View source for English language

{{pp|type=semi}}
{{BaseArticle
 | shortdesc = West Germanic language
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name           = English
| states         = The [[English-speaking world]], including the {{enum|[[United Kingdom]]|[[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]]|[[United States]]|[[Canada]]|[[Australia]]|[[New Zealand]]|[[Commonwealth Caribbean]]|[[South Africa]]|[[List of countries and territories where English is an official language|others]]}}
| speakers       = [[First language|L1]]: {{nowrap|380 million}}
| speakers_label = Speakers
| date           = 2021
| ref            = <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/insights/ethnologue200/ |title=What are the top 200 most spoken languages? |website=Ethnologue |date=2023 |access-date=3 October 2023 |archive-date=18 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230618002011/https://www.ethnologue.com/insights/ethnologue200/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
| speakers2      = {{plainlist|
* [[Second language|L2]]: {{nowrap|1.077 billion}} (2021)<ref name="Ethnologue26">{{e26|eng|English}}</ref>
* [[English-speaking world|Total]]: 1.457 billion}}
| familycolor    = Indo-European
| fam2           = [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| fam3           = [[West Germanic]]
| fam4           = [[North Sea Germanic]]
| fam5           = [[Anglic languages|Anglic]]
| ancestor       = [[Proto-English]]
| ancestor2      = [[Old English]]
| ancestor3      = [[Middle English]]
| ancestor4      = [[Early Modern English]]
| script         = {{plainlist|
* [[Latin script|Latin]] ([[English alphabet]])
* [[Anglo-Saxon runes]] (historical)
* [[English Braille]], [[Unified English Braille]]
}}
| nation         = {{ubli | [[List of countries and territories where English is an official language#Sovereign states|57 countries]] and [[List of countries and territories where English is an official language#Non-sovereign entities|30 dependent territories]] | Organisations including the {{enum
| [[UN]]
| [[EU]]
| [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]]
| [[International Criminal Court|ICC]]
| [[IMF]]
| [[IOC]]
| [[ISO]]
| [[NATO]]
| [[WTO]]
| [[ASEAN]]
| [[Organisation of American States|OAS]]
| [[OECD]]
}} }}
| agency = None, unregulated
| iso1           = en
| iso2           = eng
| iso3           = eng
| lingua         = 52-ABA
| notice         = IPA
| sign           = [[Manually coded English]] {{nwr|(multiple systems)}}
| glotto         = stan1293
| glottorefname  = English
| mapscale       = 1.25
| map            = English language distribution.svg
| mapcaption     = {{legend|#346699|Regions where English is the native language of the majority}}
{{legend|#99ccff|Regions where English is an official or widely spoken language, but not a majority native language}}
| dialects       = {{hlist |class=inline |[[British English]]|[[North American English|North American]]|[[Caribbean English|Caribbean]]|[[Australian English|Australian]]|[[New Zealand English|New Zealand]]|[[South African English|South African]]|[[Hiberno-English]]}} ([[List of dialects of English|full list]])
}}
'''English''' is a [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic language]] of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language family that emerged in [[History of Anglo-Saxon England|early medieval England]] and has since become a global [[lingua franca]].{{sfn|The Routes of English}}{{sfn|Crystal|2003a|p=6}}{{sfn|Wardhaugh|2010|p=55}} The language is named after the [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]], one of the [[Germanic peoples]] who [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain|migrated to Britain]] after the [[End of Roman rule in Britain|end of Roman rule]]. English is the [[List of languages by total number of speakers|most spoken language]] in the world, primarily due to the global influence of the [[British Empire]] (succeeded by the [[Commonwealth of Nations]]) and the rise of the [[United States]]. It is the most widely learned [[second language]] in the world, with more second‑language speakers than native speakers. However, English is only the [[list of languages by number of native speakers|third‑most spoken native language]], after [[Mandarin Chinese]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]].<ref name="Ethnologue26" />

English is either the official language, or one of the official languages, of [[list of countries and territories where English is an official language|57 sovereign states and 30 dependent territories]], making it the most geographically widespread language in the world. In the [[United Kingdom]], the United States and [[Australia]], it is the dominant language for historical reasons without being explicitly defined by law. It is a [[official languages of the United Nations|co‑official language of the United Nations]], the [[languages of the European Union|European Union]], and many other international and regional organisations. It has also become the ''de facto'' lingua franca of diplomacy, [[languages of science|science]], technology, international trade, [[logistics]], tourism, aviation, entertainment, and the [[languages used on the Internet|Internet]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/books/review/the-rise-of-english-rosemary-salomone.html |title=How the English Language Conquered the World |last=Chua |first=Amy |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=18 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301222132/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/books/review/the-rise-of-english-rosemary-salomone.html |archive-date=1 March 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[Ethnologue]]'' estimated that there were over 1.4 billion speakers worldwide {{as of|2021|lc=y}}.<ref name="Ethnologue26" />

[[Old English]] emerged from a group of [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]] dialects spoken by the [[Anglo-Saxons]]. Early inscriptions were written with [[Anglo-Saxon runes|runes]] before a [[Old English Latin alphabet|Latin‑based alphabet]] was adopted for longer texts. Late Old English borrowed some grammar and core vocabulary from [[Old Norse]], a [[North Germanic languages|North Germanic language]].<ref name="Finkenstaedt1973">{{cite book |last=Finkenstaedt |first=Thomas |author2=Dieter Wolff |title=Ordered profusion; studies in dictionaries and the English lexicon |publisher=C. Winter |year=1973 |isbn=978-3-533-02253-4}}</ref>{{sfn|Bammesberger|1992|p=30}}{{sfn|Svartvik|Leech|2006|p=39}} An evolution of the Latin alphabet, the [[English alphabet]], fully supplanted the runic alphabet by the [[High Middle Ages]], coinciding with the emergence of [[Middle English]] in [[England in the High Middle Ages|England under Norman control]]. Middle English borrowed vocabulary extensively from [[langues d'oïl|French dialects]], which are the source of approximately [[list of English words of French origin|28 per cent of Modern English words]], and from [[Latin]], which is [[list of Latin words with English derivatives|the source of an additional 28 per cent]].<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1017/chol9780521264754.006 |chapter=Lexis and Semantics |title=The Cambridge History of the English Language |date=1992 |last1=Burnley |first1=David |pages=409–499 |isbn=978-1-139-05553-6 |editor-first1=Norman |editor-last1=Blake |quote=Latin and French each account for a little more than 28 percent of the lexis recorded in the [[Shorter Oxford English Dictionary]] (Finkenstaedt & Wolff 1973)}}</ref> While Latin and the [[Romance languages]] are thus the source for a majority of its lexicon taken as a whole, [[English grammar|English's grammar]] and [[English phonology|phonology]] remain Germanic, as does most of its basic everyday vocabulary. Finally, Middle English transformed, in part through the [[Great Vowel Shift]], into [[Modern English]], which exists on a [[dialect continuum]] with [[Scots language|Scots]]; it is next most closely related to [[Low German|Low Saxon]] and [[Frisian languages|Frisian]].

==Classification==
English is a member of the [[Indo-European language family]], belonging to the [[West Germanic]] branch of [[Germanic languages]].{{sfn|Bammesberger|1992|pp=29–30}} Owing to their descent from a shared ancestor, ''[[Proto-Germanic]]'', English and other Germanic languages{{snd}}which include [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[German language|German]], and [[Swedish language|Swedish]]{{sfn|Durrell|2006}}{{snd}}share characteristic features, including a division of verbs into [[Germanic strong verb|strong]] and [[Germanic weak verb|weak]] classes, the use of [[modal verb]]s, and sound changes affecting [[Proto-Indo-European]] consonants known as [[Grimm's law|Grimm's]] and [[Verner's law|Verner's]] laws.{{sfn|König|van der Auwera|1994}}

[[Old English]] was one of several [[Ingvaeonic languages]], which emerged from a [[dialect continuum]] spoken by West Germanic peoples during the 5th century in [[Frisia]], on the coast of the [[North Sea]]. Old English emerged among the Ingvaeonic speakers on the [[British Isles]] following their migration to the region, while the other Ingvaeonic languages ([[Frisian languages|Frisian]] and [[Old Low German]]) developed in parallel on the European continent.{{sfn|Bazelmans|2009|pp=325–326}} Old English evolved into [[Middle English]], which in turn evolved into Modern English.{{sfn|Robinson|1992}} Particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into other [[Anglic languages]], including [[Scots language|Scots]]{{sfn|Romaine|1982|pp=56–65}} and the extinct [[Fingallian]] and [[Yola dialect]]s of Ireland.{{sfn|Barry|1982|pp=86–87}}

English was isolated from other Germanic languages on the continent and diverged considerably in [[lexis (linguistics)|vocabulary]], syntax, and phonology as a result. It is not [[mutually intelligible]] with any continental Germanic language{{snd}}though some, such as Dutch and Frisian, share strong affinities with it, particularly in its earlier stages.{{sfn|Harbert|2006}}{{page needed|date=July 2024}} English and Frisian [[Anglo-Frisian languages|were traditionally considered more closely related to one another]] than they were to other West Germanic languages, but most modern scholarship does not recognise a particular affinity between them.<ref>{{multiref2|{{harvnb|Bazelmans|2009|p=326|loc="According to most researchers, this means that there cannot have been an 'original' Anglo-Frisian entity ..."}} | {{harvnb|Stiles|2018|p=31|loc="... It is not possible to construct the exclusive common relative chronology that is necessary in order to be able to establish a node on a family tree. The term and concept of 'Anglo-Frisian' should be banished to the historiography of the subject."}} }}</ref> Though they shared similar sound changes that were found nowhere else around the North Sea at that time, the specific changes appeared in English and Frisian at different times{{snd}}a pattern that is uncharacteristic of languages that share a unique phylogenetic ancestor.{{sfn|Versloot|2017|pp=341–342}}{{sfn|Stiles|2018|pp=5–6}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:English language| ]]
[[Category:Analytic languages]]
[[Category:Anglic languages]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Cultural globalization]]
[[Category:Fusional languages]]
[[Category:Germanic languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Australia]]
[[Category:Languages of Canada]]
[[Category:Languages of New Zealand]]
[[Category:Languages of the Republic of Ireland]]
[[Category:Languages of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Lingua francas]]
[[Category:Stress-timed languages]]
[[Category:Subject–verb–object languages]]