HISTORICAL CONTEXT

English is a West Germanic language that

originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects
brought by Germanic invaders into Britain.
Initially, Old English was a diverse group of
dialects, reflecting the varied origins of the
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England. Eventually,
one of these dialects, Late West Saxon, came
to dominate.
 The original Old English language was then
influenced by two further waves of invasion:
the first by speakers of the Scandinavian
branch of the Germanic language family, who
conquered and colonized parts of Britain in
the 8th and 9th centuries; the second by the
Normans in the 11th century, who spoke Old
Norman and ultimately developed an English
variety called Anglo-Norman
 For two centuries after the Norman Conquest,
French became the language of everyday life
among the upper classes in England. Although
the language of the masses remained English,
the bilingual character of England in this
period was thus formed.
 During the Middle English period, France and
England experienced a process of separation.
This period of conflicting interests and feelings
of resentment was later termed the Hundred
Years' War. At the beginning of the 14th
century, English regained universal use and
was the principal tongue of all England.
 During the Renaissance, patriotic feelings
were felt towards English, recognizing it as the
national language. Also, the language was
advocated for its suitability for learned and
literary use. With the Great Vowel Shift, the
language in this period matured to a standard
and differed significantly from the Middle
English period, becoming recognizably
"modern.
 By the 18th century, three main forces were
driving the direction of the English language:
(1) to reduce the language to rule and effect a
standard of correct usage;
(2) to refine by removing supposed defects and
introducing certain improvements; and
(3) to fix it permanently in the desired form.
Hence, it was evident that there was a desire for
system and regularity, which contrasted with the
individualism and spirit of independence
characterized by the previous age.
 By the 19th century, the expansion of the British
Empire and of global trade led to the spread of
English in the world. Concurrently, the rising
importance of some of England's larger colonies
and their eventual independence, along with the
rapid development of the United States amplified
the value of the English varieties spoken in these
regions. Consequently, their populations
developed the belief that their distinct variety of
language should be granted equal standing with
the standard of Great Britain.
 English is transported to the 'new world'
The first diaspora involved relatively large-scale
migrations of mother-tongue English speakers
from England, Scotland and Ireland
predominantly to North America and the
Caribbean, Australia, South Africa and New
Zealand. Over time, their own English dialects
developed into modern American, Canadian,
West Indian, South African and Australasian
Englishes.
 In contrast to the English of Great Britain, the
varieties spoken in modern North America and
Caribbean, South Africa and Australasia have
been modified in response to the changed and
changing sociolinguistic contexts of the
migrants, for example being in contact with
indigenous Native American, Khoisan and
Bantu, Aboriginal or Maori populations in the
colonies.
 The Second dispersal
English is transported to Asia and Africa
The second diaspora was the result of the colonization of
Asia and Africa, which led to the development of 'New
Englishes', the second-language varieties of English. In
colonial Africa, the history of English is distinct between
West and East Africa. English in West Africa began with
trade. particularly the slave trade. English soon gained
official status in what are today Gambia, Sierra Leone,
Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon, and some of the pidgin and
creoles which developed from English contact, including
Krio (Sierra Leone) and Cameroon Pidgin, have large
numbers of speakers now.
 As for East Africa, extensive British settlements
were established in what are now Kenya, Uganda,
Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, where
English became a crucial language of the
government, education and the law. From the
early 1960s, the six countries achieved
independence in succession; but English
remained the official language and had large
numbers of second language speakers in Uganda,
Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi
 English was formally introduced to the sub-
continent of South Asia (India, Bangladesh,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan) during the
second half of the eighteenth century. In India,
English was given status through the
implementation of Macaulay 'Minute' of 1835,
which proposed the introduction of an English
educational system in India. Over time, the
process of 'Indianisation' led to the development
of a distinctive national character of English in the
Indian sub-continent.
 British influence in South-East Asia and the South
Pacific began in the late eighteenth century,
involving primarily the territories now known as
Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Papua New
Guinea, also a British protectorate, exemplified
the English-based pidgin - Tok Pisin. Nowadays,
English is also learnt in other countries in
neighbouring areas, most notably in Taiwan
Philippines, Japan and Korea, with the latter two
having begun to consider the possibility of
making English their official second language.
 Classification of Englishes

The spread of English around the world is often

discussed in terms of three distinct groups of users,
where English is used respectively as:
a native language (ENL); the primary language of the
majority population of a country, such as in the United
States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
a second language (ESL); an additional language for
intranational as well as international communication in
communities that are multilingual, such as in India,
Nigeria, and Singapore. Most of these Englishes
developed as a result of imperial expansion that
brought the language to various parts of the world.
 a foreign language (EFL); used almost
exclusively for international communication,
such as in Japan and Germany.
a lingua franca (ELF); the most extensive
contemporary use of English, additionally
acquired language system which serves as a
common means of communication for
speakers of different first languages, such as
Japanese and German.