English language

English is a West Germanic language that emerged in early medieval England and has since become a global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles, one of the Germanic peoples who migrated to Britain after the end of Roman rule. English is the most spoken language in the world, primarily due to the global influences of the former British Empire and the United States. It is the most widely learned second language in the world, with more second-language speakers than native speakers. However, English is only the third-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.

English is either the official language, or one of the official languages, in 57 sovereign states and 30 dependent territories, making it the most geographically widespread language in the world. In the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, it is the dominant language for historical reasons without being explicitly defined by law. It is a co-official language of the United Nations, the European Union, and many other international and regional organisations. It has also become the de facto lingua franca of diplomacy, science, technology, international trade, logistics, tourism, aviation, entertainment, and the Internet. Ethnologue estimated that there were over 1.4 billion speakers worldwide as of 2021.

Old English emerged from a group of West Germanic dialects spoken by the Anglo-Saxons. Early inscriptions were written with runes before a Latin-based alphabet was adopted for longer texts. Late Old English borrowed some grammar and core vocabulary from Old Norse, a North Germanic language. An evolution of the Latin alphabet, the English alphabet, fully supplanted the runic alphabet by the High Middle Ages, coinciding with the emergence of Middle English in England under Norman control. Middle English borrowed vocabulary extensively from French dialects, which are the source of approximately 28 per cent of Modern English words, and from Latin, which is the source of an additional 28 per cent. While Latin and the Romance languages are thus the source for a majority of its lexicon taken as a whole, English's grammar and phonology remain Germanic, as does most of its basic everyday vocabulary. Finally, Middle English transformed, in part through the Great Vowel Shift, into Modern English, which exists on a dialect continuum with Scots; it is next-most closely related to Low Saxon and Frisian.

Classification-                                                                                                                                            English is a member of the Indo-European language family, belonging to the West Germanic branch of Germanic languages. Owing to their descent from a shared ancestor language known as Proto-Germanic, English and other Germanic languages – which include Dutch, German, and Swedish have characteristic features in common, including a division of verbs into strong and weak classes, the use of modal verbs, and sound changes affecting Proto-Indo-European consonants known as Grimm's and Verner's laws.

Old English was one of several Ingvaeonic languages, which emerged from a dialect continuum spoken by West Germanic peoples during the 5th century in Frisia, on the coast of the North Sea. Old English emerged among the Ingvaeonic speakers on the British Isles following their migration there, while the other Ingvaeonic languages developed in parallel on the continent. Old English evolved into Middle English, which in turn evolved into Modern English. Particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into other Anglic languages, including Scots and the extinct Fingallian and Yola dialects of Ireland.

English was isolated from other Germanic languages on the continent and diverged considerably in vocabulary, syntax, and phonology as a result. It is not mutually intelligible with any continental Germanic language – though some, such as Dutch and Frisian, show strong affinities with it, especially in its earlier stages. English and Frisian were traditionally considered more closely related to one another than they were to other West Germanic languages, but most modern scholarship does not recognise a particular affinity between them. Though they exhibited similar sound changes not otherwise found around the North Sea at that time, the specific changes appeared in English and Frisian at different times – a pattern uncharacteristic for languages sharing a unique phylogenetic ancestor.

History-                                                                                                                                                      History of English, Proto-Germanic to Old English, Manuscript of Beowulf, an epic poem composed in Old English between 975 and 1025. Old English was the earliest form of the English language, spoken from c. 450 to c. 1150. Old English developed from a set of West Germanic dialects, sometimes identified as Anglo-Frisian or North Sea Germanic, that were originally spoken along the coasts of Frisia, Lower Saxony and southern Jutland by Germanic peoples known to the historical record as the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. From the 5th century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain as the Roman economy and administration collapsed. By the 7th century, Old English had become dominant in Britain – replacing the Common Brittonic and British Latin previously spoken during the Roman occupation, which ultimately left little influence on English. England and English are both named after the Angles.

Old English was divided into two Anglian dialects and two Saxon dialects. Through the influence exerted by the kingdom of Wessex, and the educational reforms instated by King Alfred during the 9th century, the West Saxon dialect became the standard written variety. The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English poem, Cædmon's Hymn, is written in Northumbrian. Modern English developed mainly from Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. During the earliest period of Old English, a few short inscriptions were made using a runic alphabet. By the 7th century, a Latin alphabet had been adopted. Written with half-uncial letterforms, it included the runic letters wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ and thorn ⟨þ⟩, and the modified Latin letters.

Old English is markedly different from Modern English, such that 21st-century English speakers are entirely unable to understand Old English without special training. Its grammar was similar to that of modern German: nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs had many more inflectional endings and forms, and word order was much freer than in Modern English. Modern English has case forms in pronouns (he, him, his) and has a few verb inflections, but Old English had case endings in nouns as well, and verbs had more person and number endings.

Influence of Old Norse-                                                                                                                                Between the 8th and 11th centuries, the English spoken in some regions underwent significant changes due to contact with Old Norse, a North Germanic language. Several waves of Norsemen colonising the northern British Isles in the 8th and 9th centuries put Old English speakers in constant contact with Old Norse. Norse influence was strongest in the north-eastern varieties of Old English spoken in the Danelaw surrounding York; today these features are still particularly present in Scots and Northern English. The centre of Norse influence was Lindsey, located in the Midlands. After Lindsey was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon polity in 920, English spread extensively throughout the region. An element of Norse influence that continues in all English varieties today is the third person pronoun group beginning with th- which replaced the Anglo-Saxon pronouns.

Other Norse loanwords include give, get, sky, skirt, egg, and cake, typically displacing a native Anglo-Saxon equivalent. Old Norse in this era retained considerable mutual intelligibility with some dialects of Old English, particularly northern ones.

Middle English-                                                                                                                                          Further information: Influence of French on English, Englischmen þeyz hy hadde fram þe bygynnyng þre manner speche, Souþeron, Northeron, and Myddel speche in þe myddel of þe lond, Noþeles by comyxstion and mellyng, furst wiþ Danes, and afterward wiþ Normans, in menye þe contray longage ys asperyed, and som vseþ strange wlaffyng, chyteryng, harryng, and garryng grisbytting.

Although, from the beginning, Englishmen had three manners of speaking, southern, northern and midlands speech in the middle of the country, ... Nevertheless, through intermingling and mixing, first with Danes and then with Normans, amongst many the country language has arisen, and some use strange stammering, chattering, snarling, and grating gnashing.

John Trevisa, c. 1385-                                                                                                                                  The Middle English period is often defined as beginning with the Norman Conquest in 1066. During the centuries that followed, English was heavily influenced by the form of Old French spoken by the new Norman ruling class that had migrated to England. Over the following decades of contact, members of the middle and upper classes, whether native English or Norman, became increasingly bilingual. By 1150 at the latest, bilingual speakers represented a majority of the English aristocracy, and monolingual French speakers were nearly non-existent. The French spoken by the Norman elite in England eventually developed into the Anglo-Norman language. The division between Old to Middle English can also be placed during the composition of the Ormulum, a work by the Augustinian canon Orrm which highlights blending of Old English and Anglo-Norman elements in the language for the first time.

As the lower classes, who represented the vast majority of the population, remained monolingual English speakers, a primary influence of Norman was as a lexical superstratum, introducing a wide range of loanwords related to politics, legislation and prestigious social domains. For instance, the French word trône appears for the first time, from which the English word throne is derived. Middle English also greatly simplified the inflectional system, probably in order to reconcile Old Norse and Old English, which were inflectionally different but morphologically similar. The distinction between nominative and accusative cases was lost except in personal pronouns, the instrumental case was dropped, and the use of the genitive case was limited to indicating possession. The inflectional system regularised many irregular inflectional forms, and gradually simplified the system of agreement, making word order less flexible.

Middle English literature includes Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (1485). In the Middle English period, the use of regional dialects in writing proliferated, and dialect traits were even used for effect by authors such as Chaucer. In the first translation of the entire Bible into English by John Wycliffe (1382), Matthew 8:20 reads: "Foxis han dennes, and briddis of heuene han nestis." Here the plural suffix -n on the verb have is still retained, but none of the case endings on the nouns are present.

Early Modern English-                                                                                                                        Illustration of the Great Vowel Shift that affected long vowels in Early Modern English. After the highest vowels broke into diphthongs /ai au/, each of the lower vowels gradually shifted up one level to compensate.

The period of Early Modern English, lasting between 1500 and 1700, was characterised by the Great Vowel Shift (1350–1700), inflectional simplification, and linguistic standardisation. The Great Vowel Shift affected the stressed long vowels of Middle English. It was a chain shift, meaning that each shift triggered a subsequent shift in the vowel system. Mid and open vowels were raised, and close vowels were broken into diphthongs. For example, the word bite was originally pronounced as the word beet is today, and the second vowel in the word about was pronounced as the word boot is today. The Great Vowel Shift explains many irregularities in spelling since English retains many spellings from Middle English, and it also explains why English vowel letters have very different pronunciations from the same letters in other languages.

English began to rise in prestige, relative to Norman French, during the reign of Henry V. Around 1430, the Court of Chancery in Westminster began using English in its official documents, and a new standard form of Middle English, known as Chancery Standard, developed from the dialects of London and the East Midlands. In 1476, William Caxton introduced the printing press to England and began publishing the first printed books in London, expanding the influence of this form of English.

Literature in Early Modern English includes the works of William Shakespeare and the 1611 King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. Even after the vowel shift the language still sounded different from Modern English: for example, the consonant clusters /kn ɡn sw/ in knight, gnat, and sword were still pronounced. Many of the grammatical features that a modern reader of Shakespeare might find quaint or archaic represent the distinct characteristics of Early Modern English. Matthew 8:20 in the KJV reads: "The Foxes have holes and the birds of the ayre have nests." This exemplifies the loss of case and its effects on sentence structure (replacement with subject–verb–object word order, and the use of of instead of the non-possessive genitive), and the introduction of loanwords from French (ayre) and word replacements.

Spread of Modern English-                                                                                                                        By the late 18th century, the British Empire had spread English through its colonies and geopolitical dominance. Commerce, science and technology, diplomacy, art, and formal education all contributed to English becoming the first truly global language. English also facilitated worldwide international communication. English was adopted in parts of North America, parts of Africa, Oceania, and many other regions. When they obtained political independence, some of the newly independent states that had multiple indigenous languages opted to continue using English as the official language to avoid the political and other difficulties inherent in promoting any one indigenous language above the other. In the 20th century the growing economic and cultural influence of the United States and its status as a superpower following the Second World War has, along with worldwide broadcasting in English by the BBC and other broadcasters, caused the language to spread across the planet much faster. In the 21st century, English is more widely spoken and written than any language has ever been.

As Modern English developed, explicit norms for standard usage were published, and spread through official media such as public education and state-sponsored publications. In 1755, Samuel Johnson published his Dictionary of the English Language, which introduced standard spellings of words and usage norms. In 1828, Noah Webster published the American Dictionary of the English language to try to establish a norm for speaking and writing American English that was independent of the British standard. Within Britain, non-standard or lower class dialect features were increasingly stigmatised, leading to the quick spread of the prestige varieties among the middle classes.

In modern English, the loss of grammatical case is almost complete, and subject–verb–object word order is mostly fixed. Some changes, such as the use of do-support, have become universalised. (Earlier English did not use the word do as a general auxiliary as Modern English does; at first it was only used in question constructions, and even then was not obligatory. Now, do-support with the verb have is becoming increasingly standardised.) The use of progressive forms in -ing, appears to be spreading to new constructions, and forms such as "had been being built" are becoming more common. Regularisation of irregular forms also slowly continues, and analytical alternatives to inflectional forms are becoming more common. British English is also undergoing change under the influence of American English, fuelled by the strong presence of American English in the media.

Geographical distribution-                                                                                                                          See also: List of countries and territories where English is an official language, List of countries by English-speaking population, and English-speaking world, As of 2016, 400 million people spoke English as their first language, and 1.1 billion spoke it as a second language. English is the largest language by number of speakers, spoken by communities on every continent. Estimates of second language and foreign-language speakers vary greatly depending on how proficiency is defined, from 470 million to more than 1 billion. In 2003, David Crystal estimated that non-native speakers outnumbered native speakers by a ratio of three-to-one.

Three circles model-                                                                                                                                    Braj Kachru has categorised countries into the Three Circles of English model, according to how the language historically spread in each country, how it is acquired by the populace, and the range of uses it has there – with a country's classification able to change over time."Inner-circle" countries have large communities of native English speakers; these include the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand, where the majority speaks English – and South Africa, where a significant minority speaks English. The countries with the most native English speakers are, in descending order, the United States (at least 231 million), the United Kingdom (60 million), Canada (19 million), Australia (at least 17 million), South Africa (4.8 million), Ireland (4.2 million), and New Zealand (3.7 million). In these countries, children of native speakers learn English from their parents, and local people who speak other languages and new immigrants learn English to communicate in their neighbourhoods and workplaces. Inner-circle countries are the base from which English spreads to other regions of the world.

"Outer-circle" countries – such as the Philippines, Jamaica, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Nigeria have much smaller proportions of native English speakers, but use of English as a second language in education, government, or domestic business is significant, and its use for instruction in schools and official government operations is routine. These countries have millions of native speakers on dialect continua, which range from English-based creole languages to standard varieties of English used in inner-circle countries. They have many more speakers who acquire English as they grow up through day-to-day use and exposure to English-language broadcasting, especially if they attend schools where English is the language of instruction. Varieties of English learned by non-native speakers born to English-speaking parents may be influenced, especially in their grammar, by the other languages spoken by those learners – with most including words rarely used by native speakers in inner-circle countries, as well as grammatical and phonological differences from inner-circle varieties.

"Expanding-circle" countries are where English is taught as a foreign language though the character of English as a first, second, or foreign language in a given country is often debatable, and may change over time. For example, in countries like the Netherlands, an overwhelming majority of the population can speak English, and it is often used in higher education and to communicate with foreigners.

Pluricentric English-                                                                                                                                  English is a pluricentric language, which means that no one national authority sets the standard for use of the language. Spoken English, including English used in broadcasting, generally follows national pronunciation standards that are established by custom rather than by regulation. International broadcasters are usually identifiable as coming from one country rather than another through their accents, but newsreader scripts are also composed largely in international standard written English. The norms of standard written English are maintained purely by the consensus of educated English speakers around the world, without any oversight by any government or international organisation.

American listeners readily understand most British broadcasting, and British listeners readily understand most American broadcasting. Most English speakers around the world can understand radio programmes, television programmes, and films from many parts of the English-speaking world. Both standard and non-standard varieties of English can include both formal or informal styles, distinguished by word choice and syntax and use both technical and non-technical registers.

The settlement history of the English-speaking inner circle countries outside Britain helped level dialect distinctions and produce koiné forms of English in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The majority of immigrants to the United States without British ancestry rapidly adopted English after arrival. Now the majority of the United States population are monolingual English speakers.

Australia has no official languages at the federal or state level.

In Canada, English and French share an official status at the federal level. English has official or co-official status in six provinces and three territories, while three provinces have none and Quebec's only official language is French.English is the official second language of Ireland, while Irish is the first. While New Zealand is majority English-speaking, its two official languages are Māori and New Zealand Sign Language.The United Kingdom does not have an official language. In Wales and Northern Ireland, English is co-official alongside Welsh and Irish respectively. Neither Scotland nor England have an official language. In the United States, English was designated the official language of the country by Executive Order 14224 in 2025. English has additional official or co-official status at the state level in 32 states, and all 5 territories; 18 states and the District of Columbia have no official language.

English as a global language-                                                                                                                      Modern English is sometimes described as the first global lingua franca, or as the first world language. English is the world's most widely used language in newspaper publishing, book publishing, international telecommunications, scientific publishing, international trade, mass entertainment, and diplomacy. Parity with French as a language of diplomacy had been achieved by Treaty of Versailles negotiations in 1919. By the time the United Nations was founded at the end of World War II, English had become pre-eminent; it is one of six official languages of the United Nations. and is now the main worldwide language of diplomacy and international relations. Many other worldwide international organisations, including the International Olympic Committee, specify English as a working language or official language of the organisation.

 Many regional international organisations, such as the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) use English as their sole working language, despite most members not being countries with a majority of native English speakers. While the EU allows member states to designate any of the national languages as an official language of the Union, in practice English is the main working language of EU organisations. English serves as the basis for the required controlled natural languages Seaspeak and Airspeak, used as international languages of seafaring and aviation.

English is the most frequently taught foreign language in the world. Most people learning English do so for practical reasons, as opposed to ideological reasons. In EU countries, English is the most widely spoken foreign language in 19 of the 25 member states where it is not an official language. In a 2012 official Eurobarometer poll, 38 per cent of the EU respondents outside the countries where English is an official language said they could speak English well enough to have a conversation in that language. The next most commonly mentioned foreign language, Frenc, could be used in conversation by 12 per cent of respondents. The global influence of English has led to concerns about language death, and to claims of linguistic imperialism, and has provoked resistance to the spread of English; however, the number of speakers continues to increase because many people around the world think English provides them with better employment opportunities and increased quality of life.

Working knowledge of English has become a requirement in a number of occupations and professions such as medicine and computing. Though it formerly had parity with French and German in scientific research, English now dominates the field. Its importance in scientific publishing is such that over 80 per cent of scientific journal articles indexed by Chemical Abstracts in 1998 were written in English, as were 90 per cent of all articles in natural science publications by 1996, and 82 per cent of articles in humanities publications by 1995.

As decolonisation proceeded throughout the British Empire in the 1950s and 1960s, former colonies often did not reject English but rather continued to use it as independent countries setting their own language policies. For example, English is one of the official languages of India. Many Indians have shifted from associating the language with colonialism to associating it with economic progress. English is widely used in media and literature, with India being the third-largest publisher of English-language books in the world, after the US and UK. However, less than 5 per cent of the population speak English fluently, with the country's native English speakers numbering in the low hundreds of thousands. In 2004, David Crystal claimed India had the largest population of people able to speak or understand English in the world, though most scholars estimate the US remains home to a larger English-speaking population. Many English speakers in Africa have become part of an "Afro-Saxon" language community that unites Africans from different countries. Regarding its future development, it is considered most likely that English will continue to function as a koiné language, with a standard form that unifies speakers around the world.