helps to preserve the linguistic unit.
Great Britain
The English standard language (British-English) is geographically linked to
the South of England, and this applies not least to the pronunciation norm that
has been called Received Pronunciation, abbreviated RP. This norm, also
referred to as Oxford English or BBC English, has strong
social preconditions as it attained its prestige position as the language of the
higher classes, boarding schools, universities and state
administration. Deviations from this standard language can therefore be both
geographically and socially conditional. RP's position in institutions such as
the BBC and prestige universities is no longer as strong as before.
Despite the fact that industrialization, education, mass media and other
factors have been highly equalizing, there are still distinct dialect
differences in the everyday language in England. For example, the
Northern dialects have the vowel [u] where RP has [ʌ] in words like but,
come and [a] for [æ] in words like man, hat. Southwest is
pronounced [r] in words like father, hard like in for
example American-English.
In Wales, just over 500,000 people speak Welsh, but the vast majority also
use English. The other Welsh population (about 82 percent) uses only English. In
the English spoken in Wales, either as a native speaker or as a second language,
one can often trace Welsh influence on the pronunciation, especially
the intonation, and sometimes on the syntax. The written language follows the
standard English standard.
In Scotland, Scottish-Gaelic is spoken in the Highlands and the Hebrides, but
only about 60,000 people master it. In the lowlands, Scottish dialects of
English have been used since the early Middle Ages. The Scottish dialects were
originally associated with the Northern English. The most distinctive dialects
of Scottish English are considered by some to be a native language, Scots,
and Scotland had its own written language between 1450 and 1600 which
differed greatly from the South English London standard. Apart from special
literature in Low Scottish, the written language in Scotland is now virtually
identical to the English standard. In the spoken language you find some
differences from standard British-English, especially in the pronunciation
of diphthongs and consonants r.
Ireland
English came to Ireland at the conquest of Dublin and other East Irish cities
around 1170, but in the first centuries did not extend beyond the eastern
counties and was for some time firmly established only in the area called The
English Pale, the land along the north coast and south of Dublin. It was only
after the wars and colonization in the 16th and 16th centuries that English
became more widely used. In the first half of the 19th century, however, a large
part of the country was still Irish-speaking. Irish-English, as it is now used
by most of the majority of the island of Ireland, has retained, on the one
hand, archaic features from 16th-century English as well as dialect reflecting
the origins of western central England. On the other hand, Irish-English is
strongly influenced by Gaelicboth in pronunciation and phraseology in that the
language was used by a population that had Gaelic as its original mother
tongue. Farther north, in the province of Ulster, however, the colonists were
largely Protestants who came from south-west Scotland. They brought with them
the Low Scottish variant of English that came to characterize the language of
this part of the island.
United States
Emigration to North America began in the 1600s, and American English has
today some archaic features in both the phraseology and pronunciation, for
example, fall ( autumn ), I guess ( I suppose ), sick ( ill ), gotten ( got ),
the pronunciation of ash, bath and so on with the vowel / æ /
and in some places also with the pronunciation of, for example, name and home with
a little or no diphthonged vowel. Other discrepancies are due to the fact that
American-English and British-English have chosen their own expression for new
phenomena, for example railroad ( railway ), streetcar ( tram ), elevator ( lift ), gasoline ( petrol ). Since
many of the emigrants spoke a language that also deviated from the standard in
the home country, it is understandable that American-English meanwhile more
closely matches British dialects in word choice, such as sour ( certainly ), I
reckon ( I think ), candy ( sweets ) and rooster ( cock ); in grammar,
as in the use of shall andwill ; and in
pronunciation. American-English has recorded a large number of words from other
languages, for example from Native American languages with words such as canoe,
hickory; French prairie, dime ; Spanish ranch, bonanza ; Dutch boss,
Santa Claus ; and German hamburger, the delicacy. Finally,
Americans have shown great ingenuity in their use of the inherited language and
have formed a wide variety of painting ways, such as tenderfoot, two
hit the ceiling, two muscle in and two get under one's skin.
Spelling
American orthography differs in some respects from British-English
practice. After the War of Independence in the 18th century, Noah
Webster proposed new rules of law in order to remove the language of America
from the British standard. Most of the amendments were later stated. Among those
who have been accepted are -or for British -our, for example
in color, honor and labor ; -is for -re,
for example in the center, meters and theater; various
practices of doubling consonant in inflected forms and derivatives, such as marveled, marvelous, worshiped and worshiping instead
of forms with - ll-, -pp- in British-English; and simplified forms as catalog, check, program corresponding
British English catalog, Checks, programming.
Dialects
The language in the United States is fairly uniform, and local deviations in
grammar and vocabulary are relatively small compared to, for example, the
dialect differences in the United Kingdom. However, on the basis of the
pronunciation, one can distinguish between different dialect areas, most clearly
in the states of the east coast and in the nearest areas within. A common
subdivision covers these main areas: Northeastern, which includes
Eastern New England and New York City ; Southern,
from Virginia southwest to Texas and subdivided into a coastal and inland
area; and General American, which covers the rest of the country but
reaches the coast only a short distance, roughly from New
Jersey to Delaware under names such as Central Eastern or Middle
Atlantic. General American has tried to divide in different ways, but when
you get further west it is harder to find clear dialect criteria.
Thus, General American encompasses by far the largest part of the country and
population and is the pronunciation often associated with the term American
accent. Of the characteristics of this accent, besides the aforementioned vocal
pronouns may be mentioned: a backward ( retroflex ) r in sound and in
front of consonant, as in fur and farm ; rounding and
extending o in hot and cod and so on, so that it
resembles the British pronunciation of heart and card ; lapse
of the j sound in front of u after t, d and n,
as in Tuesday, duty and new ; tend to replace
intervocalic t as laughter and better with an
alveolar flap as more reminiscent of a d ; and ensformigere
intonation. Several of these characteristics are not found in the other dialect
types. In Northeastern, which is closer to the South English pronunciation norm,
for example, r is not pronounced in sound and in front of
consonant. The same is true in parts of Southern.
An ethnic and socially conditioned dialect is the so-called African
American Vernacular English (AAVE), which is used primarily among the black
population and especially in lower social strata, especially in the cities. The
origins of AAVE are contested. One page claims that the starting point is in
the pidgin language that the slaves learned to use during transport from Africa,
which later developed into a Creole language. This Creole language was further
altered under the influence of language use in the Southern States and even made
its mark on the emergence of a distinctive Southern state dialect
(Southern). Another side believes in explaining the fact that the majority of
the black population in US cities originally came from the southeastern
states. Therefore, many of the peculiarities of AAVE can be traced back to the
Southern State Dialogue. Used outside its territory, the original dialect
features could signal ethnic belonging.
Canada
Canada has two official languages, English and French. English is used by
almost two-thirds of the population. The spoken language is close to the US
language, both in pronunciation and manner of expression. As a sharp distinction
is difficult to draw, Canadian-English could be said to be a variant within a
larger North American-English language area. The more formal language of writing
and speech is somewhat more conservative than American-English, and the British
influence is still noticeable especially in the big cities.
While English in North America has a history dating back to the early 17th
century, the spread of English to the later British colonies first came in the
19th century.
Australia
In Australia, the written language follows the British standard. In the
spoken language, there are small differences between the different parts of the
continent. On the other hand, there are clearer differences based on social
conditions. Formed language ( Cultivated Australian English ) is close
up to standard English, RP still enjoys great reputation, although it has slowed
over the past few decades. On the opposite side is a broad dialect variant ( Broad
Australian English ) which differs quite strongly from the standard
language. Between these two types lies the language usage of the vast majority,
with more moderate deviations ( General Australian English ).
Several of the Australian-English features reflect the language of the first
and largest groups of exiles and others who came to the country from 1788. They
came primarily from southern and eastern England with London as the
centerpiece. Therefore, there are features of Australian-English pronunciation
that resemble the traditional dialect of the London area of England
(see cockney ). In the vocabulary, words for particular Australian phenomena
have been included, partly through loans from Aboriginal languages such as boomerang, dingo, kangaroo
and wombat ; partly through new forms such as friarbird and overland. There
has also been some influence from American-English.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, the connection to British-English is somewhat stronger than
in Australia. As in Australia, there is little variation in language usage
geographically, while there are clear differences that are socially
dependent. The spoken language has some in common with Australian-English, which
is because both variants have a South-English background. In New Zealand,
however, the cockney feature of the London metropolis is lacking, and the
dialects in the countryside have played a greater role. There is also an element
of Scottish and Northern English influence that can be traced in certain
pronunciations, and which is also reflected in the many Scottish place names,
especially on the South Island. The language has recorded a good deal
of Maori words, especially in connection with local and native conditions and
concepts, such as pakeha, "White person", unlike Maori ; rangatira,
"Maori chief"; whare, "native cottage, house".
South Africa
In South Africa, English has official language status alongside African and a
number of African languages and is spoken as the mother tongue of nearly 4
million by a population of approximately 42.5 million (2004). There are 6
million African speakers, but many of them have English as their second
language. In the countryside, Afrikaans dominates; in the larger cities English
stands stronger. English was preferred by the black population as a medium in
the fight against apartheid and in turn was counteracted by Africans and their
organizations. In the written language and in the cultured spoken language, the
difference from the British standard is small. Otherwise, you can register
deviations ranging from moderate to broadly popular. Some of the peculiarities
of the English used by the white population can be traced back to immigration
from industrial central England. Other traits may be due to influences from
Africans, who have also left strong clues in the vocabulary, such as village, kraal, veld, trek, hartebeest and reebok. The
variety of English used by the black population has many distinctive features in
common with other African variants of English and carries the influence of
influence from African languages.
India
In India, the use of English is a result of colonial times. English was used
in administration, the judiciary, schools, universities and business, and a
middle class was created that was fully or partially educated in English and
that used English in a job context. Only a small proportion of the population
consider English as their mother tongue; many more have English as a second
language. In total, the number of those who regularly use English is estimated
at only about 3 per cent, but of a population of 1065 million (2004) this
amounts to just under 32 million. In addition, all those with a lesser degree of
language proficiency can understand English. English is still used both as an
official language next to Hindiand in a number of other areas. There is still a
considerable English-language press, and an extensive literature in English
written by Indian writers has emerged.
English, as it is used in India, is often more or less strongly characterized
by the fact that the language users have a multilingual background with at least
one local language in addition to English. Indian-English differs from other
variants in pronunciation, intonation and syntax, and in the vocabulary many
words of Indian origin occur.
Other parts of the world
In the other parts of the former British colonial kingdom, English is still
widely used as an official language. English as the mother tongue for larger and
smaller white population groups still exists in countries such
as Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia and Kenya. As a mother tongue in a predominantly
black population, English ( West Indian Standard English ) is used
especially by people with education and in higher societies in Jamaica and other
parts of the Caribbean, while the majority here speak Creole as a native
language. As a second language, English is used in the former British colonies
in both West Africa and East Africa and further east in Asia in countries such
as Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Singapore. For example, one million of Ghana's 15
million inhabitants are said to have English as a second language. Use as a
second language shows local characteristics, the degree of language mastery
varies greatly, and its applications range from administration, teaching and the
press to function as a lingua franca, a language of assistance between
parties who do not speak each other's mother tongue.
English is also found as a component of
secondary-developed blend languages. Many so-called pidgin languages have
English as their starting point. These have a greatly simplified grammar and a
reduced vocabulary with input from local languages. Pidgin language is not used
as a native language, but serves as a language of lingua franca, such as West
African pidgin plays an important role as a trading language. English-based
pidgin language occurs both in West Africa and in the regions on the opposite
side of the Atlantic. These Atlantic pidgin languages have common roots back
to the slave era. Other English-language pidgins are found in the East and in
the Pacific.
When a language community begins to use a pidgin language as their mother
tongue, this develops into a so-called Creole language. Especially in the
Caribbean and in West Africa, there are a number of such languages based on
English and with language from African languages. An example is the Creole
language crisis used in Sierra Leone. There is a literature on crisis
and a movement that wants to make crisis the country's national language. The
use of crisis has also spread to other parts of West Africa. Gullah is
the name of a language of a similar type spoken by the black population of the
islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia in the United States. Many
common features have been identified with the West African Creole
languages. After the colonial era, the Caribbean Creole languages gained
importance and status. This applies not least to the so-called Jamaican
Creole used by 70 percent of the population in the country, which many want
to become Jamaica's national language. Such tendencies for the development of
independent languages on the basis of English are reminiscent of the emergence
of the Romanian languages from various popular forms of the Latin language.
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