Still working to recover. Please don't edit quite yet.
Difference between revisions of "English language"
(language of government is not the same thing as official-It may be the de facto language of law, but there is no document that explicitly states that it is the official language of the whole country.) |
(added "Status of the official language in the United States of America") |
||
| Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
Many hope that eventually everyone in the world will learn to speak English which will result in better understanding among the people of the world. Others, however, believe that the dominance of English is oppressing peoples who wish to maintain their own languages and is a form of [[eurocentrism]]. | Many hope that eventually everyone in the world will learn to speak English which will result in better understanding among the people of the world. Others, however, believe that the dominance of English is oppressing peoples who wish to maintain their own languages and is a form of [[eurocentrism]]. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Status of the official language in the [[United States of America]]== | ||
| + | In the USA 23 states have "English Language laws" making [[Americal English language]] legally the official language of those states. It must be noted that English language is the de-facto official language in many more states, which simply do not have a piece of paper which this fact is written on. Most government positions are declined to non-english speaking part of the population, the children are forced to learn english language in many [[school]]s, etc. | ||
==Types of English language== | ==Types of English language== | ||
| Line 9: | Line 12: | ||
* [[International English language]] | * [[International English language]] | ||
| + | ==See also== | ||
| + | * [[official language]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==External link== | ||
| + | * [http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/langleg.htm Lanugage Legislation in the US] | ||
[[Category:Languages]] | [[Category:Languages]] | ||
Revision as of 13:56, 29 June 2006
English is one of the most commonly spoken in the world. It is impossible to tell exactly how many people speak English, but it is believed that at least 500 million speak it as their main language, and a billion more know how to speak it. It is a West Germanic language that arised among Anglo-Saxon immigrant communities to Britain during the Migrations period. The language went through a creolization process through contact with Old Norse, and later incorperated much Norman French due to the take-over of England by William the Conqueror in 1066. The language also has many Latinate roots, due to a propensity for borrowing from Latin for the construction of new words rather than deriving them from native Germanic roots. Because Britain colonized many places such as parts of North America and the whole of Australia, and enforced their rule on native peoples in Africa and India, among others, English was spread very far. Though not every country that was part of this British Empire adopted English, the two largest areas that where colonized by English speaking British peoples, the United States and Australia, now have a majority of English speakers.
Many hope that eventually everyone in the world will learn to speak English which will result in better understanding among the people of the world. Others, however, believe that the dominance of English is oppressing peoples who wish to maintain their own languages and is a form of eurocentrism.
Contents
Status of the official language in the United States of America
In the USA 23 states have "English Language laws" making Americal English language legally the official language of those states. It must be noted that English language is the de-facto official language in many more states, which simply do not have a piece of paper which this fact is written on. Most government positions are declined to non-english speaking part of the population, the children are forced to learn english language in many schools, etc.
Types of English language
- American English language
- British English language
- Australian English language
- International English language
