English is a West Germanic language that is spoken in Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, the United States, and many other countries. English is now the third-most spoken native language worldwide (after Chinese and Hindi), with some 380 million speakers. It has lingua franca status in many parts of the world, due to the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries and that of the United S ...

Including:

• English language - History
• English language - Classification and related languages
• English language - Geographic distribution
• English language - English as a global language
• English language - Dialects and regional variants
• English language - Constructed variants of English
• English language - Sounds
• English language - Vowels
• English language - Consonants
• English language - Intonation
• English language - Tone groups
• English language - Characteristics of intonation
• English language - Grammar
• English language - Vocabulary
• English language - Number of words in English
• English language - Word origins
• English language - Writing system
• English language - Basic sound-letter correspondence
• English language - Written accents
• English language - Dialects
• English language - Pronunciation
• English language - Social cultural or political
• English language - Grammar
• English language - Usage
• English language - Dictionaries

Read more here: » English language: Encyclopedia - English language

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English language, English language - History, English language - Classification and related languages, English language - Geographic distribution, English language - English as a global language, English language - Dialects and regional variants, English language - Constructed variants of English, English language - Sounds, English language - Vowels, English language - Consonants, English language - Intonation, English language - Tone groups, English language - Characteristics of intonation, English language - Grammar, English language - Vocabulary, English language - Number of words in English, English language - Word origins, English language - Writing system, English language - Basic sound-letter correspondence, English language - Written accents, English language - Dialects, English language - Pronunciation, English language - Social cultural or political, English language - Grammar, English language - Usage, English language - Dictionaries

Read more here: » English language: Encyclopedia II - English language - Grammar

English grammar displays minimal inflection compared with some other Indo-European languages. For example, Modern English, unlike Modern German or Dutch and the Romance languages, lacks grammatical gender and adjectival agreement. Case marking has almost disappeared from the language and mainly survives in pronouns. The patterning of strong (eg. speak/spoke/spoken) versus weak verbs inherited from Germanic has declined in importance and the remnants of inflection (such as plural marking) have become more regular. At the same ti ...

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English language, English language - History, English language - Classification and related languages, English language - Geographic distribution, English language - English as a global language, English language - Dialects and regional variants, English language - Constructed variants of English, English language - Sounds, English language - Vowels, English language - Consonants, English language - Intonation, English language - Tone groups, English language - Characteristics of intonation, English language - Grammar, English language - Vocabulary, English language - Number of words in English, English language - Word origins, English language - Writing system, English language - Basic sound-letter correspondence, English language - Written accents, English language - Dialects, English language - Pronunciation, English language - Social cultural or political, English language - Grammar, English language - Usage, English language - Dictionaries

Read more here: » English language: Encyclopedia II - English language - Grammar

English is the second or third most widely spoken language in the world today. A total of 600–700 million people use the various dialects of English regularly. About 377 million people use one the versions of English as their mother tongue, and an equal number of people use them as their second or foreign language. English is used widely in either the public or private sphere in more than 100 countries all over the world. In addition, the language has occupied a primary place in international academic and business communities. The current ...

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English language, English language - History, English language - Classification and related languages, English language - Geographic distribution, English language - English as a global language, English language - Dialects and regional variants, English language - Constructed variants of English, English language - Sounds, English language - Vowels, English language - Consonants, English language - Intonation, English language - Tone groups, English language - Characteristics of intonation, English language - Grammar, English language - Vocabulary, English language - Number of words in English, English language - Word origins, English language - Writing system, English language - Basic sound-letter correspondence, English language - Written accents, English language - Dialects, English language - Pronunciation, English language - Social cultural or political, English language - Grammar, English language - Usage, English language - Dictionaries

Read more here: » English language: Encyclopedia II - English language - Geographic distribution

Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. It is a West Germanic language and therefore is similar to Old Frisian and Old Saxon. It is also quite similar to Old Norse (and by extension, to modern Icelandic). Old English was not static, and its usage covered a period of approximately 700 years – from the Anglo-Saxon migrations which created England in the fi ...

Including:

• Old English language - Germanic origins
• Old English language - Latin influence
• Old English language - Viking influence
• Old English language - Celtic influence
• Old English language - Dialects
• Old English language - Phonology
• Old English language - Standardised orthography
• Old English language - The alphabet
• Old English language - Syntax
• Old English language - Morphology
• Old English language - Sample text

Read more here: » Old English language: Encyclopedia - Old English language

The inventory of Old English surface phones, as usually reconstructed, is as follows. The sounds marked in parentheses are allophones: [dʒ] is an allophone of /j/ occurring after /n/ and when geminated [ŋ] is an allophone of /n/ occurring before ...

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Old English language, Old English language - Germanic origins, Old English language - Latin influence, Old English language - Viking influence, Old English language - Celtic influence, Old English language - Dialects, Old English language - Phonology, Old English language - Standardised orthography, Old English language - The alphabet, Old English language - Syntax, Old English language - Morphology, Old English language - Sample text

Read more here: » Old English language: Encyclopedia II - Old English language - Phonology

From the late 15th century, the language changed further into what is described as Modern English; the change is often dated from the Great Vowel Shift. English has continued to assimilate foreign words, especially Latin and Greek, even to the present time. As a result of this history of assimilation, English today is commonly believed to have the largest vocabulary of any language in the world. As there are many words from different languages the risk of mispronunciation is high. Vestiges of the older forms of English remain in a ...

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History of the English language, History of the English language - Proto-English, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Historic English text samples, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Modern English

Read more here: » History of the English language: Encyclopedia II - History of the English language - Early Modern English

As a West Germanic language, Old English syntax has a great deal of common ground with Dutch and German. Old English is not dependent upon S (subject), V (verb), O (object) or "SVO" word order in the way that Modern English is. The syntax of an Old English sentence can be in any of these shapes: SVO order, VSO order, and OVS order. The only constant rule, as in German and Dutch, is that the verb must come as the second concept. That is, in the sentence 'in the town, we ate some food', it could appear as 'in the town, ate we some food', or 'i ...

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Old English language, Old English language - Germanic origins, Old English language - Latin influence, Old English language - Viking influence, Old English language - Celtic influence, Old English language - Dialects, Old English language - Phonology, Old English language - Standardised orthography, Old English language - The alphabet, Old English language - Syntax, Old English language - Morphology, Old English language - Sample text

Read more here: » Old English language: Encyclopedia II - Old English language - Syntax

To further complicate matters, Old English was rich in dialect forms. The four main dialect forms of Old English were Mercian, Northumbrian (known collectively as Anglian), Kentish, and West Saxon. Each of these dialects were associated with an independent kingdom on the island. Of these, all of Northumbria and most of Mercia were overrun by the Vikings during the 9th century. The portion of Mercia and all of Kent that were both success ...

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Old English language, Old English language - Germanic origins, Old English language - Latin influence, Old English language - Viking influence, Old English language - Celtic influence, Old English language - Dialects, Old English language - Phonology, Old English language - Standardised orthography, Old English language - The alphabet, Old English language - Syntax, Old English language - Morphology, Old English language - Sample text

Read more here: » Old English language: Encyclopedia II - Old English language - Dialects

The invaders dominated the original Celtic-speaking inhabitants, whose languages survived largely in Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall. The dialects spoken by the invaders formed what is now called Old English. Later, it was strongly influenced by the North Germanic language Norse, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the north-east (see Jórvík). The new and the earlier settlers spoke languages from different branches of the Germanic family; many of their lexical roots were the same or similar, although their grammars were more distant, ...

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History of the English language, History of the English language - Proto-English, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Historic English text samples, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Modern English

Read more here: » History of the English language: Encyclopedia II - History of the English language - Old English

For the 300 years following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Norman kings and the high nobility spoke only a variety of French called Anglo-Norman. English continued to be the language of the common people. While the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle continued until AD 1154, most other literature from this period was in Old French or Latin. A large number of Norman words were assimilated into Old English, with some words doubling for Old English words (for instance, ox/beef, sheep/mutton). The Norman influence reinforced the continual evol ...

See also:

History of the English language, History of the English language - Proto-English, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Historic English text samples, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Modern English

Read more here: » History of the English language: Encyclopedia II - History of the English language - Middle English

History of the English language - Old English. Beowulf lines 1 to 11, approximately AD 900 Hwæt! We Gar-Dena in geardagum, þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum, monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah, egsode eorlas. Syððan ærest wearð feasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad, weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah, oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra ofer hronrade hyran scolde, ...

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History of the English language, History of the English language - Proto-English, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Historic English text samples, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Modern English

Read more here: » History of the English language: Encyclopedia II - History of the English language - Historic English text samples

List of English language poets - Sa-Si. Blanaid Salkeld (1880-1959) Sonia Sanchez Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) May Sarton (1912-1995) Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) Sheri Lee Schnauffer, (born 1962) Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) Maurice Scully Peter Seaton Sir Charles Sedley (1639-1701) Nina Serrano, (born 1934) Robert W. Service Anne Sexton (1928-1974) William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Tup ...

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List of English language poets, List of English language poets - A, List of English language poets - B, List of English language poets - Ba, List of English language poets - Be-Bo, List of English language poets - Br-By, List of English language poets - C, List of English language poets - Ca-Ci, List of English language poets - Cl, List of English language poets - Co, List of English language poets - Cr-Cu, List of English language poets - D, List of English language poets - Da-Do, List of English language poets - Dr-Dy, List of English language poets - E, List of English language poets - F, List of English language poets - G, List of English language poets - Ga-Go, List of English language poets - Gr-Gy, List of English language poets - H, List of English language poets - Ha-He, List of English language poets - Hi-Hu, List of English language poets - I-J, List of English language poets - K, List of English language poets - L, List of English language poets - La-Le, List of English language poets - Lo-Ly, List of English language poets - M, List of English language poets - Ma, List of English language poets - Mc-Mi, List of English language poets - Mo-Mu, List of English language poets - N-O, List of English language poets - P, List of English language poets - Q, List of English language poets - R, List of English language poets - Ra-Ri, List of English language poets - Ro, List of English language poets - S, List of English language poets - Sa-Si, List of English language poets - Sk-Sq, List of English language poets - St-Sy, List of English language poets - T-V, List of English language poets - W, List of English language poets - Wa-We, List of English language poets - Wh-Wy, List of English language poets - Y-Z

Read more here: » List of English language poets: Encyclopedia II - List of English language poets - S

The Germanic tribes who would later give rise to the English language (the Angles, Saxons, Frisians, Jutes and perhaps even the Franks) traded and fought with the Latin-speaking Roman Empire. Many Latin words for common objects therefore entered the vocabulary of these Germanic people even before the tribes reached Britain: camp, cheese, cook, dragon, fork, giant, gem, inch, kettle, kitchen, linen, mile, mill, mint (coin), noon, oilSee also:

History of the English language, History of the English language - Proto-English, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Historic English text samples, History of the English language - Old English, History of the English language - Middle English, History of the English language - Early Modern English, History of the English language - Modern English

Read more here: » History of the English language: Encyclopedia II - History of the English language - Proto-English

List of English language poets - Ba. Joanna Baillie (1762-1851) Kevin Bailey (born 1953} David Ball Jesse Ball (1978-) Lex Banning (born 1921) Amiri Baraka (born 1934) David Baratier (born 1970) Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743-1825) John Barbour (died 1395) Les Barker (born 1947) Richard Barnefield (1574-1627) Djuna Barnes (1892-1982) William Barnes (1801-1886) Ken Barratt Bernard Barto ...

See also:

List of English language poets, List of English language poets - A, List of English language poets - B, List of English language poets - Ba, List of English language poets - Be-Bo, List of English language poets - Br-By, List of English language poets - C, List of English language poets - Ca-Ci, List of English language poets - Cl, List of English language poets - Co, List of English language poets - Cr-Cu, List of English language poets - D, List of English language poets - Da-Do, List of English language poets - Dr-Dy, List of English language poets - E, List of English language poets - F, List of English language poets - G, List of English language poets - Ga-Go, List of English language poets - Gr-Gy, List of English language poets - H, List of English language poets - Ha-He, List of English language poets - Hi-Hu, List of English language poets - I-J, List of English language poets - K, List of English language poets - L, List of English language poets - La-Le, List of English language poets - Lo-Ly, List of English language poets - M, List of English language poets - Ma, List of English language poets - Mc-Mi, List of English language poets - Mo-Mu, List of English language poets - N-O, List of English language poets - P, List of English language poets - Q, List of English language poets - R, List of English language poets - Ra-Ri, List of English language poets - Ro, List of English language poets - S, List of English language poets - Sa-Si, List of English language poets - Sk-Sq, List of English language poets - St-Sy, List of English language poets - T-V, List of English language poets - W, List of English language poets - Wa-We, List of English language poets - Wh-Wy, List of English language poets - Y-Z

Read more here: » List of English language poets: Encyclopedia II - List of English language poets - B

The most important shaping force on Old English was its Germanic heritage in vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar that it shared with its sister languages in continental Europe. Some of these features were specific to the West Germanic language family to which Old English belongs, while some other features were inherited from the Proto-Germanic language from which all Germanic languages are believed to have been derived. Though many of these links with the other Germanic languages have since been obscured by later linguistic inf ...

See also:

Old English language, Old English language - Germanic origins, Old English language - Latin influence, Old English language - Viking influence, Old English language - Celtic influence, Old English language - Dialects, Old English language - Phonology, Old English language - Standardised orthography, Old English language - The alphabet, Old English language - Syntax, Old English language - Morphology, Old English language - Sample text

Read more here: » Old English language: Encyclopedia II - Old English language - Germanic origins

The roots of English-language poetic modernism can be traced back to the works of a number of earlier writers, including Walt Whitman, whose long lines approached a type of free verse, the prose poetry of Oscar Wilde, Robert Browning's subversion of the poetic self, Emily Dickinson's compression and the writings of the early English Symbolists, especially Arthur Symons. However, these poets essentially remained true to the basic tenets of the Romantic movement and the appearance of the Imagists marked the first emergence of a distinctly modernist ...

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Modernist poetry in English, Modernist poetry in English - Modernist poetry, Modernist poetry in English - The emergence of English-language modernism, Modernist poetry in English - Imagism, Modernist poetry in English - World War I and after, Modernist poetry in English - Paris, Modernist poetry in English - Others, Modernist poetry in English - Maturity, Modernist poetry in English - 1930s modernism, Modernist poetry in English - Long poems, Modernist poetry in English - Politics, Modernist poetry in English - Legacy

Read more here: » Modernist poetry in English: Encyclopedia II - Modernist poetry in English - The emergence of English-language modernism

Creole language - Bislama. Bislama (older Bêche-la-mar) is an English-based creole, and is the national language of Vanuatu. Creole language - Gullah. Gullah is an English-based creole spoken in the Sea Islands and the adjacent coastal regions of South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida. Creole language - Hawaiian Creole English. Hawaiian Pidgin began as a pidgin jargon used in the early European colonization of the Hawaiian Islan ...

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Creole language, Creole language - Development of a Creole, Creole language - General Features of Creoles, Creole language - Arabic creoles, Creole language - Nubi, Creole language - Juba Arabic, Creole language - Babalia Creole Arabic, Creole language - Native American creoles, Creole language - Dutch creoles, Creole language - English Creoles, Creole language - Bislama, Creole language - Gullah, Creole language - Hawaiian Creole English, Creole language - Jamaican Creole, Creole language - Kreyol, Creole language - Krio, Creole language - Kriol, Creole language - Mískito Creole English, Creole language - Nigerian Pidgin English, Creole language - Pitkern Norfuk, Creole language - Singlish, Creole language - Sranan Tongo, Creole language - Tok Pisin, Creole language - Torres Strait Creole, Creole language - French Creoles, Creole language - Haitian creole, Creole language - Antillean Creole, Creole language - Kreyol Lwiziyen, Creole language - Mauritian Creole, Creole language - Réunion Creole, Creole language - Seychellois Creole, Creole language - Lanc-Patuá, Creole language - German Creoles, Creole language - Unserdeutsch, Creole language - Malay Creoles, Creole language - Ngbandi-based Creoles, Creole language - Portuguese Creoles, Creole language - Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole, Creole language - Creoles of Cape Verde, Creole language - Creoles of India, Creole language - Creoles of São Tomé and Príncipe, Creole language - Annobonnese, Creole language - Upper Guinea Creole, Creole language - Macanese, Creole language - Kristang, Creole language - Papiamento, Creole language - Portuguese/English Creole, Creole language - Saramaccan, Creole language - Spanish Creoles

Read more here: » Creole language: Encyclopedia II - Creole language - English Creoles

English is the major working language in Hong Kong, and is widely used in commercial activities and legal matters. Although the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to the PRC by the United Kingdom in 1997, English is still one of the official languages of Hong Kong, and its official status is enshrined in the Basic Law. For most of the population who are ethnic Chinese, though, it is a second language acquired from school education, taught from the kindergarten level. About a quarter of secondary schools use English from Form 1 to Form ...

See also:

Languages of Hong Kong, Languages of Hong Kong - Chinese, Languages of Hong Kong - Spoken Chinese, Languages of Hong Kong - Written Chinese, Languages of Hong Kong - English, Languages of Hong Kong - Code-Switching between Cantonese and English, Languages of Hong Kong - Transliterations in Hong Kong after 1997, Languages of Hong Kong - Other European languages, Languages of Hong Kong - French, Languages of Hong Kong - German, Languages of Hong Kong - Spanish, Languages of Hong Kong - Portuguese and Macanese, Languages of Hong Kong - Russian, Languages of Hong Kong - Other East Asian languages, Languages of Hong Kong - Japanese, Languages of Hong Kong - Korean, Languages of Hong Kong - Vietnamese, Languages of Hong Kong - Southeast Asian languages, Languages of Hong Kong - Tagalog, Languages of Hong Kong - Indonesian, Languages of Hong Kong - Thai, Languages of Hong Kong - South Asian languages, Languages of Hong Kong - Middle Eastern languages, Languages of Hong Kong - Arabic, Languages of Hong Kong - Persian, Languages of Hong Kong - African languages

Read more here: » Languages of Hong Kong: Encyclopedia II - Languages of Hong Kong - English

List of English language poets - Ca-Ci. Richard Caddel Charles Stuart Calverley (1831-1884) Thomas Campbell (1774-1844) Thomas Campion (1567-1620) Mary Wedderburn Cannan (1893-1973) Thomas Carew (1595-1639) Henry Carey (1693-1743) Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) William Cartwright (1611-1643) Carolyn Joyce Carty (1957- Alice Cary Phoebe Cary Charles Causley (1917-2003) Constantine Cavafy J ...

See also:

List of English language poets, List of English language poets - A, List of English language poets - B, List of English language poets - Ba, List of English language poets - Be-Bo, List of English language poets - Br-By, List of English language poets - C, List of English language poets - Ca-Ci, List of English language poets - Cl, List of English language poets - Co, List of English language poets - Cr-Cu, List of English language poets - D, List of English language poets - Da-Do, List of English language poets - Dr-Dy, List of English language poets - E, List of English language poets - F, List of English language poets - G, List of English language poets - Ga-Go, List of English language poets - Gr-Gy, List of English language poets - H, List of English language poets - Ha-He, List of English language poets - Hi-Hu, List of English language poets - I-J, List of English language poets - K, List of English language poets - L, List of English language poets - La-Le, List of English language poets - Lo-Ly, List of English language poets - M, List of English language poets - Ma, List of English language poets - Mc-Mi, List of English language poets - Mo-Mu, List of English language poets - N-O, List of English language poets - P, List of English language poets - Q, List of English language poets - R, List of English language poets - Ra-Ri, List of English language poets - Ro, List of English language poets - S, List of English language poets - Sa-Si, List of English language poets - Sk-Sq, List of English language poets - St-Sy, List of English language poets - T-V, List of English language poets - W, List of English language poets - Wa-We, List of English language poets - Wh-Wy, List of English language poets - Y-Z

Read more here: » List of English language poets: Encyclopedia II - List of English language poets - C