English as a world language

English belongs to the western branch of the Germanic languages and is a member of the group of Indo-European languages. Its closest relatives are German, Dutch, Yiddish, Afrikaans and Frisian although English lost many of the features prototypical of this language family in the course of its development. In terms of regional dispersion English has expanded considerably over the past centuries and today it is spoken and learnt as a native language not only on the British Isles, but also in North America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

According to recent estimates, there are more than 350 million people who use English as their mother tongue and at least 400 million who use English as a foreign language.

English has the status of an official language in India, Singapore, the Philippines, Western Samoa, Tanzania and Cameroon and is the only official language in no fewer than thirty countries, including Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Jamaica and the Bahamas. English is the preferred lingua franca of business, service, sport, journalism and academia.

It should be borne in mind, however, that today the term English is not used to describe a homogeneous linguistic system, but as a cover term for two co-existing standard varieties and at least a dozen well known and recognised regional varieties. The two standard varieties are (North) American English (AE/NAE) and British English (BE), which themselves serve as cover terms for several regional standards. Standard American English comprises the varieties spoken by educated speakers in the United States and in Canada whereas the educated varieties found in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have traditionally been subsumed under the British standard. There are only minor differences between the two standard varieties and those found are mainly restricted to pronunciation and lexis. The relatively low amount of variation between the standard varieties contrasts sharply with the differences displayed by non-standard varieties relative to one another or relative to the standard, which can be quite substantial.

The differences found are by no means confined to pronunciation and lexis, but frequently extend into the domain of grammar. Regional variation in Britain mainly follows a north-south decline and to a lesser degree the east-west axis although such variation can be found, particularly in the south of England and in the Midlands. Cutting across these regional varieties are various social varieties, but it is nonetheless observable that regional differences become less important towards the upper end of the social scale.

The United States of America can be divided into two major dialect areas, the North and the South, with a relatively extensive transition zone between them frequently singled out as a third dialect area (no everybody accepts these divisions). The differences found between these dialect areas are mainly restricted to phonology and lexis, but some grammatical differences turn up as soon as social variation is taken into consideration. The most important ethnic variety of the United States is African American English (AAE) for which several distinct grammatical features have been identified (which will be studied later).

The non-native use of English can be observed particularly in those areas of the world where state creation processes beyond language barriers necessitated the adoption of an official language (anglophone countries). Such use of English is dominant in East and West Africa, India, Singapore and on the Philippines, although there is often a sharp cline ranging from standard or near-standard English to forms of English that are more adequately discussed in the context of pidgins and creoles.