Origins The modern concept of "International English" does not exist in isolation, but is the product of centuries of development of the
English language. The English language evolved in
England, from a set of
West Germanic dialects spoken by the
Angles and
Saxons, who arrived from continental Europe in the 5th century. Those dialects became known as
Englisc (literally "Anglish"), the language today referred to as Anglo-Saxon or
Old English (the language of the poem
Beowulf). However, less than a quarter of the vocabulary of
Modern English is derived from the shared ancestry with other West Germanic languages because of extensive borrowings from
Norse,
Norman,
Latin, and other languages. It was during the
Viking invasions of the Anglo-Saxon period that Old English was influenced by contact with
Norse, a group of
North Germanic dialects spoken by the
Vikings, who came to control a large region in the North and East of England known as the
Danelaw. Vocabulary items entering English from Norse (including the pronouns
they and
them) are thus attributable to the on-again-off-again Viking occupation of Northern and Eastern England during the centuries prior to the
Norman Conquest (see, e.g.,
Canute the Great). Soon after the
Norman Conquest of 1066, the
Englisc language ceased being a literary language (see, e.g.,
Ormulum) and was replaced by
Anglo-Norman as the written language of England. During the Norman Period, English absorbed a significant component of French vocabulary (approximately one-third of the vocabulary of
Modern English). With this new vocabulary, additional vocabulary borrowed from Latin (with Greek, another approximately one-third of
Modern English vocabulary, though some borrowings from Latin and Greek date from later periods), a simplified grammar, and use of the orthographic conventions of French instead of Old English orthography, the language became
Middle English (the language of
Chaucer). The "difficulty" of English as a written language thus began in the
High Middle Ages, when French orthographic conventions were used to spell a language whose original, more suitable orthography had been forgotten after centuries of nonuse. During the late medieval period, King
Henry V of England (lived 1387–1422) ordered the use of the English of his day in proceedings before him and before the government bureaucracies. That led to the development of
Chancery English, a standardised form used in the government bureaucracy. (The use of so-called
Law French in English courts continued through the Renaissance, however.) The emergence of English as a language of
Wales results from the incorporation of Wales into England and also dates from approximately this time period. Soon afterward, the development of
printing by
Caxton and others accelerated the development of a standardised form of English. Following
a change in vowel pronunciation that marks the transition of English from the medieval to the Renaissance period, the language of the Chancery and Caxton became
Early Modern English (the language of
Shakespeare's day) and with relatively moderate changes eventually developed into the English language of today.
Scots, as spoken in the lowlands and along the east coast of Scotland, developed largely independent of Modern English, and is based on the Northern dialects of Anglo-Saxon, particularly
Northumbrian, which also serve as the basis of Northern English dialects such as those of
Yorkshire and
Newcastle upon Tyne. Northumbria was within the Danelaw and therefore experienced greater influence from Norse than did the Southern dialects. As the political influence of London grew, the
Chancery version of the language developed into a written standard across
Great Britain, further progressing in the modern period as
Scotland became united with England as a result of the
Acts of Union of 1707. English was introduced to
Ireland twice—a medieval introduction that led to the development of the now-extinct
Yola and
Fingallian dialects, and a modern introduction in which
Hiberno-English largely replaced
Irish as the most widely spoken language during the 19th century, following the
Act of Union of 1800.
Received Pronunciation (RP) is generally viewed as a 19th-century development and is not reflected in
North American English dialects (except for an affected
Transatlantic accent of the early to mid-20th century), which are based on 18th-century English. The establishment of the first permanent English-speaking colony in
North America in 1607 was a major step towards the
globalisation of the language.
British English was only partially standardised when the American colonies were established. Isolated from each other by the Atlantic Ocean, the dialects in England and the colonies began evolving independently. The
British colonisation of Australia starting in 1788 brought the English language to Oceania. By the 19th century, the standardisation of
British English was more settled than it had been in the previous century, and this relatively well-established English was brought to
Africa,
Asia and
New Zealand. It developed both as the language of English-speaking settlers from Britain and Ireland, and as the administrative language imposed on speakers of other languages in the various parts of the
British Empire. The first form can be seen in
New Zealand English, and the latter in
Indian English. In
Europe, English received a more central role particularly since 1919, when the
Treaty of Versailles was composed not only in
French, the common language of diplomacy at the time, but, under special request from American president Woodrow Wilson, also in English – a major milestone in the globalisation of English. The English-speaking regions of
Canada and the
Caribbean are caught between historical connections with the UK and the Commonwealth and geographical and economic connections with the U.S. In some things they tend to follow British standards, whereas in others, especially commercial, they follow the U.S. standard. == English as a global language ==